THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 161 



Many instances are on record of the successful transportation of fishes, 

 both fresh and salt water species, to localities previously uninhabited 

 by them, and very extended efforts are now being made, promising the 

 fullest measure of success, to carry the shad and the eel of the Atlantic 

 coast to the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific slope, as well as the tau- 

 tog, the lobster, and the oyster, and to transfer the California salmon 

 and trout to the Mississippi Valley aud the eastern coast of the United 

 States, the carp from Germany to America, &c. Less has been done in 

 this direction with the sea fishes, although even here there is something 

 to record. It is said that the Scarus, a well-known labroid fish of the 

 iEgean Sea, was brought, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, to the 

 coast of Italy and planted near the mouth of the Tiber. They were 

 protected from capture for five years, at the end of which time they 

 swarmed in enormous abundance and constituted an important element 

 in the Koman fisheries, being considered one of the greatest delicacies. 

 (Beport U. S. F. C, III, p. 10). In the United States the scup is said 

 to have been carried in a smack from Vineyard Sound to Cape Cod Bay, 

 and that a similar experiment was made in a transfer of the tautog both 

 to Massachusetts Bay and the South Carolina coast. 



The attention paid by the early Bomans to securing an ample supply 

 of fish is well understood, as also the enormous expense of their opera, 

 tions in the construction and maintenance of fish ponds, &c. Among 

 the most highly esteemed species were the red mullet (mullus), and the 

 sea eel, the latter being kept in tanks constructed for the purpose, and 

 fed, in some cases, it is said, with the flesh of slaves, as imparting an 

 added delicacy. The introduction of fish from distant points was there 

 practiced to a greater or less extent. 



The limitations of temperature, however, and appropriate food, will 

 probably determine what may be accomplished in the way of exchanges 

 between the northern and southern coasts of the United States; and 

 there are a few species in European waters the introduction of which 

 it will be well to attempt, especially if brought into waters of the same 

 general physical conditions. Among such desiderata may be reckoned 

 more especially the turbot and sole, which constitute the most impor- 

 tant element in the beam-trawl fisheries, and which, as already ex- 

 plained, always command a high price. There seems no good reason 

 why these fish might not become, in a few years, after a successful 

 transfer of a few individuals, as abundant as they are on the European 

 coasts. An ample supply of suitable food and of the necessary exter- 

 nal conditions could be assured to the new-comers. The experiment 

 would perhaps succeed best on the eastern coast of Massachusetts, 

 where the conditions are quite similar to those of their native habitat. 

 If they were found to thrive in the region south of Cape Cod, an 

 enormous fishery might in time be assured in view of the adaptation 

 of the waters to successful beam-trawling. 



As a return to Europe for the contribution of the turbot and sole 

 S. Mis. 90 11 



