142 FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



tottom, and thro-wing their weight on the rod and line, cue of which 

 IB liable, in the hands of an inexperienced angler, to be broken. 



JORDAN AND GILBERT'S DESCRIPTION^ 



P f/5TO«!>— (Linn)— Drum, — Grayish silvery, with four or five dark vertical 

 bars, which disappear with age ; fins dusky ; body oblong, much compressed ; pro- 

 ■file very steep, its curve uneaven ; ventral outline little curved. Mouili mnderate, 

 maxillary scarcely reaching middle of orbit. Scales large, those on breast much 

 smaller. Fins large, pectoral.^ reaching beyond tips of ventrals, nearly to vent ; 

 second anal and spinal more than half length of head. Head above scaly, except a 

 triangular space on snout. Head 3 1-4 in length ; depth i\. D, X, 20 ; A. II, 6; 

 Lat, I, 50. Cape Cod to West Indies ; abundant southward 



HoG-FisH — Pig-fish — perhaps Lachnolcemus falcatus of Jordan 

 and Gilbert's Synopsis. At any rate a fish of fine quality, rich and 

 delicate. At Halifax Inlet it usually weighs about a pound, and in 

 some seasons quite abundant, in others rare. It gives good sport on 

 a rod, takfs mullet bait and is found in deep channels. Color gray- 

 ish ; profile steep, form compressed ; teeth projecting similar to those 

 of the sheepshead. 



Sailok's Choice — Pomadasys fulvomaculatus — (Mitchell). Are 

 excellent pan fish, very abundant in the bays and sounds of Florida ; 

 in size from two ounces to a pound. Resembles in form the soup 

 of Northern waters. A very strong and active fish for its size, 

 making fine play on a light rod. The Synopsis gives it a length of 

 one foot, which is double the size of any that I have seen. 

 Jordan's description. 



Light brown, silvery below, sides with numerous orange colored and yellow 

 spots ; those above the lateral line in oblique lines, those below in horizontal rows \ 

 vertical fin3 with similar spots ; head blueish with yellow spots ; angle of mouth 

 and gill membranes with orange. Body oblong, compressed, not much elevated. 

 Head long ; snout conic ; mouth low and small, the maxillary hardly reaching to 

 the nostrils ; outer teeth slender and rather short ; eye high, 4J^ in head, nearly 

 midway in its length. Dorsal and anal entirely naked, with a sheath of scales 

 at base; anterior spines of ^ dorsal higher than the posterior; spines, gradu- 

 ated; pectoral moderate. Head z%. ; depth 3. D. XII., 16 ; A. III., 12 ; Lat. 

 I. 75. L. T foot. Atlantic coast from New York southward — a food fish of 

 some importance. 



