40 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
derms, anthozoa, hydroids, and sponges were all represented, and brachiopods of great 
size were obtained. 
Shore collecting was productive of many interesting fishes and invertebrates. A 
small red star fish was abundant, and many small shells were found living upon the 
leaves of kelp. Numerous specimens of Remilepidotus trachurm were taken by jerking 
them up by means of a sharp boat-hook as they lay upon the bottom in shallow places. 
They seldom moved if the hook was carefully inserted under them. This species is 
moderately abundant along the kelp line of the shores, and it is not difficult to secure a 
dozen or more specimens in an hour’s time by the method described above. It proved a 
nuisance at Kadiak by taking all the bait set for codfish. The variations in color in 
this fish are remarkable, no two individuals being precisely alike in this respect. They 
also appear to assume the tints of the rocks and sea-weeds among which they live. 
The prevailing color is a rusty red on the upper parts, laid on in irregular blotches, 
and varied with brown or black. There is no variation with respect to the uniformly 
spotted under surface. Two or three specimens only of the black rockfish {Sebast- 
ichtliys) were taken while at Kadiak. 
A gill net set in the harbor gave no results. A cod trawl was set across the north- 
east entrance to the harbor, and a haddock trawl across the southeast entrance. In 
the first trial a few dogfish and sculpius were obtained ; in the second two silver-side 
salmon, two cod, one halibut, and a large number of dogfish. The halibut was “ white.” 
Advantages of the neighborhood for fishing. — The inhabitants of St. Paul and the 
adjacent islands do very little fishing for cod, but are now turning their attention 
chiefly to sea-otter hunting, which they find more profitable. It is stated that cod fish- 
ing has never been engaged in to so great an extent by the peojjle of Kadiak as by those 
of the Shumagin group, although there are many excellent in shore fishing grounds 
in this region which are easily accessible. A small bank located about 10 miles from 
William’s Eeef, in a south southeast direction, has an abundance of cod. Another bank 
equally as good lies 6 or 8 miles off Cape Pillar, but there are many such spots all along 
the coast, and many of them are close to the shore. Fishing can be carried on without 
intermission during five or six months of the year, and bait is always abundant. 
Capt. H. E. Bowen, formerly of Gloucester, Mass., but now residing in St. Paul, 
thinks that fishermen with a limited amount of capital can establish themselves more 
readily in a lucrative business on Kadiak Island than elsewhere in Alaska. Since his 
first arrival at St. Paul, Captain Bowen has paid several visits to Gloucester; but no 
amount of persuasion on his part could induce any of the New England fishermen with 
whom he talked to move to Alaska, where, in his opinion, they could live just as com- 
fortably and with less exertion. 
The Indian sea-otter hunters of St. Paul are taken by steamers and small sailing 
vessels of the Alaska Commercial Company to the hunting grounds, where they are 
lauded. At the expiration of the season they are brought back, and if the season has 
been a favorable one they will then have a considerable amount of money due them. 
Pay day to the Indians is one of the principal events of the year. They show little 
prudence, however, in the use of money, and ofteu squander their entire earnings 
in the course of a few days. 
Large schools of herring strike the coast in the vicinity of St. Paul about the 
middle of August, but very few had been taken up to the time of the arrival of the 
Albatross, August 14. They are sometimes exceedingly abundant in Shelikoff Strait, 
