REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 81 



inquiries during the spring season were restricted to the coast of Mas- 

 sachusetts north of and including the waters about Cape Cod. Dr. 

 Wolhaupter began at Virginia Beacli, Ya., which is nearly as far south 

 as the mackerel strike the shore, and proceeded thence northward along 

 the coast as far as Cape Cod, visiting in succession nearly all localities 

 where mackerel are taken in shore nets. For a short period in the 

 course of his trip he was stationed iu ]S^ew York City, and then continued 

 to the important spawning region oft' lihode Island and southeastern 

 Massachusetts, where most of the month of June was spent. 



Mr. B. L. Hardin was detailed, as heretofore, to conduct the customary 

 inquiries at Fulton Market, Xew York City, his observations being 

 mainly supplemental to those made on board the schooner Grampus and 

 designed to complete the records bearing upon the oft'shore fishery. 

 Every fare landed by the purse-seiners, which were then at work 

 exclusivelj^ on the southern grounds, and also all catches marketed 

 there from the shore fisheries were carefully inspected, and all informa- 

 tion that could be obtained relating to the capture and condition of 

 the lisli, etc., was fully noted. Through the courtesy of Hon. E. G. 

 Blackford, convenient office and laboratory accommodations were pro- 

 vided, and to him as well as to the other prominent fish-dealers of New 

 York jNIr. Hardin was indebted for the means of carrying on his work 

 successfully. Mr. Hardin reached New York about the middle of April 

 and continued there until the end of the first week in May, when he was 

 replaced by Dr. Wolhaupter, who remaiued until the close of that month. 



Some of the observations made this year at Fulton Market relative 

 to the spawning season and habits of the mackerel were especially 

 interesting. The first fish received were two individuals caught in 

 shad nets on the coast of North Carolina on April and 8. The first 

 fare brought in from the offshore grounds consisted of 7,700 mackerel 

 taken in a purse seine on April 17, about 05 miles southeast of Cape 

 Henry. They measured from 10 to 17i inches long. In some of the 

 larger of these fish the reproductive organs were found to be spent, 

 indicating that they had already spawned, and giving an earlier date 

 for the begiuning of the spawning season, at least in some years, than 

 had previously been supposed. Tiie location where the spawning had 

 taken place could not, of course, be told, but that it was not situated 

 close to the shore would seem to be shovrn by the fact that never more 

 than small quantities of mackerel are ever taken so far south in the 

 shore apparatus. In several subsequent purse-seine catches made off 

 the Virginia coast up to the last of April, and even into May, the same 

 conditions were observed, more or less of the fish having apparently 

 spawned, while in others the eggs were approaching maturity, but in 

 no case did the fish seem actually to have been spawning at the time 

 when taken. It should be explained, in this connection, however, that 

 only a relatively small number of the fish from each fare marketed 

 could be obtained for examination, and are the basis for the facts above 

 mentioned. 



F. R. 95 6 



