HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 101 



Bay, L'Etang, Lepreaux, or Musquash, in New Brunswick, or Saint 

 Mary's Bay and its tributaries, or Tusket Kiver, in Nova Scotia.''"* 



In bis report for 1873, Mr. Peter Mitchell, minister of marine and 

 fisheries, announces that he intends to suggest the artificijil production 

 of bait for the deep-sea fisheries on some part of the coast of Nova 

 Scotia, and to devote attention especially to the growth of the menhaden 

 and other bait-fishes of that class.t 



In the "Case of Her Majesty's Government," before the Halifax Com- 

 mission (see below in paragraph 219), the claim is made that "the men- 

 haden bait itself can be bred and restored to places in the Bay of Fundy 

 on the coast of Nova Scotia, where it existed up to the time of its exter- 

 mination." 



With regard to these claims it can only be said that they are untrue 

 and unsound. No one having the slightest acquaintance with the prin- 

 ciples of fish culture would entertain the idea of the feasibility of such 

 schemes. 



H.— ENEMIES AND FATALITIES. 



24. — Diseases. 

 Mortality in the 2Ierrimac River. 



138. Capt. Moses Pettingell tells me that great mortality often pre- 

 vails among the menhaden at the mouth of the Merrimac Eiver. In 

 1876 !he dead fish were heaped upon the shore to a depth of two feet, 

 and the municipal authorities of Newburyport expended a large sum of 

 money in carting them away. The fish seem to die in great pain 5 they 

 come first to the surface, then, after a severe flurry, die. They sink im- 

 mediately to the bottom, but float at the surface- after a day or two. 



It is stated that the same mortality prevailed forty years ago as now 

 among the mendaden in the Merrimac. They cov^ered the shores, 

 tainted the air, and were taken away by the farmers as dressing for laud. 

 It was noticed that the fish would come to the surface, spin around and 

 around, and then turn over on the back and die.| These strange deaths 

 are very probably caused by the presence of some internal parasite. 



25. — Parasites of the menhaden. 

 Tlie crustacean, Cymothoa pra'giistator. 



139. Some of the parasites which infest the menhaden are particu- 

 larly curious and interesting. 



The name "bug-fish," commonly applied to the menhaden in the 

 Southern States, has reference to a large parasitic crustacean frequently 



* Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 1874, appendices 

 of the fisheries branch, p. 196. 

 t Fifth Annual Report, «fcc., p, 66. 

 t Springfield Republican, August 21, 1871. 



