12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



another fish, the " scuppaug " or " scnp" [Stenotomus argyrops.)* As may 

 be supposed, the name of Narragansett origin is most exclusively used 

 in Southern Massachusetts and on the shores of Narragansett Bay, the 

 former home of that tribe of Indians. In its present form it first appeared 

 in print in 1792, in the New York Agricultural Transactions, in an article 

 by the Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu.t 



23. "Hard-head" and "bony-fish" explain themselves, both referring 

 to the same peculiarity of structure. The former name was first used 

 about 1813 by Belknap in his History of New Hampshire 5 the latter, as 

 well as "white-fish," by President Dwight in his Travels in New 

 England. 



21. The application of "white-fish" is also sufQciently evident, 

 although this name is not a distinctive one, being applied to a large 

 group of North American fresh-water fishes, the Coregonidw, and in 

 certain localities to the bluefish {Pomatomus saltatrix). In England the 

 term "white-fish" is used to designate cod, haddock, hake, ling, j)ollock, 

 soles, turbot, plaice, halibut, and whiting 



25. "Mossbunker" is a relic of the days of the Dutch colony at New 

 Amsterdam, and the name is still lovingly retained by the inhabitants 

 of Manhattan Island. It was in use as early as 1661, as we learn from 

 an allusion in Jacob Steendam's i^oem in "Praise of New Netherland" 

 {H Lou/van Mew Iiederland).\ 



The allusion to the Mossbunker is as follows : 



" Swart-vis, en Eocli, en Ilaring, en Makreel 

 Schelvis, Masbank, en Voren die (se veel) 

 Tot walgina toe, de netten'vuld : en lieel 

 Min ward geeeten." 



" The black and rock-fish, herring, mackerel, 

 The haddock, mossbanker, and roach, -which fill 

 The nets to loathiog ; and so many, all 

 Cannot be eaten." 



Allusion has already been made in the letter of Professor Trumbull, 

 to the great schools of " marsbauckers " seen by Bankers and Sluyter 

 on their visit to New York, in 1679, and every one remembers the refer- 

 ence to this fish in Irving's " Knickerbocker," in connection with the 

 death of the renowned trumpeter, Antony Yan Oorlear, where the name 

 first appea.rs crystallized in its present form.§ 



* This probablj^ misled De Kay, who stated that the menhaden were known at the 

 eastern end of Long Island as " skippaugs." Ho also remarked that " pauhagen" (pro- 

 nounced Pauhangen) was the Narragansett ej)ithet, while "menhaden" was that applied 

 by the Manhattan Indians. 



t Appendix 0. 



t This poem, cited by Professor Trumbull in the Report of the Commission of Fish 

 and Fisheries for 1871-'7'2, p. 168, was printed, with an English translation, by Hon. 

 Henry C. Murphy, for the Bradfotll Club, of New York (Anthology of New Netherland: 

 Bradford Club Series, No. 4, 1865, pp. 52, 55). 



§ A History of New York * * * By Diedrich Knickerbocker. New York, 1809. 



" It was a dark and stormy night when the good Antony arrived at the creek (sagely 

 denominated Haorlem river) which separates the island of Mannahatta from the main 



