170 Big Game Fishes 



of a jack beat could be heard, sometimes a dozen 

 times from the reef, and so exciting was the inci- 

 dent that generally some one would pull off 

 and join the gulls, pelicans, and other curious 

 ones. At this time the fish would bite at any- 

 thing. A handkerchief dashed through the water, 

 a piece of coral thrown in, indeed, any object 

 would be seized; and I have seen several fisher- 

 men cast their lines into the throng, and become 

 so excited that an inextricable tangle was the 

 result. 



The jack, like many other fishes, changes its 

 name with the locality. On the reef where I 

 caught it winter and summer, around Long, 

 Sand, Bush, Garden, Loggerhead, and other 

 keys, it was the jack pure and simple. On the 

 Cuban coast it is toro. At Porto Rico it is 

 jack, and jiguagua, but up the coast at Indian 

 River it becomes cavally, while the South Caro- 

 linians call it horse crevalle. It ranges the 

 waters of the Gulf of Mexico and vicinity, on the 

 Pacific side of the isthmus, and is common in 

 the region of Panama ; but for some reason the 

 fish does not range north on this coast, despite 

 the warm water. In the Atlantic, specimens 

 have been seen as far north as Cape Cod, but 



