THE MACKEREL AND ITS ALLIES. 
1 79 
In the summer of 1879, however, during the stay of the Fish Commis¬ 
sion at Provincetown, a considerable school of these fish came into the 
harbor and were taken in company with the Tinker Mackerel. None 
were observed there in 1880, however, and it remains to be seen whether 
they have returned to be again counted among the permanent members of 
the fauna. This fish, during the period of its abundance on our coast, 
was considered an excellent article of food, and was by many preferred to 
the common Mackerel. On account of its small size, however, it was not 
so much sought after by the fishermen. 
Concerning the Mackerel of the Pacific coast, which Prof. Jordan con¬ 
siders to be identical with the Scomber pneitmatophoi'iis of the Eastern 
Atlantic, this authority writes : 
“The Tinker Mackerel, S. pneiimatopliorus, is known as ‘Mackerel,’ 
‘Easter Mackerel,’ ‘Tinker Mackerel’ and ‘Little Mackerel.’ It reaches 
a length of about fourteen inches. It ranges northward to Monterey Bay, 
appearing in the fall in irregular and often large schools, usually disap¬ 
pearing in November. Some years few or none are seen. It is a good 
food-fish, but little attention is paid to it, on account of its small size and 
irregular occurrence.” 
The Mackerel is the principal rival of the cod in the claim for highest 
rank among the food-fishes of North America. Many thousands of men 
and many hundreds of vessels are employed in their capture, and their 
migrations in which they are followed by fleets of swift schooners, are the 
subject of annual discussion in the halls of Congress, and the disputes of 
the sailor-fishermen of Canada and New England have long been made the 
subject of treaty and international convention. 
The statistics and methods of the commercial fisheries have been fully 
discussed in a volume entitled “Materials for a History of the Mackerel 
Fishery,” prepared by Messrs. Goode, Collins, Earll and Clarke and printed 
by the U. S. Fish Commission in 1883, and will be but briefly alluded to 
here. It seems proper, however, to refer to the history of the various modes 
of capture employed by our fishermen. 
The method chiefly practiced by the colonists of New England was that 
of drag-seining, and we find as early as 1626 a record of the establish¬ 
ment, by Isaac Allerton, of a fishing station at Hull, where mackerel were 
seined by moon-light. There can be little doubt that the practice of 
fishing with baited hooks were also early introduced, and that in the 
