HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 103 



quarters, the vertical diameter of whose body, with distended egg-pouch, 

 was a half-inch ; this pair of lodgers completely filled the mouth of the 

 fish, and must have incommoded him in the act of feeding. Aside from in- 

 conveniences of this nature, the presence of the parasite does not appear 

 to affect the well being of the fish, those whose mouths are tenanted 

 seeming as plump and healthy as those having apartments to let. 



About seventy per cent, of the menhaden from the Potomac examined 

 by me in November, 1874, had the Gymothoa in their mouths, and eveu 

 a larger proportion of those in the Saint John's, in April, 1875. Say 

 states that a large number of those in the Delaware were thus infested, 

 and Mr. F. C. Goode writes that this is the case in the Saint John's 

 Eiver, Florida. The thirty-first question of the " Menhaden Circular " 

 issued by the Commissioner of Fisheries was intended to draw out in- 

 formation on this point, and, from the statements of correspondents, in 

 reply to this query, we may quite definitely conclude that this parasite of 

 the menhaden is unknown in northern waters. Mr. A. G. Wolf, keeper 

 of Absecum light, New Jersey, writes that a "bug" is sometimes found 

 in the roof of the mossbunker's mouth, and almost every correspondent 

 from localities south of that point notices its occurrence. On the other 

 hand, it has never been observed in the waters of New England and 

 New York. I have examined many specimens from Long Island and 

 Block Island Sounds without finding it, and Prof. S. I. Smith tells me 

 that his search for it in the vicinity of Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, 

 was equally unsuccessful. In Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac, in the 

 Delaware River and Bay, in the inlets of North Carolina, and the Saint 

 John's River, Florida, it is well known as the companion of the alewife 

 or fat-back. 



Capt. Robert H. Hulbert, in the latter part of May or early in June, 

 while seining mackerel from the Ellen M. Adams, of Gloucester, near 

 Block Island, took, with the mackerel, about a barrel of large menhaden, 

 most of which had the parasite in their mouths. At this time most of 

 the menhaden had gone farther north. The later a school comes in, the 

 faster it runs to the northward, says Captain Hulbert. 



Inferences to he drawn from the presence of this parasite. 



140. It is not known whether Gymothoa prcegustator is a constant com- 

 panion of the menhaden, accompanyingit in its migrations and dependent 

 upon it for existence, or whether it simply seeks shelter in the mouth of 

 the fish at a particular season of the year. Is it not possible that it may 

 be free during a part of its life, seeking shelter perhaps during the breed- 

 ing season ? Latrobe found it parasitic in March ; my observations were 

 made in November. It is very important that the chasm between these 

 dates should be bridged, for whatever the truth may be, it will throw 

 much light upon the migrations of the menhaden. If it be a constant 

 parasite, the presumption will be that the schools of fish which freqilent 

 the shores of the Southern States, during the summer, do not in their 



