28 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
Mr. Wm. J. Fisher has furnished the following information 
concerning the schooling of cod around Kodiak, which he ob- 
tained from Capt. H. R. Bowen : Cod associate in schools gener- 
ally from May to the middle of September, and they live inde- 
pendently the rest of the year, the severity of the winter having 
much influence. At different seasons and in different places 
there are different schools. Males, females and young are found 
in the same schools. The movements of the schools are affected 
by the presence of food and by the state of the tide, the fish 
taking the hook more readily at slack water. 
Mr. Devine speaking about the Shumagin cod told me on the 
igth of July, 1880, that they found the fish both in schools and 
independent. There were “picking fish”’ at the time, and there 
had been ‘no great flush” of school fish this year. Different 
schools are found at different seasons and in different places. 
Mr. Devine says that males, females and young are not found 
associated. The males go together at certain times and the females. 
At the spawning season there are more females than males. The 
movements of the schools are very much affected by sharks 
especially, and dogfish to some extent. Dogfish are not abund- 
ant; sharks are quite so. The dogfish is identical with our At- 
lantic spined dogfish. We did not get a specimen of the shark, 
but the National Museum has a couple of small ones from Sitka, 
which are very close if not identical with Gadleorhinus galeus. AS 
for the influence of the tides, Mr. Devine says that fishing is best 
during the spring tides, and poorest in slack tides. Sometimes 
the cod have such a superabundance of food that they refuse to 
‘take the hook. My own observations at various points along the 
Alaskan coast, seemed to indicate that young cod, from two to 
_four inches in length, prefer to school near the shores in sheltered 
coves Where the water is shallow, and often where it receives a 
large admixture of fresh water. At Iliuliuk I found myriads of 
such young fish playing about the wharves, eagerly seizing the 
hooks baited for larger prey. Occasionally a larger cod, say of 
sixteen or eighteen inches in length, would be caught in the same 
vicinity, but almost invariably we found the small fry unmixed 
with older fish. The supply of food forms a very imporcant — 
motive for the presence of cod in particular places at certain 
