THE BLUEFISH. 157 
mackerel was not an unmitigated evil, however, since, as Capt. Atwood 
pointed out, the number of lobsters for a time was very considerably 
increased. The mackerel fed upon their eggs, and when they were 
driven away by the Bluefish the lobsters had a better chance to multiply. 
The Bluefish sometimes make their way up the rivers to a considerable 
distance, the adults, however, apparently never entering the perfectly 
fresh water. They are found in the Potomac as far north as Acquia Creek, 
and also far up the Hudson ; indeed, the young of the year are taken as 
high as Sing Sing on the Hudson and in other tidal rivers, where the water 
is entirely fresh. 
Summing up all the evidence in regard to the periodical appear- 
ance of the Bluefish, we find notice of its occurrence in 1672, or even 
1659, and up to 1764. How long it existed in the waters prior to that 
date cannot now be determined. The oral testimony of Mr. Parker refers 
to its occurrence at Wood’s Holl in 1780 or 1790; and it is mentioned 
by Mr. Smith as being at Newport in 1800, and at Edgartown, Mass., 
about the same time, by Capt. Pease. Mitchill testifies to its occurrence 
in New York, of very small size, in 1810; and it is recorded as existing 
again in Nantucket in 1820, and about Woods Holl and Buzzard’s Bay 
in 1830 to 1831, and a little later at Hyannis. In 1830 it had become 
abundant about Nantucket, and in the fall of 1837 it was first noticed in 
Massachusetts Bay, and then year by year it became more and more 
numerous, until now it is very abundant. Several accounts agree in refer- 
ence to the very large size (even to forty or fifty pounds) of those taken 
in the last century. 
Further research into ancient records may tend to throw more light on 
the early history of the Bluefish, and even materially to change the con- 
clusions already reached. It will be observed that the references to its 
occurrence, from 1780 to 1800, are on the testimony of aged persons who 
have heard their fathers speak of it, although I find no printed records 
anywhere in reference to it between 1764 and 1810. The rate of progres- 
sion to the north of Cape Cod I have at present no means of indicating, 
although they probably gradually ranged further and further north, and 
very possibly occurred much further east than we have any mention of at 
present. 
During the present century the maximum of abundance of these fish off 
the middle coast of the United States appears to have been reached from 
