ETC. 185 



of scup we are getting now. The fisli they used to catch weighed 

 three-quarters of a pound to one pound. 



We get full-sized English herring herej they are taken in gill-nets. 

 I never saw any spawn about them. They used to catch them here in 

 the winter. They are not plenty. 



I got boneto plenty this year 5 sometimes got one hundred at a time. 

 They brought about six cents a pound in New York. They are not 

 worth as much in New York as blue-fish. I got a good many cero. 



Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, Oetoher "9, 1872. 



Captain Thomas Hinckley, who has a pound at West Falmouth, 

 and whose testimony, taken in 1871, is printed on page 59, stated that 

 all fish had become unusually scarce in 1872, with the excex)tion of ale- 

 wives, menhaden, and dog-fish, (Acantliias americanus.) Alewives 

 and menhaden were in such abundance that it was impossible to dis- 

 pose of them ; especially as the fishing smacks which formerly came in 

 for bait for mackerel are now in the habit of securing their own supply 

 by means of nets that they carry with them. Blue-fish are scarcely 

 one-fourth as numerous as last year, and are of very small size, this 

 scarcity perhaps having some relation to the abundance of herring. 

 Squeteague, too, are considerably more scarce ; so much so that both 

 they and blue-fish for a fortnight brought 10 cents a pound at wholesale, 

 an unusually high price. 



The small scup, so abundant in the summer of 1871, made their 

 appearance as one year older, and were caught readily on the proper 

 grounds. These averaged 5^ ounces each, or nearly double the weight 

 of last year. There were, however, few or no scup corresponding in 

 size to the small ones of the year before. Unintermitted fishing by the 

 children from the wharves, in the summer of 1872, failed to make any 

 captures. [From this it would appear that the astonishing supply of 

 young scup in 1871 was rather sporadic in its character, and that, from 

 whatever cause it proceeded, the same conditions did not prevail this 

 season. Where these fish actually came from, it is extremely difficult 

 to say ; whether an unusually large number of the breeding-scup suc- 

 ceeded in evading their enemies in 1870, or whether fish bred in more 

 southern waters appeared on the coast in 1871, and moved in a body 

 northward, covering the ground where they did not originally belong. 



In reference to the young scup of 1871, some light may possibly be 

 thrown upon the subject by the statement of Thomas James, the pro- 

 prietor of two heart-seines in Narragansett Bay, that late in the fall of 

 1870 he was astonished at finding in his nets immense numbers of 

 young scup, evidently spawned during that summer. These would 

 represent, of "course, the three-ounce scup found in the summer of 1871, 

 and the six-ounce scup of 1872. 



The scup of 1872 correspond to what are usually called the " second 

 run" of scup, and were caught in sufficient quantity to market, being 

 sent to New York in large numbers. Should nothing interfere with 

 them, these fish will probably make their appearance in 1873 as spawn- 

 ing fish. Whether they will be permitted to deposit their eggs in peace^ 

 and thus keep up the supply, will depend pr(^ably upon the question 

 whether the close time recommended is adopted. 



While there did not appear to be any new pounds or traps erected in 

 Narragansett Bay during 1872, many additions were made to the num- 



