THE BLUE-FISH. 1 77 



tioned as one of the most abundant fish at the mouth of the 

 St. John's River. When Blue-fish again became abundant, 

 their presence was first noticed at the South, and they seem 

 to have made their inroads from that direction. The Blue- 

 fish was unknown to Schoepf, if we may judge from his work 

 on the "Fishes of New York," published in 1787. Dr. Mitchell 

 recorded their frequent capture about New York in 18 14, 

 though before 18 10 they are said to have been unknown 

 there. In 1825 they were very abundant, and in 1841 

 immense numbers were captured in the Vineyard Sound, 

 while about Nantucket they were on the increase from 1820 

 to 1830. It is certain that they had not reappeared in 1822 

 in Narragansett Bay, for in "Dwight's Travels," it is stated 

 that, though formerly abundant, they had not been seen in 

 that region since the time of the Revolution. The first one 

 which was noticed north of Cape Cod was captured in Octo- 

 ber 1837, though we have no record of their reappearance 

 about Cape Ann before 1847. 



The Blue-fish is a carnivorous animal of the most pro- 

 nounced type, feeding solely upon other fish. Prof. Baird 

 remarks: 



"There is no parallel in point of destructiveness to the 

 Blue-fish among the marine species on our coast, whatever 

 may be the case among some of the carnivorous fish of the 

 South American waters. The Blue-fish has been well likened 

 to an animated chopping machine, the business of which is 

 to cut to pieces and otherwise destroy as many fish as possi- 

 ble in a given space of time. All writers are unanimous in 

 regard to the destructiveness of the Blue-fish. Going in large 

 schools, in pursuit of fish not much inferior to themselves in 

 size, they move along like a pack of hungry wolves destroy- 

 ing everything before them. Their trail is marked by frag- 

 ments of fish and by the stain of blood in the sea, as, where 

 the fish is too large to be swallowed entire, the hinder por- 

 tion will be bitten off and the anterior part allowed to float 

 12 



