164 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
It seems probable that the natural northern limit of the species in the 
Western Atlantic is not far from the Straits of Belle Isle. Prof. Packard, 
who visited this region in 1866, recorded that a few Mackerel were taken 
in August in Salmon Bay and Red Bay, but that the Straits of Belle Isle 
is evidently the northern limits of the genus, while Fortin, one of the 
best Canadian authorities on fisheries, in his annual report for 1864, 
stated that in summer they appear in some places, such as Little Mecattina, 
on the adjoining coast, latitude 50^2° north, and even sometimes enter 
the Straits of Belle Isle. 
The Mackerel, then, would appear to be a shore-loving fish, not ad¬ 
dicted to wide wanderings in the ocean, and with range limited in the 
Western Atlantic between latitudes 35 0 and 56° ; in the Eastern Atlantic, 
between 36° and 71 0 . 
The migrations of the Mackerel, the causes of their appearance and 
disappearance at certain seasons at different points along the coast, the 
causes of their relative abundance and scarcity in different years, have 
previously been discussed by numerous writers. The subject has received 
special attention on account of the disputes between our own and the 
Canadian Government concerning the value to our fishermen of the right 
to participate in the mackerel fisheries in the Provincial waters. 
Notwithstanding the great amount of paper which has been covered 
with theories to explain the various mooted questions, it cannot be said 
that the habits of the Mackerel are understood at all better than those of 
other fishes which have not attracted so much attention. The most volu¬ 
minous writer upon this subject has been Prof. Henry Youle Hind, who 
devotes many pages of his book, “The Effect of the Fishery Clauses of 
the Treaty of Washington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British 
North America,” to the attempt to prove that the Mackerel which have 
been at certain seasons in the past so abundant in the Gulf of St. Law¬ 
rence and on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia remain there throughout 
the year, hibernating in deep waters not very remote from the shore. I 
have attempted to show the weakness of his arguments in an essay pub¬ 
lished in the Fifth Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of 
Fisheries for the year 1877, pp. 50-70. It is by no means demonstrated 
that certain schools of Mackerel do not remain throughout the year in 
waters adjacent to the coast of Canada, but the weight of evidence at 
present seems to rest with those who believe that the Mackerel are given 
