HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. OS 



Indians of that island in 1763 and 1761, with such iiiortalitj that, of 558, the \\IioIe 

 numberj 222 died. He adds: "Before this periodj and from the first coming of 

 the English to Nantucket, a large fat fish, called a hlue-fish^ twenty of which would 

 fill a barrelj was caught in great plenty all round the island, from the Lst of the 6th 

 till the middle of the 9th month. Bat it is remarkable that in the \ear 176k the 

 very year in which the sickness ended, they all disappeared, and that none have been 

 taken since." Occasionally, for the last thirty years, a ^qay straggling spechiiens, \ery 

 small, have been taken, but they were rarely seen until within the last fifteen \ears. 

 During this latter period, they have gradually increased in numbers, and, generally speak- 

 ing, have been of much larger size than when they were first observed, Kow they visit 

 the coast south of the^Cape, at Buzzard's Bay, the Vineyard Sound, and Nantucket, in 

 large numbers ; and also Massachusetts Bay as far as Boston, from the wharves of which 

 city I have observed specimens to be taken yearly since September, 1044. This species 

 occasionally weighs fourteen pounds. In its flavor it resembles the mackerel, and is liigh- 

 ly esteemed by many as an article of food; bat it is excessively fat, and cannot always 

 be borne by the stomach. In the early part of summer it is very lean ; towards (he 

 latter part of summer and the commencement of autumn, it is in a state of perfection 

 for the epicure. Its food is herring and mackerel, and when it appears these fisheries 

 are destroyed. Thus, in March, 1846, the herring fishery on the south side of Falmouth 

 was spoiled by the ravages of this species. On the night of the 27th of June, 1847, 

 Captain Atwood caught in his mackerel-nets two large blue-fish. He fished but two 

 nights more that season; — the blue-fish had driven the mackerel entirely from the 

 coast. From that time until now, 1853, the mackerel fishery at Provincetown has been 

 ruined. It is usually caught from the shore at Nantucket fay throwing a drail, — 

 a hook fixed into a piece of bone or ivory, and sometimes pewter, somewhat in the form 

 of a fish, with brass wire around the line near it, to prevent its being bitten off by the 

 strong jaws of the fish. It is also caught from a boat under sail with a good breeze, the 

 line dragging behind ; and they have been taken wnth a seine. In a number of the 

 Nantucket Enquirer, July 8th, 1837,1 find the following: " A few days since, there 

 were caught at one haul, 241 blue-fish, 108 scuppaugs or poggies, 28 bass, and 19 shad, 

 in all 396 fish, weighing about half a ton." 



Maine, H. R. Stoeee. Massachusetts, Storee. Connecticut, Ayees, Liksley. 

 New York, Mitchill, Dekay. South Carolina, Lm., Cut. 



GENUS XIL RHOMBUS, Lacep. 

 Head and body compressed. Body covered with minute scales. Extremity of the 



YOL. y. NEW SEEIES* 19 



