272 WHERE, WHEN, AND HOW TO CATCH FISH 



classed in the order Isospondyli — from two Greek words signifying 

 'equal,' 'vertebra.' In this order we find many other fishes that 

 are taken on hook and line — the salmons, trouts, graylings, moon- 

 eyes, tarpons, herrings, shad, smelt, whitefishes (cisco), pike, 

 pickerel and mascalonge. The fishes of this order are characterized 

 by the soft rays in their fins ; presence of a flat bone on the upper 

 side of the head ; an arch of bone in front of the shoulder ; absence 

 of bones in the ear formation, and the bones in the mouth and in 

 front of the sesophagus are not shaped like a scythe, as in the fishes 

 previously described. 



"The true bonefish (Albi/la vulpes) is the only representative of 

 the family Albulida. Its range is stated in the text-books to be from 

 Cape Cod southward to the warm seas, but it has occurred to me that 

 the confusion arising from a similarity of popular names, alluded to 

 above, might possibly have led to error as to range of habitat of this 

 fish. I have examined a specimen of the big-eyed herring, wrongly 

 called ladyfish, that was caught on a hook in the waters of Princes 

 Bay, Staten Island, but in my familiar personal and editorial inter- 

 course, extending over a quarter of a century, with the salt-water 

 fishermen of New York City, ten thousand of whom go a-fishing every 

 week of the season, I have never heard of A. vulpes being taken by 

 any of these rodsters. But negative proof is no proof at all, even 

 when reinforced by the fact that no angling record exists of the true 

 bonefish being caught on the hook in any waters north of Biscayne 

 Bay, Florida, a circumstance which is unusual when we consider that 

 the east and west coasts of that State are annually visited by thousands 

 of eager, intelligent and observant anglers, a few only of whom have 

 caught this fish, and only in Biscayne Bay. They at once classed it 

 as the fiercest fighter for its size in southern seas, and in this connec- 

 tion it must be noticed that the presence of game qualities in a fish is 

 an assurance that its habits, habitat and physical markings will be 

 studied by the angler who catches it, particularly when the fish is the 

 first of its species that has fallen to his rod. With this fact before 

 me, I am impelled to question the accuracy of the recorded northern 

 range of the bonefish. 



"But little is known of the angling traits of A. vulpes, although 

 for several years past there has been great interest shown by anglers, 

 in Florida, as to its fighting qualities and habitat. In the winter of 

 '94-' 95, a large number of enthusiastic anglers gathered at Naples on 



