TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 7 
was taken on May 11th of 7 lbs., quite ripe, and one on May 12th of 
36% lbs., from which the ova were running. On May 22nd one of 6 lbs. 
was found spent, and another of 3 lbs., which showed signs of ripeness. 
Of the fourteen codfish which were examined, all except two were 
spent fish, accordingly all investigation was directed to find out their 
food. The two exceptions were that on March 28th, a female thirteen 
pounds in weight was found with perfectly ripe ovaries, and on May 
12th, one was taken in which the ovaries were quite soft and some 
of the ova transparent. The food of the cod is quite miscellaneous, 
consisting, so far as I have noticed, of various kind of fishes, 
such as alewives, flounders, whitebait, etc., and sea-anemones, rock- 
crabs, razor-shells, small shrimp, hermit crabs, sea-cucumbers or 
molothurians and mussels. In fact, anything that is handy may find a 
resting place in a cod’s stomach. Of the above-mentioned fishes, the 
first striped bass and cod were examined on February 24th, the lasts 
cod on May 16th, the last striped bass on May 26th. 
The results as obtained from examination of the rest of the fishes 
may be summarized somewhat briefly as follows: 
March 2nd. Smelt.—Ovaries quite ripe; piece of a marine worm in 
stomach. 
March 21st to April 27th. Eels— 334-53 pounds; ovaries quite 
soft; nothing in stomach. 
March 24th. Flounder.—Two pounds; nothing in stomach; ovaries 
nearly ripe. 
March 31st. Angler fish—Yellow perch in stomach; ovaries very 
large and very soft. 
April 14th to May 19th. Mackerel.—Up to May 4th the ovaries and 
spermaries gradually became softer, upon which date one nearly ripe 
ovary was found. On May 11th others, both ovaries and spermaries 
were found, and on May iogth, the last examined, one quite ripe ovary 
was found. The stomachs of most of the specimens examined were 
filled with small reddish crustacea, copepods, small shrimp, small 
shells, and in the last two specimens examined, the stomachs were 
literally packed with the ova of some other fish. 
April 20th to May 16th. Shad (North River, 16).—Ovaries not ex- 
amined; stomachs of part of them with small shrimp, and a few fish 
scales. In some, the stomachs were full of the shrimp. In one 
Southern and three Connecticut shad nothing in stomach. 
May 4th. Menhaden.—Male; first of season, spermaries not showing 
very much evidence of ripeness. Stomach with decomposed material. 
May 4th to May Igth. Porgies (8).—3 males, 5 females; ovaries and 
spermaries getting quite soft. Stomachs with gelatinous chyle-like 
_ material. 
