FISHES 147 



1. General appearance (size, color, general form). 



2. Geographical distribution (that is, in what waters the fishes 



* are found). 



3. Food and feeding habits. 



4. Method of capturing the fish. 



5. Amount caught annually and its value in money. 



6. Breeding habits and other general facts of interest. 



If possible illustrate your composition with any drawings or pic- 

 tures of the fish you are studying. 



HO. Visit to a fish market. — (Optional.) 



In your notebook prepare an account of your visit to some fish- 

 market, using the following topics as a guide. 



1. Location of the fish market and the name of its owner. 



2. Make a list of the various kinds of fish offered for sale. 



3. State the kind of fish that sells at the lowest price per pound at 



this time of year. 



4. State the kind of fish that is most expensive per pound at this 



season. 



5. Name the kind of fish now sold in the greatest quantity. 



111. Conservation of food fishes. — A story of reckless 

 waste similar to that recorded in regard to the destruction 

 of our forests may be duplicated here concerning the 

 way men have exploited our abundant natural source of 

 food, the fishes. The Atlantic salmon, which was once 

 " the salmon," is now of comparatively little commercial 

 importance. " Salmon were marvelously abundant in colo- 

 nial days. ... It is stated that the epicurean apprentices 

 of Connecticut would eat salmon no oftener than twice a 

 week. . . . There can be no doubt that one hundred years 

 ago salmon fishing was an important food resource in south- 

 ern New England. . . . But at the beginning of this centm'y 

 salmon began rapidly to diminish. Mitchill stated in 1814 

 that in former days the supply to the New York market 



