THE JUEEL OE HARD-TAIL. 325 



small schools that swim in shoal water near the beach dmring pleasant weather, when there is little 

 or no surf, in eight or ten feet of water, and in stormy weather some little distance from the break- 

 ers. Their movement is from the eastward to the westward. As they seldom swim at the surface, 

 their movements can be watched only when in shoal water. The schools ' running'' in April and 

 first of May are usually smaller than those of a few weeks later, but the individuals of the first are 

 somewhat larger. The mass, or largest 'run,' comes in Maj^, and it is on the arrival of these that 

 schools are first seen coming in the inlets. 



" A noticeable peculiarity of the Hard-tail compared with some other common migratory fishes^ 

 is that the first schools do not stay about the mouths of an inlet and along the beach weeks before 

 coming inside as those of the latter do, but continue their westward movement, without seeming 

 to stop to feed or play, until the time has come for a general movement towards the bays. lu this 

 way they must be distributed along the coast, with no unequal accumulation at any one point. 

 When once inside, the numerous schools break up into smaller ones of a dozen or two fish, which 

 are found in all parts of the bay during the summer. On their arrival the larger fish contain 

 spawn, which in July and August becomes quite full, after which none are seen but the young fish 

 of about ten inches in length, until there is a general movement towards the sea. It is believed 

 that the adult fish spawn in the bays, but the only evidence to support that belief is that they come 

 inside with spawn, go away without it, and that very young fish are found there. In October and 

 November small Hard-tails are caught in Santa Eosa Sound, measuring five and six inches in 

 length. 



" The smallest of the spring run are nine or ten inches long. Adult fish measure twelve, four- 

 teen, and fifteen inches in length, very rarely more than the last. During the mouths of October 

 and November Hard-tails leave the bays, formed in small schools and swimming below the surface 

 in deep water. The only time that they can then be seen is when they cross the 'bars' at the inlet 

 or sandy shoals in the bay. A few stragglers remain in Pensacola Bay and Santa Eosa Sound 

 all winter, which are taken now and then with hook and line. I have found them in abun- 

 dance in winter on the South Florida coast, where, owing to less variable conditions of the water, 

 their habits are decidedly difierent. The Hard-tail is a most voracious fish, waging active war 

 upon the schools of small fish. Its movements are rapid, and sometimes in its eagerness it will 

 jump high out of the water. It has its enemies also, for I have seen whole schools driven ashore 

 by sharks and porpoises; a great many are destroyed in this way. Hard-tails are caught for the 

 market in seines." 



The Cuba Jueel — Gabanx pallax. 



The occurrence of this species on our coast was first announced by a drawing made by Mr. J. 

 H. Eichard of a fish taken in South Carolina. Upon this drawing Holbrook founded his species, 

 C. Bichardii. Garanx fallax occurs abundantly throughout the West Indies and along the Gulf 

 coast of the United States, and it is by no means impossible that stragglers should have 

 found their way toCharleston. According to Professor Poey, this fish has been prohibited from 

 sale in Cuba from time immemorial, and with good reason, since many disastrous cases of sickness 

 have followed its use as food. This species occurs, according to Jordan, from the Gulf of California 

 to Panama, and also in the Bast Indies. 



The Eound Eobin — Decaptekus pxjnctatus. 

 The Eound Eobin, or, as it is called at Pensacola, the " Cigar- fish," occurs in the Bermudas^ 

 where it is an important food-fish ; it occurs also in the West Indies and along the coast of the 

 United States north as far as Wood's Holl. 



