EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [12] 



" It appears to be a well-established fact that mackerel are not un- 

 frequently found in the stomachs of cod, and possibly of halibut, taken 

 on the George's Banks in the winter season. Perhaps the number 

 noted would be still larger if fishermen had the time and inclination to 

 examine more frequently than they do the stomachs of the fish captured 

 by them. 



"Another curious fact in relation to the mackerel is in respect to the 

 membrane, the vertical edge of which is observed during the summer 

 season on the corner of the eye. This, it is claimed, during the winter 

 extends over the whole eye, and imparts the appearance of blindness. 

 This the mackerel is said to possess on making its first appearance 

 near the coast in the spring, when it extends over the greater part 

 of the eye, thus preventing the fish from seeing the bait, and it is a 

 matter of common remark that mackerel in the spring cannot be taken 

 with the hook, but must be captured with the net. The membrane 

 appears to recede with the advancing season, and during a considerable 

 portion of the time of its abode in the north it is scarcely appreciable." 



Mr. Perley, of Saint John, N. B., in his work upon the fishes of the 

 Provinces, remarks that mackerel have been taken on cod hooks in 

 deep water, near Grand Manan, in the winter season, and there is evi- 

 dence to show that a few remain on the coast. It is, however, believed 

 that these cases are exceptional and confined to stragglers, as such 

 instances frequently occur with all the migratory fish. 



The mackerel belongs to what may technically be termed pelagic or 

 wandering fish, as their movements, something like those of the herring, 

 are apparently more or less capricious, though probably governed by 

 some definite law, which has not yet been worked out. It moves in large 

 schools or bands, more or less isolated from each other, which some- 

 times swim near the surface and give distinct evidence of their pres- 

 ence, and at others sink down into the depths of the ocean and are 

 entirely withdrawn from observation. The army of fish, however, in its 

 northern migration, moves along with a very broad front, a portion com- 

 ing so close to the shore as to be taken in the weirs and traps along the 

 coast of Southern New England, especially in Vineyard Sound and on 

 Cape Cod; while at the same time other schools are met with from 20 to 

 50 miles, or even more, out to sea. It is, however, still a question 

 whether the fish that skirt the coast of the United States enter the Bay 

 of Saint Lawrence, or whether the latter belong to another series, com- 

 ing directly from the deep seas off the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia 

 coast. Until lately the former has been the generally accepted theory, 

 iu view of the alleged fact that the fishermen of the Nova Scotia coast 

 always take the fish coming from the west in the spring and from the 

 east in the fall. 



Captain Hanson B. Joyce, of Swan's Island, Maine, one of the most 

 expert aud observing mackerel fishermen of New England, thinks that 

 the movements of the spring schools of mackerel are very much in- 



