224 EEPOf^i^COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



eiit tiriio of the year they are absent from our waters. North of Cape 

 Cort, as, for iustance, in the southern portion of Barnstable Bay, we find 

 them beginning;' to appear about the beginning of May, at iirst a few 

 straggling specimens, and then in a few days a vast abundance. They 

 cannot be taken by hook-fishermwi, but by means of a long string of 

 nets, made about eighteen feet deep, Mhich hang vertically in the water 

 and drift with the tide. Considerable quanties are thus taken in the 

 night-time. 



In 1855 a resolution was passed by the Massachusetts legislature 

 authorizing the governor to appoint three commissioners to inquire into 

 the practicability of the artilieial breeding of fish. I was expecting to 

 be appointed on that commission, and, as I had a great desire to know 

 at precisely what time the mackerel deposited their spawn, I devoted 

 considerable attention to the subject. While fishing for these mackerel, 

 I found that about the 20th of May, and from that time to the 

 od or 4th of June, they were spawning. As we took the fish into 

 the boat the spawn Vv^as running freely from them. In a few days after 

 that time they repaired to the feeding-ground, fed voraciously, and soon 

 commenced to be fat. In a few days after this school had disappeared 

 I received my commission, and thirty days after the height of their 

 spawning-season I found immense schools of little mackerel in our bay. 

 I caught some specimens and put them in alcohol, as I had before put 

 the mature eggs, marking the date. Twenty -five days after that I went 

 again into the bay, and found that they had grown to be some two 

 inches in length, showing that it required not nearly so much time for 

 the growth an<l development of this fish as for many other species. I 

 took s[)ecimens to Professor Agassiz, who was very much delighted at 

 the discoveries I had made. 



Besides the large full-grown mackerel, there is the smaller kind, that 

 come in later in the season. Dr. Mitchell and other writers have con- 

 sidered tiiat these are two species, ctiUing the;n " spring mackerel" and 

 "Hook mackerel;" but I am convinced tiiat they are simply different 

 ages of the same species. When the second scliool, or Dr. Mitchell's 

 flock mackerel, arrive they are of very different sizes, and in the Boston 

 market are designated as " full grown," " second size," "tinkers and 

 blinks." The line of demarkation is so prominently drawn between 

 these several sizes that people do not differ much in the designations 

 given to them in the markets of different towns. Now, these mackerel 

 that I watched for fifty-five days after they were spawned until they had 

 grown to be three inches in length, before they left us in the fall had 

 grown large enough to be rated as number "four," under the Massachu- 

 setts inspection laws. Those that come the next season are the " blinks," 

 and, as we believe, were from the spawn of the preceding year. The next 

 size, or the " tinkers," we believe were the "blinks" of the year be- 

 fore, and so on. 



The question is asked. Where do mackerel stay in the winter'? I do 

 not think they stop in the Gulf stream, but somew^here short of that, 

 probably in water deep enough to afford a congenial temperature. 



During some seasons this fish is very much more plentiful than in 

 others. In 1831 there were inspected, in Massachusetts, 383,551) barrels. 

 From that time they began to diminish in numbers, and from 1839 to 

 1844 the nuuiber of barrels inspected did not exceed 75,000 and a few^ 

 hundred per year. They continued to decrease for ten years, wiien the 

 yearly catch was only 50,000 barrels. They then increased again, and 

 in 18G9 there were 234,000 barrels caught, the largest quantityin-evious 

 to that time since 1831. In 1870 there were caught and inspected 



