66 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
son, and I am very much surprised that any question has ever been 
raised concerning the superiority of the spring salmon for canning. 
The statement which has been made that the fall salmon is unfit for 
food is not, however, by any means true. The flesh of the salmon is 
entirely different at that season, and inferior ; but if the fish is not too 
far spent, it is not unfit for food. Indeed, it makes, when very fresh 
and well cooked, a decidedly edible dish. 
Many salmon, however, in the fall become blind and very much 
emaciated, lose much of their fins and tail, and become covered with 
white blotches of fungus, being altogether very repulsive in appear- 
ance. On the whole, I should say that fall salmon are fish that one 
should be very cautious about canning, as the flesh is inferior, spoils 
very soon, and might possibly be furnished by unscrupulous persons 
from fish too far gone to be wholesome. 
On the other hand, I must say that the Indians eat the fall salmon 
even in their most advanced stages of emaciation and disease, and never 
seem to suffer any ill effects from it. Furthermore, there is a salmon 
or trout in the Columbia Eiver called the u square-tailed salmon” (or 
“ trout ”) ( Salmo truncatus Suckley), which spawns in spring. This fish, 
of course, is in its best condition in fall and early winter, and there can 
consequently be no objection to its being canned at that time. 
Charlestown, N. H., May 16, 1887. 
32.-THE FISHERIES ©F GLOUCEST1B, MASS., IN JANUARY, 1887, 
WITH NOTES ON THOSE OF OTHER JLOCAEITIES. 
My W. A. WIL.COX* 
During the month of January only a small portion of the fishing fleet 
has been actively employed. Eeceipts have been light, not varying 
much from those of the corresponding month of one year ago. For 
several years the new year has opened with a market overstocked with 
both domestic and imported fish, and prices so low as to scarcely pay the 
cost of production, but during the present month a largely increased and 
steady demand has reduced stocks, and prices have slowly advanced. 
Since the beginning of the year much rough weather has been en- 
countered, but there have been no serious losses of life or property, and 
much encouragement is felt in making preparations for the work of 1887* 
Bait has been found abundant on the fishing banks, and additional 
quantities have been supplied from the cargoes of frozen herring brought 
from Newfoundland and the Bay of Fundy. 
A few vessels have followed the fresh halibut fishery on the Grand 
Bank. These arrived with small fares, and reported much rough 
weather. The shore fleet has been detained in the harbors adjacent to 
the fishing grounds a large part of the month, the weather preventing 
extensive fishing. The Bay of Fundy herring catch has been light* 
Schooner Ada E. Terry, of Gloucester, arrived on January 5th with a 
