220 Percesoces and Rhegnopteri 
perceptible to the fisherman, who makes no effort at this time 
to secure the spent, lean fish. Many of them probably find 
their way to the lakes and others remain wherever they find 
good feeding-ground, gathering flesh and recruiting strength 
for the great strain of the next spawning season.” 
Professor Goode informs us that the fishermen recognize 
“three distinct periods of schooling and separate runs of mullet. 
To what extent these are founded on tradition, or upon the 
necessity of change in the size of the mesh of their nets, it is 
impossible to say. The ‘June mullet’ average about five to 
the pound; the ‘fat mullet,’ which are taken from August 20 
to October 1, weigh about two pounds; these have, the fisher- 
men say, a ‘roe of fat’ on each side as thick as a man’s thumb. 
The ‘roe mullet’ weigh about two and a half pounds and are 
caught in November and until Christmas. Between the seasons 
of ‘fat mullet’ and ‘roe mullet’ there is an intermission of 
two or three weeks in the fishing.’’ Professor Goode hazards 
the suggestion that “the ‘fat mullet’ of September are the 
breeding fish of November, with roes in an immature state, 
the ova not having become fully differentiated.” 
The mullet feed on the bottom in quiet water, swimming 
head downward. The food is sifted over in the mouth, the 
mud rejected, and the plants, chiefly microscopic, retained. 
Mr. Silas Stearns compares a school of mullets to barnyard 
fowls feeding together. When a fish finds a rich spot the others 
flock about it as chickens do. The pharyngeals form a sort of 
filter, stopping the sand and mud, the coarse parts being ejected 
through the mouth. Dr. Gunther thus describes this apparatus: 
“The upper pharyngeals have a rather irregular form: they 
are slightly arched, the convexity being directed toward the 
pharyngeal cavity, tapering anteriorly and broad posteriorly. 
They are coated with a thick, soft membrane, which reaches 
far beyond the margin of the bone and is studded all over 
with minute horny cilia. Each branchial arch is provided 
with a series of long gill-rakers, which are laterally bent down- 
ward, each series closely fitting to the sides of the adjoining 
arch; they constitute together a sieve admirably adapted 
to permit a transit for the water, retaining at the same time 
every solid substance in the cavity of the pharynx.” 
