18 



cies usually sold in the markets. Next to them come the sturgeon, 

 the Scixnidx, which family furnishes two valued species, the Atlier- 

 inidx, or so-called smelts, and lastly the Gadidse, or codfish, and the 

 ClujJeidse, or herrings, two families which do not occupy the promi- 

 nent position accorded to them elsewhere, since only one or two spe- 

 cies of each are sufficiently abundant to form an important item in 

 the total 'fish supply. Several species of Scombridse (mackerel, as the 

 family was defined by the older naturalists) occur along the coast of 

 California, but none of these are taken, except occasionally, in the 

 immediate vicinity of San Francisco, and none of them are brought 

 to onr markets either regularly or plentifully. 



With the exception of a single species of skate, all the marine fishes 

 habituallj^ eaten by the white residents of the city belong to one or 

 other of the families enumerated above. 



The quantity of fresh-water fishes (excluding the salmon) brought 

 to our markets is not very large, and consists chiefly of four species 

 of cyprinidx {Eventognathi, Gill) and the Sacramento perch. 



Certain introduced fishes are now becoming sufficiently abundant 

 to be worthy of enumeration among our food, fishes, although they 

 are only occasionally brought to market, and are sold at a high price. 

 These are the shad, Alosa sapidissima, the Prussian carp, Carassius 

 vidgaris, and a species of catfish, Amiurus albidns. The first of these 

 is still very scarce, and fetches a very high price, but some examples 

 attain quite respectable dimensions, and the supply is tolerably con- 

 stant. The largest I have seen measured twenty-six inches in length 

 by seven in width; another was twenty inches long by five and a 

 half wide; and a third intermediate between these. The Prussian 

 carp was first introduced by Mr. Poppe, of Sonoma County, but has 

 since been raised at other places. Those sent to the market were 

 from Port Harford. 



During the time that the writer has systematically watched the 

 market he has been so fortunate as to discover several new species of 

 fishes, of which three belonging to the Pleuronedidse, a Lycodoid, and 

 a Scomberoid, are of more or less value as food fishes. This occur- 

 rence of previously undescribed species, as well as the abundance of 

 numerous other species formerly little known, may be partially attrib- 

 uted to the fact that the fishermen now trawl in deeper water than 

 formerly, going to thirty-six fathoms or more, and partially to the 

 facility with which, now that railway communication is established, 

 the fishermen of Monterey and other places can send their catch to 

 San Francisco. In the days when Dr. Ayres watched the markets 

 and described so many of our fishes, the Monterey fishermen did not 

 have the advantage of supplying the San Francisco market; on the 

 contrary, the fishers of our bay sent a portion of their catch to points 

 between San Francisco and Monterey that are now supplied by the 

 Monterey fishermen. This competition, together with the vast quan- 

 tities taken out of the bay by the Chinese, the havoc worked by the 

 protected legion of sea lions at the entrance of the Golden Gate, and 

 the want of any close time for the more useful kinds of fishes, 

 threaten, in the course of time, to make the local fishery unremu- 

 nerative to the hard-working men engaged in it. It is much to be 

 regretted that the white fishermen themselves, by their indiscrim- 

 inate destruction of young fishes, and uncompromising slaughter of 

 adults during the spawning season, appear anxious to hasten that 

 destruction. 



