COD-FISHERIES OF CAPE ANN. 711 



within a few miles of a large school of Sperling without being drawn 

 after them; and that the Ipswich Bay school was largest after the 

 Sperling had left the coast, and remained for a number of mouths 

 on sandy wastes which supported only three species of invertebrates, 

 Buccinum 2indatum, Fitsus sp., and Asterias vulgaris, in any consid- 

 erable abundance. The examination of the stomachs of several hun- 

 dred individuals showed four-fifths of all to be entirely empty, while a 

 greater part of the remainder contained only bait picked from the trawls 

 of the fishermen. A small number contained fish of one or more species 

 that had probably been captured in the locality, while a few scattering 

 invertebrates were found. Of the species mentioned as abundant on 

 the grounds, not a star-fish and but two shells of one species and one 

 of the other were found. But it was clearly shown that the fish would 

 not refuse food, for often the stomachs were well filled with bait picked 

 from the trawl before the fish were hooked. From 10 to 15 pieces 

 were frequently found, and in one case 18 were counted. 



The females when fully ripe seemed less willing to feed than at other 

 times, and few were caught with the moving hand-lines ; but when the 

 trawl was used, thus leaving the bait motionless on the bottom for hours 

 at a time, they were induced to bite, and many were taken with the &ggfi 

 running from them. Eipe males seemed to bite readily at any time. 



The young fish, as has been remarked, seems to spend the first three 

 or four years of its life in shoal water, among the rocks and algse. Here 

 its food consists at first of the minutest forms, and later principally of 

 small Crustacea, though it often picks up mollusks and worms, and even 

 enters the harbors in summer, where it remains about the wharves, 

 picking up bits of refuse thrown from the fish-houses. The young fish 

 were so plenty in Gloucester Harbor during the summer of 1879 that 

 boys often caught 25 or 30 of them in an hour with hook and line. 



4. — ENEMIES OF THE COD. 



The cod-fish seems to have few enemies. Among fishes its principal 

 enemy is the dog-fish {Squahts acanthias). These fish make their ap- 

 pearance in large schools on the shores of Northern Massachusetts early 

 in May, where they remain until September, moving about from one 

 locality to another, and driving everything before them. They are 

 probably the most pugnacious of any species in the waters of New En- 

 gland, and cod, as well as other fish, are often brought to market bear- 

 ing marks of their sharp teeth and horny spines. The arrival of a school 

 of dog fish in any locality is the signal for all other species to leave; and 

 in this way the work of the fisherman is often suddenly terminated. 



Halibut {Hipjmglossus vulgaris) are also regarded by the fishermen as 

 enemies of the cod, and many cases are cited where, in former years, 

 they drove them from the fishing banks. In fact, thirty or forty years 

 ago, when the halibut were very abundant in Massachusetts Bay and 

 in the waters about Cape Ann, but had no market value, they interfered 



