rllO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



were: the halfbeak, the rough silverside, the short pompano, 

 the spot, and Mitchill's anchovy. Besides these, two pelagic 

 species, the black rudder fish and the remora, were also secured. 

 A few of the southern species passed along the south shore of 

 Long Island, but did not enter the bay. These were: the silvery 

 anchovy, the mackerel scad, and the big-eyed scad. 



The use of lanterns at night for spearing and netting fishes 

 was again taken up, and with good results, though the time so 

 occupied was devoted principally to observing the movements 

 of the fish and their attitudes in the water or at the bottom. 

 The silver gar was almost uniformly seen at the surface, fol- 

 lowing the light, or keeping abreast of it, and usually near at 

 hand; but occasionally a large fish of the species, startled by the 

 sudden appearance of the light, darted with great swiftness 

 away from the approaching boat. The young bluefish usually 

 swam at a little distance below the surface, but also kept near 

 the bow of the boat while it was in motion. 



The common bass killy, Fimdulus majalis, was frequently 

 observed leaping out of the water exactly as the mullet 

 leaps, and was frequently mistaken for that species. The sil- 

 versides were famous for their almost continuous leaping out 

 of the water in all directions; sometimes they leaped on the bow 

 of the boat and were caught in that way. Eels were not usually 

 much disturbed by the light, except on moonlight nights, when 

 they were very difficult to approach. At the proper stage of 

 tide, usually on the first of the flood, they were to be obtained in 

 very shallow water near the shore, and sometimes in the grass 

 almost out of the water. The peculiar " smacking " sound could 

 be heard as they fed on the killies, silversides, and other small 

 fish. 



The fish attracted by our big lanterns were usually silver 

 gars, silversides, killifish and bluefish. The leaping of the 

 silverside and bass killy is very exciting; the bass killy 

 leaves the water almost exactly like the leaping mullet. 

 The silver gar follows the boat, keeping near the light. 

 The young bluefish swim lower in the water in small groups, 



