1 84 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



accounts agree in reference to the very large size (even to 

 forty or fifty pounds) of those taken in the last century. 



Further research into ancient records may tend to 

 throw more light on the early history of the Blue-fish, and 

 even materially to change the conclusions already reached. 

 It will be observed that the references to its occurrence, 

 from 1770 to 1800, are on the testimony of aged persons 

 who have heard their fathers speak of it, although I find no 

 printed records anywhere in reference to it between 1764 and 

 1 8 10. The rate of progression to the north of Cape Cod I 

 have at present no means of indicating, although they proba- 

 bly gradually ranged further and further north, and very 

 possibly occurred much further east than we have any men- 

 tion of at present. 



During the present century the maximum of abundance of 

 these fish off the middle coast of the United States appears 

 to have been reached from 1850 to i860. The testimony 

 elicited from various observers, as well as from printed rec- 

 ords, indicates a decrease since that period, much greater in 

 some localities than others. About New York they are said 

 to have been unusually plenty in the summer of 1871, but 

 farther east the diminution which had been observed in pre- 

 vious years appeared to continue. 



Diligent research by numerous inquiries during a period of 

 sixteen years has added little to what Prof. Baird has stated, 

 and it may be regarded as almost certain that Blue-fish do not 

 spawn in our inshore waters. The only important contribu- 

 tion to our knowledge on this subject is found in the notes 

 of Mr. Silas Stearns, who believes that he has abundant evi- 

 dence of their spawning in the Gulf of Mexico. His remarks 

 are quoted in full below. The Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt 

 records that he observed the Blue-fish fry less than an inch 

 in length in the iulet of Far Rockaway, N. Y. , on the 10th of 



July- 



Little is known of their reproduction. Dr. Yarrow does 





