REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 193 
the harbor. They hatched out in eighteen hours, with the water at a temperature 
of 84° F. Other lots were also taken and successfully hatched, the time varying 
with the temperature; with the water at 78° F. if required twenty-four hours, 
The eggs are one twenty-sixth of an inch in diameter, and have a specific gravity 
almost exactly the same as that of salt water; when there is no motion most of them 
remain at or near the surface, but with the least current they become generally 
distributed through the mass. Each egg has a very prominent oil globule, which 
keeps it in a proper position in the water. 
The porgy is a very prolific species, a good-sized individual probably containing 
about a million of eggs. These ripen irregularly, some being quite green and imma- 
ture after the first have been deposited. As the eggs ripen they burst the membrane 
that holds them and pass down the channel that leads to the vent; they are thus 
thrown out gradually, or at intervals of a few days at most, the time required by the 
individual for spawning being not less than six weeks, while the spawning season 
for the species must extend into September. The species evidently matures when 
young or are of slow growth, for an individual weighing only half a pound was seen 
with the spermaries fully developed and the milt running freely. 
Archosargus probatocephalus. Sheepshead. 
Arrives in small schools early in May and remains until November. 
Most common in the pound nets in June. Weighs about 4 pounds and 
sells for 35 cents each. Much less numerous than it was a few years 
ago, when a single net took more than the aggregate yield in 1890. 
When pound nets were first introduced it is said that large catches 
were often made, and it is reported that during one day in September, 
1877, a single net on this shore took 1,700 sheepshead, which were sold 
in Norfolk for $600. 
Clupea sapidissima. Shad. 
Arrive in March and are taken until June. The entire catch in all 
the pound nets is usually less than that in a single net on the opposite 
side of the bay, being 12,700 pounds in 1889. In 1890, however, there 
was a larger run, and 44,872 pounds were obtained, 
Brevoortia tyrannus. Menhaden; ‘‘Alewife”; ‘ Oldwife.” 
A small pound net set near Cape Charles City in December, 1890, 
caught small numbers of menhaden. The fish were of meditun size, 
and, while not abundant, were quite constant in their occurrence at 
that time. Similar evidence has recently been adduced going to show 
that the fish is a regular, but perhaps not abundant, winter inhabitant 
of the Chesapeake. 
Other economic fish taken in the pound nets are alewives (Clupea 
estivalis and O. pseudoharengus), called “ herring”; sturgeon (Acipen- 
ser oxyrhynchus sturio); redfish (Sciana ocellata), called “drum” and 
“red drum;” sea bass (Centropristis striatus), locally known as “ black 
will” and “black bass”; harvest fish (Stromateus paru), the “ butter- 
fish” of the fishermen; spot (Leiostomus xanthurus); flounders (Para- 
lichthys dentatus and other species); kingfish (Menticirrhus sawatilis) ; 
albacore (Albacora thynnus), called ‘ horse-mackerel,” and numerous 
other salt-water fishes taken irregularly or in small numbers, 
HA. Mis, 113 13 
