298 AMERICAN FISHES. 
cities like Boston and Portland. They are also taken in immense 
quantities in nets. The Irish market-boats of Boston make a special 
business of catching them, using circular nets three or four feet in diameter 
which are baited and set among the rocks. Dr. H. R. Storer records that 
on the occasion of his visit to Labrador, in 1849, he found them so plentiful 
in the Gut of Canso, that by sinking a basket with a salt fish tied therein 
for bait, he continually caught them by the score, and by putting a few 
hundreds in the well of his sloop, kept the crew well supplied with fish while 
at sea on the way to Labrador. The people of Nova Scotia, like those 
south of Cape Cod, rarely if ever eat the Cunner. Mr. J. Matthew 
Jones informs me that in the summer of 1863, when the French fleet was 
anchored in Halifax Harbor, the sailors caught them for food in great 
numbers. About St. Margaret’s Bay, according to Mr. Ambrose, they are 
given as food to pigs; since, however, the pork of these fish-fed pigs 
always tastes oily, they are generally fed on some other food for a short 
time before being killed, and well dosed with sulphur. It was formerly 
customary in Boston to keep these fish alive for market in large cars, de- 
scribed by Storer as three feet deep, twelve to fifteen feet long, closed 
beneath and latticed at the sides, and anchored in deep water. Storer 
states that sometimes as many as five thousand fish were kept in a single 
car, and that these cars were replenished every week or fortnight. It is 
impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the quantity of Cun- 
ners annually taken. The catch of the Irish market-boats of Boston 
cannot fall much short of 300,000 pounds, and that of the other towns and 
States on the coast of New England is certain to be from 200,000 to 
250,000 pounds. 
Several of the Parrot-fishes occur on the Florida coast, notably the 
Blue Parrot-fish, Platyglossus radiatus (Linn.) Goode, sometimes, accord- 
ing to Jordan, seen in Key West market, and P. divitfatus, known in 
Bermuda as ‘‘ Slippery Dick,’’ recorded by Jordan from Charleston mar- 
ket. They are gorgeous in color, but the flesh is so dry that they are held 
in slight esteem for table use. 
The Red-fish, of California, Zrochocopus pulcher, writes Jordan, is 
everywhere known as the ‘‘Red-fish’’: the name ‘‘Fat-head’’ is occa- 
sionally used, and it is very rarely called ‘‘Sheepshead.’’ It reaches a 
weight of twelve to fifteen pounds. It is found from Point Conception 
southward to Cerros Island in enormous numbers, in the kelp. It is taken 
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