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Fishes of Massachusetts. 343 
ployed in this fishery, in 1836, in the county of 
Barnstable, and that of this number, ninety-eight 
belonged to Provincetown, which were valued at 
$147,000. 
Several of our most intelligent fishermen inform 
me, that the difficulty of taking mackerel is yearly 
increasing, from the barbarous custom prevailing of 
gafiing them,—of collecting them around vessels by 
means of throwing out bait, and then suddenly draw- 
ing up an instrument armed with numerous sharp 
iron points, by which many are captured, and 
greater numbers are cruelly maimed without being 
taken. 
By the “Statistical Tables,” drawn up by the 
Secretary of State, from the reports of the assessors 
of the different towns upon the various branches 
of industry, it appears, that the number of barrels 
of mackerel taken in the year 1837, with their prices, 
were as follows :—Whole number of bbls. 234,059; 
value, $1,639,042: taken by the following Coun- 
ties :— Barnstable Co., 76,036—valued at $490,- 
638; Esser Co. 09,599— $518,663; Suffolk 
Co., 43,266 = $320,165; Plymouth Co., 25,258 = 
$179,748; Norfolk Co., 18,450 = $120,528 ; Mid- 
dlesez Co., 1000 — $6000; Bristol Co., A50 = 
$3300. 
My description of the species is from a specimen 
seventeen inches in length. Upper part of the body 
of adark green color, marked throughout its whole ex- 
tent, from occiput to tail, with beautiful transverse, 
undulating bands of a deeper hue, commencing on the 
