436 NATURAL HISTORY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



relating to the local history and domestic economy of New England, and which would doubtless 

 have taken note of so conspicuous a fish had it been present. 



"Whether they existed uninterruptedly during the century intervening between Josselyn's 

 time, 1672 (or even 1659, according to Macy), and 1764, 1 am at present unable to say. According 

 to Captain Pease, they were known about Edgartown at the end of the last century. 1 As already 

 stated. Dr. Mitchill speaks of their first making their appearance about New York in 1810. They 

 are noted as having been seen in Vineyard Sound again as early as 1820. It would therefore appear 

 that they were in such small numbers about New York in 1810 that the young only were noticed 

 nocking about the wharves, and that in ten years they were observed as far east as Nantucket, 

 where the specimens seen from 1824 to 1826 were very small, not over four inches. The next year 

 they measured seven, and the third year ten inches, according to the testimony of one witness, 

 although this does not represent, in all probability, the rate of growth. 



" According to Captain Burgess, of Monument, Massachusetts, they were caught about Nan- 

 tncket in 1825, and were very abundant in 1830. Dr. Storer states the first Bluefish recorded 

 as having been noticed in the present century north of Cape Cod was captured on the 25th of 

 October, 1837. Captain Atwood remarks that in 1838 he saw Bluefish for the first time about 

 Provincetown. These were very small, the largest weighing only two pounds. In a few years, 

 however, they became larger and more numerous, and finally increased to such an extent as to 

 exercise a very marked influence upon the fisheries. According to the captain (Proceedings of 

 Boston Society of Natural History, 1863, p. 189), they arrive in Massachusetts Bay in a body, 

 coming at once, so as to almost fill the harbor at Provincetown. In one year they came in on the 

 22d of June, and although the day before eight thousand mackerel were taken, the day after not 

 one was seen or captured. He says that they leave about the last of September, with the first cold 

 northeasterly storm, although stragglers are taken as late as December at Provincetown. 



" According to Messrs. Marchant and Peter Sinclair, of Gloucester (October, 1872), Bluefish 

 made their first appearance in numbers about Cape Ann twenty-five years ago, coming in great 

 force and driving out all other fish. They are now much scarcer than twenty years ago; about the 

 same as tautog ; some seasons scarcely noticed. 



"Mr. J. C. Parker, an aged gentleman of Falmonth, says the first Bluefish seen at Wood's 

 Holl in this century was taken in July, 1831 ; but his father informed him that they were abundant 

 in the preceding century, about 1780 or 1790, at which time they disappeared; and that when the 

 Bluefish left, the scup first made their appearance. They are also noted as having shown them- 

 selves at the head of Buzzard's Bay in 1830 and 1831, and, although numerous, were of small size, 

 measuring about a foot in length. 



"To sum up the evidence, therefore, in regard to the periodical appearance of the Bluefish, 

 vre find notice of its occurrence in 1672, or even 1659, and up to 1764. How long it existed in the 

 waters prior to that date cannot now be determined. The oral testimony of Mr. Parker refers to 

 its occurrence at Wood's Holl in 1780 or 1790; and it is mentioned by Mr. Smith as being at 

 Newport, in 1800, and at Edgartown, Massachusetts, about the same time by Captain Pease. 

 Mitchill testifies to its occurrence in New York, of very small size, in 1810; and it is recorded as 

 existing again at Nantucket in 1820, and about Wood's Holl and Buzzard's Bay in 1830 to 1831 ; 

 and a little later at Hyannis. In 1830 it had become abundant about Nantucket, and in the fall 



'President Dwight hears witness to the fact that Bluefish were abundant in the Narragansett Bay region as late 

 *s 1780. " The Horse Mackerel formerly frequented this coast in immense numbers, and in the season were constantly 

 to be fonnd in the market. But about the close of the Revoluti onary war they forsook our waters and have not made 

 their appearance since. They were esteemed a great delicacy, and are the largest of the mackerel species. Note on 

 Fishes of Newport, Rhode Island. Dwight's Travels, iii, 1822, p. 50. 



