VII. 



Facts respecting the Rock Fish, or Streaked Basse, of the United 

 Slates. By James Mease, M. D. &c. of Philadelphia, Communi- 

 cated in a letter to David Hosack, M. D. &c. dated Philadelphia^ 

 June 23, 1815. 



[Read before the Society, on the 13th of July, 1815.] 



The fishing ground for rock fish, destined for the Philadelphia and 

 New-York markets, is between Long Branch, on the coast of Mon- 

 mouth county, New-Jersey, and Cranberry Inlet, and extends about 

 thirty miles in a line ; but they are caught from Sandy-Hook to the 

 Capes of Delaware. They make their appearance about the first of 

 September, and in large shoals. Two thousand pounds weight have 

 been caught in one haul of the seine. They keep along shore, between 

 the outer bar and the beach. In the month of November, or in the 

 beginning of December, if the weather continue mild, they leave the 

 sea, and, in company with the common American perch,* run into 

 the rivers along the coast, to pass the winter, stopping or resting, in 

 various places as they ascend, for a day or two at a time, and thus gra- 

 dually proceed to the head of the rivers, where they remain, unless dis- 

 turbed, until the following spring. Many of them ascend as high as the 



* Bodianus Pallidus ? of Mitchijl. 



