01 



of Harvard University ; H. W. Putnam, City Point, Va.; William L. 

 Welch, notice of transmission of specimens and photographs : Messrs. 

 Hartman & Laich of Cincinnati, Ohio, on business. 



Captain N. E. Atwood of Provincetown, being present, 

 was called upon by the chair and gave an interesting ac- 

 count of several species of native fishes as observed by 

 him 



The Cod fish of the Eastern coast of the United States 

 is not an inhabitant of the waters south of Cape Hatteras ; 

 that cape being the southern limit of the species. The 

 northern limit he could not state, though it was certainly 

 far north of the Straits of Belle Isle. In regard to the 

 Cod, on our eastern coast, being of one, two, or three spe- 

 cies, he could not, as yet, decide, but judging from their 

 habits alone there might be three species, and it was his 

 greatest desire to devote the rest of his life to the solving 

 of this and similar problems in ichthyology, which can 

 only be done by a person spending a length of time at 

 each of the fishing grounds on the coast ; carefully col- 

 lecting facts, examining and comparing a large number of 

 specimens from each place. At present, all he could say 

 was, that there was a great and constant variation in the 

 habits and size of the Cod from the various fishing grounds 

 on the coast. The Cod taken by troll lines in the Gulf of 

 the St. Lawrence are much larger than those from any 

 other place, while those taken by the hand lines are quite 

 small. The largest Cod he had ever seen weighed one 

 hundred and one-half pounds, and this specimen was taken 

 near Provincetown. He had heard of others that were 

 supposed to have weighed from one hundred and fifty to 

 one hundred and seventy-five pounds, which had been cap- 

 tured in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the shore. On 

 the coast of Labrador, he had never seen a Cod that 

 would weigh twenty-five pounds ; larger specimens, how- 

 ever, were taken on the small banks in the Straits of 

 Belie Isle, five miles and upwards from the shore, and on 

 George's Bank the fish caught with hand lines average 

 larger than from other localities. 



Mackerel come into Provincetown harbor in the spring 

 as early as the 15th of May, all of full size and with spawn, 



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