THE KING-FISH, OR BARB. 175 
alight brown, glossed with silver)" and blue, and interspersed 
with spots and blotches of a darker hue. Some of these 
clouds slant obliquely forward from the dorsal fin ; some run 
obliquely backward from the nape of the neck; and some 
pass midway from the sides to the tail. There is here and 
there an insulated dark patch, with dirty discolorations to- 
wards the white belly. He grows rapidly thick and stout 
towards the thorax, and then gently and gradually slopes 
away towards the tail.” 
He is taken by the angler for basse and weak fish with 
their ordinary tackle, with the exception of the hook, which 
should be rather smaller, say No. 4, Limerick or Kirby sal- 
mon, to accommodate the mouth of the barb, which is rather 
small. 
The following description of his grounds, and manner of 
taking him, by a friend who has had much experience, will 
close our article on the king-fish to the gratification of all who 
have or ever expect to bite or get a bite from this interesting 
fish: 
“ This is one of the finest fish for the table, procured from 
the salt water. They are not plenty in the neighborhood of 
this city, though occasionally a season occurs wlpcn they are 
taken in considerable numbers. I have often taken 20 or 30 
in a tide, in the neighborhood of Communipaw, that delight- 
ful little Dutch town, rendered famous in history by the re- 
nowned Knickerbocker. 
“A little below this village there is a piece of hard bot- 
tom on the extensive fiat which is spread out from Jersey 
City down nearly to Bergen Point. A single rocjc is bare at 
low water on this hard ground, called Black Tom. The best 
ground, in my experience, is found thus: Row your boat 
from Black Tom directly for the Jersey shore, sounding with 
an oar until tho bottom becomes soft and the water a little 
deeper than on tho hard. You are then at the edge of what 
