244 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 



during the past two years, 1880-'81, as I am informed by Dr. Tarleton 

 H. Beau, who bad cbarge of the Department of Fishes. Writing under 

 date of July 10, 1882, be says : 



" The amount of knowledge possessed by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission concerning the food and spawning habits of Lopholatilus is small 

 indeed. I do not remember any information about the spawning. Last 

 year we took a good many individuals on the trawl-line and found them 

 gorged with a large si^eciesof amphipod crustacean, Themisto bispinosus 

 This is all I know about the food ; am sorry it is so little." 



In regard to the lack of knowledge concerning the spawning, alluded 

 to by Dr. Bean, it may be said that Tile-fish have been taken by the Fish 

 Commission only in August and September, when it is probable that the 

 season of reproduction had passed, since Captain D^empsey says that the 

 tish which he took in June, 1879, were fully ripe and that their eggs ran 

 from them. 



The food of LopJiolatilus, according to Captain Kirby, consists chiefly 

 of crabs of various species, with which the stomachs of the fish he 

 caught in 1879 were filled to repletion. It bites eagerly, however, at 

 fresh menhaden bait, and very likely, at certain seasons, it may feed 

 largely on some species of small fish. Captain Dempsey did not notice 

 any food in the Tile-fish which he caught, but this was due, no doubt, 

 to lack of observation on the part of those who eviscerated them.* 



Lopholatilus is evidently a "ground-feeder," like the cod, since it has 

 generally been caught on trawl-lines set at the bottom. Captain Demp- 

 sey is of this opinion, and says those he caught on hand-lines were 

 hooked close to the bottom. Captain Kirby, however, thinks they do 

 not remain at the bottom, but "play" up in the water, notwithstanding 

 those he caught were taken on a trawl-line. He was led to form this 

 opinion because the larger part of the fish he captured were on that 

 portion of his gear which, he thought, did not reach the bottom. 



In all probability the Lopholatilus is essentially a deep-water fish, 

 though our knowledge of it is yet too limited to speak with any degree 

 of certainty on this subject. At the present time it is impossible to say 

 in what depths it may be found in other localities. We only know that 

 it has been taken in from a little less than 90 to 134 fathoms. The area, 

 however, covered by the dead fish in the spring of 1882, a discussion 

 of which is given in another paragraph, would indicate that this species 

 had a much wider range, in regard to depth, than would appear from the 

 captures made on hook and line. 



As to the seasons when they frequent the waters off the southern 

 coast of New England, we also know comparatively little. Whether 



* I am told by Mr. Richard Rathbuu, that on the first trip on which Lopholatilus were 

 taken by the United States Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawlc, three specimens were 

 caught, in the stomachs of which ATcre found bones of mutton chops that had been 

 eaten at breakfast on board the steamer. This would indicate that the Tile-fish is 

 quite as voracious as the cod. 



