46 fish Cultural Association. 
migrations, though their bathic migrations may without any 
inconsistency be quite as good as those of the species which 
range less. Upon this point I cannot do better than to quote 
a manuscript from letter written by Professor Baird to the Hon. 
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, dated July 21, 1873. Hav- 
ing expressed the views concerning the migration of the her- 
ring and shad, already quoted, continues : 
“The fish of the mackerel family form an exception to 
this rule. While the herring and shad generally swim low in 
the water, their presence being seldom indicated at the sur- 
face; the mackerel swim near the surface, sometimes far out 
to sea, and their movements can be readily followed. The 
North American species consists of fish which as certainly, 
for the most part at least, have a migration along our coast 
northward in spring and south in autumn, as that of the ordi- 
nary pleasure seeker, and their habit of schooling on the sur- 
face of the water enables us to, determine this fact with great 
precision: (* *...*  Whatever:may be, the theories of others 
on this subject, the American mackerel fisherman knows per- 
fectly well that in the spring he will find the school of mack- 
erel off Cape Henry, and that he can follow them north- 
ward day by day as they move in countless myriads on to the 
coast of Maine and Nova Scotia.’’ 
Vv. A CRITICISM’ OF CERPAIN “RECENT THEORIES. 
It is difficult to estimate to what extent the advocates of 
the hybernation theory have been influenced by patriotic mo- 
tives in their efforts to prove that the mackerel remain in the 
waters of the Dominion of Canada throughout the entire 
year. It is certain that all recent treatises on ichthyology by 
Canadian writers have appeared in the form of campaign 
