Peculiar Features of the Fish-Market. ay 
Mr. Eucene G. BLackrorp read a paper on the “ Pecu- 
liar Features of the Fish-Market.” 
GENTLEMEN: Your section has thought it best to report 
upon the staple fish—shad, trout, and salmon—which are lead- 
ing objects of sale at various seasons in New York. 
The supply of shad was not remarkable, either as to size 
or quality, during the season of 1877. It was not abundant, 
either in Northern or Southern waters. In the South shad 
made its appearance about the usual time, towards the close 
of December in Florida, followed later with the fish caught 
in Georgia, in the Ogeechee, and ending for southern fish in 
shad caught in the Neuse River, North Carolina. These 
North Carolina shad are the best of the southern shad as to 
quality, and almost rival those fish caught in the Connecti- 
cut, both as to size and flavor. 
In the Middle States, Virginia and Maryland supply but 
few shad to New York, a much smaller proportion coming 
from the Potomac than for several years past. One pecu- 
liarity of the shad of the Potomac, to which we would call 
the attention of the Fish Commissioners, is that the female 
fish are all very fully matured, with eggs much further ad- 
vanced in condition than those of any other shad coming 
into the market. In these Potomac fish the quality of the 
flesh is somewhat impaired by this over-ripeness, being rather 
dry and insipid, in many instances the roe being worthless as 
food. 3 
From the Hudson River we had hoped, during the last 
year, to have reaped a rich harvest, but we regret. to say 
thé yield was hardly up to the average catch of the last 
five years. Fully appreciating the work of the New York 
Fish Commissioners, and the great intelligence they have 
shown in their labors, we are more insistant than ever that 
