EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. EI 
THE PRESIDENT appointed Messrs. BLACKFrorD, MATHER, and 
ROOSEVELT as such committee. 
Mr. E. G. Biackrorp then read the following paper on 
Whitebait : 
The object of bringing to the notice of this Association the fol- 
lowing tacts and opinions of this tiny fish, that has been the 
subject of so much discussion, is, if possible, to clear away the 
uncertainty that has surrounded the question since it has been 
added to the menu of the American icthyophagist. There have 
been, from time to time, as in the case of most other fish, some 
very learned disputes as to where it comes from, how it grows, 
and whether or not it be a distinct member of the herring 
family, or the young of some other fish. In order that we may 
fully understand and comprehend what Whitebait are, let us ex- 
amine into its history in England, where the name first origi- 
nated. Mr. J. H. Cannon, a gentleman who was examined 
before the English Fishery Commission, in June, 1878, states 
“ That the toothsome little fish was not ‘discovered’ until about 
1780, and that it was his grandfather who had the honor of in- 
troducing it to the British public. It would appear that its 
pre-eminent merits were not at first appreciated even by its ‘ dis- 
coverer.”’ Old Mr. Cannon was a fisherman, and the first use 
to which he applied the tiny creature was the baiting of eel- 
pots. It wasin this way that it came to receive its name, by 
which it has ever since been known. In the Natural History of 
British Fishes, by E. Donovan, published in 1809, is a plate, giv- 
ing a beautiful picture of English Whitebait, and in the text 
Mr. Donovan expresses the opinion that they are the young of 
shad. In 1828, Dr. Yarrell, in a paper published in the “ Zoo- 
logical Journal,” entitled “On the Supposed Identity of White- 
bait and Shad,” discusses the subject at great length, and gives 
it as his unqualified opinion that it is a distinct species of the 
herring family, names it C/upea alba, and claims to have exam- 
ined specimens in which he found roe, and that he believed that 
they deposited their spawn during the winter. Yarrell states 
that the fishing commences at the end of March and continues 
until September, and that no other fry of any value swims with 
