SCIiENIDiE OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES COAST. 
143 
ing, which likewise cause the formation of rings that must be allowed for. The 
difficulties encountered in the application of this method to the scales of many 
species are almost as varied and numerous as the species themselves. Time has 
been lacking for a thorough study of the scales of any of the species herein treated, 
and any conclusions in this paper based upon scale examination must be considered 
as merely tentative and suggestive of the results that might be obtained from 
further study. 
There appear to be no unusual difficulties in the way of a more thorough study 
of the life histories of this group of fishes, the chief requirement being that the 
investigator should be at the right place at the right time. The eggs of most, if not 
all, of them can be obtained readily by following the operations of the commercial 
fisheries and accompanying the fishermen to their nets. The simplest apparatus 
(a few finger bowls, or Petri dishes) will suffice for the incubation of the eggs, which 
is rapid. The use of small townets, operated as near the bottom as possible, will 
supply material in the larval and post-larval stages, and the shrimp trawl and 
collecting seine will yield a harvest of examples intermediate in size between these 
and the adult fishes. 
Although a detailed discussion of the economic importance of the fishes of this 
group is not within the province of this paper, a brief summary for the Atlantic and 
Gulf States of the quantities annually caught and their approximate values may not 
be out of place, as it will point to the desirability of a more thorough study of the 
entire subject. A careful compilation of the latest statistics available has there- 
fore been made. Unfortunately, these statistics do not cover the entire field for 
any one year. Statistics of the Gulf States are for 1919, of New York and New 
Jersey for 1917, and of the remainder of the Atlantic coast States for 1908. As the 
quantity of these fish marketed has generally increased during recent years (notably 
so in the case of the croaker, Micropogon undulatus ) , and as the value per pound has 
also increased greatly since the collection of a large part of these statistics, the 
figures, both for quantity and value, are doubtless below the truth at the present 
time. 1 The summary follows: 
Table 1. — Summary, for the Atlantic and Gulf States, of quantities and approximate values of regularly 
marketed fish caught yearly. 
Squeteagues: 
Cynoscion regalis 
Cynoscion nebulosus 
Cynoscion nothus 
Croaker: Micropogon undulatus . 
Drum: 
Sciaenops ocellatus 
Pogonias cromis 
Spot: Leiostomus xanthurus 
King whiting: 
Menticirrhus saxatiiis 
Menticirrhus americanus 
Menticirrhus littoralis 
Total 
Pounds. 
Value to 
fishermen. 
| 40,941,043 
$1,843,070 
10,717,812 
351,938 
| 7,231,778 
280, 484 
1, 762, 151 
52, 215 
| 1,644,396 
78,065 
62, 297, 180 
2,605,772 
° Figures for the only other important species of the group, the silver perch, Bairdiella chrysura , are not available. 
'Of the total amount of fish received at the Municipal Fish Wharf, Washington, D. C., during the year 1919, no less than 
37$ per cent, or 3,039,000 pounds, were of species included in this paper. First in importance were the squeteagues, Cynoscion 
regalis and C. nebulosus , ot which , in round numbers, 2,098,000 pounds were marketed. Followingin the order of their importance 
were: Croakers, Micropogon undulatus; spot, Leiostomus xanthurus; king whiting, Menticirrhus saxatiiis and M. americanus; red 
drum, Scisenops ocellatus; and silver perch, Bairdiella chrysura. The figures for the last species are not included in the total 
given above, as no distinction is made between it and the white perch, Morone americana, in the market report. 
