XXXV.— POMATO^SIIDii:. 



rOMATOMUS, Lac. 



1'. ;3ALTATRIX. 



The Tailor, or Bliie-Fisli. 



()l)loiig-, compressed, thicker above, and almost sharp l)e- 

 low. Head rather Lari;-e, thick, with the line of the ])rotile 

 slightly convex, and the snont rounded. Wlien iirst taken 

 from tlie water hi-illiant silver-colored, which soon becomes 

 shaded with pale green along the back, finally darkening 

 into a greenish-bine, es])ecially in the old fish, and hence it 

 is called ''Ijlue-Fish." A dusky spot at the root of the pec- 

 toral fin. 



Fin-rays:— D. 8.27: P. 10; Y. 1.5; A. 2.28; C. 20. 



Gasterosteus saltatrix, L. Syst. Nat. T. ]). 41). 



Scomher saUator. Bl. Seh. p. oo. 



Fomatomns d-ib, Lacep. IV, p. 4o0, j)l. 8, hg. o. 



^'comber plumheus, Mitch. Trans. Lit. t^- Phil. Soc. New 

 York, I, p. 424, pi. 4, iig. 1. 



Temnodon .saUator, Cuv. cV' Val. IX, p. 22.j, pi. 200; 

 DeKay, New York Fauna, Fish, p. 130, pi. 2(1, tig. 81; 

 Baird, Ninth Smithson. Eeport, p. 337; Holbr. Ichth. S. 

 Car. p. H4, pi. '), fig. 2; (luenth. II, p. 479. 



Exceedingly abundant in Chesapeake Bay; isolated speci- 

 mens wander up as high as to the Susquehanna Eiver. 



''They have many of the habits of the Common Mackerel: 

 collect in great multitudes, often swimming near the surface 

 of the water, thus causing a thousand ripples, leaping at 

 times a foot or more into the air, whence they are called 

 SSkip- Jacks . '" " 



Small s]iecimens are common in summer in all tiie tide- 

 water streams emptying into Chesapeake Bay. 



AcAU. Coll. S. I. 



