46 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
.seine. Usually, if any were caught at all, there were several or many individuals, 
the maximum being about 100. They were much more abundant at Wareham in 
the earlier part of the season than at the latter part, in the proportion of about 40 
to 1. The^ were also found at Fields Point, Indian Point, and in Seekonk River at 
Providence. No further collections were made in Narragansett Bay. The young 
appear at the lower end of Buzzards Bay during September and October. 
On September 9, 1893, several young squeteague, from 80 to LOO mm. long, were 
taken in Hadley Harbor and are preserved in the U. S. Fish Commission Museum 
at Woods Hole. On September 7, 1900, a single young specimen was taken in the 
Fish Commission trap on the Vineyard-side of Nonamesset, near the gut separating 
Nonamesset from Naushon. Mr. Edwards states that occasionally they are found 
in Quissett Harbor during the latter part of the summer, but none was found at 
Quissett Harbor, Hadley Harbor, or at the Breakwater during 1900.* The line and 
rate of migration could not be determined from the few data secured. The one 
specimen caught in the trap was just large enough to be held by the meshes. Any 
smaller ones that may have gotten in are not available for record. 
GENERAL HABITS. 
Over 20 young were put into an aquarium, where they could be watched without 
disturbing them. They were entirely pelagic, never being found either at the bottom 
or at the top of the water. They kept together in a loose school, but without any 
definite coordination of the individuals of the school, either when they were undis- 
turbed or when disturbed. 
PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SURROUNDINGS OF YOUNG SQUETEAGUE. 
The examination was limited to drawing a 150-foot seine, which enabled me to 
determine their distribution in a limited area about the shore. They were found 
here during July and August in water with a low specific gravity. They were most 
abundant in floating weeds and other places where shrimp were abundant. They 
were found most plentifully when it was scarcely possible to draw in the net on 
account of the masses of floating weeds. Their associates were almost invariably 
young eels, silversides, puffers, sea-robins, tautog, dinners, minnows, hog-chokers, 
scup, and king-fish, and occasionally toad-fish, bill-fish, various flounders, alewives, 
menhaden, sea bass, and young dog-fish. A direct connection of only two of these 
with the squeteague was established, i. e., the silversides and alewives, which serve 
the squeteague as food. 
FOOD. 
The food of the young squeteague consists exclusively of shrimp and young fish. 
In young individuals, 43 mm. long, the contents of the stomach made about 4 per cent 
of the total weight. The proportion of the shrimp and fish making up the food may 
be gathered from the following — it should be borne in mind that the stomach is 
usually full: 
Of 14 specimens, with an average length of 60 mm., 9 contained shrimp only, 5 
contained shrimp and young fish. One specimen, 55 mm. long, contained a silver- 
sides 28 mm. long. In another, the fish in the stomach was a clupeoid, probabty an 
alewife. The other fish found in the stomach defied identification. 
* Young squeteague were abundant at New Bedford on October o, 1900. 
