THE STRIPED MULLET. . 
THE MULLETS. 
Still shall be heard the loons lone cry 
Upon the stream, and to their rest 
Long troops of curlews seaward fly, 
At sunset to their sandy nest. 
Still joyous from the sparkling tide 
With silver sides shall Mullets leap 
The eagle soar in wonted pride, 
And by their eyrie strong and wide 
On the dry oak beside the deep, 
Their watch shall busy ospreys keep. 
William J. Grayson : The River Coosa . 
our eastern coast there are two species of Mugil , the differences be- 
tween which are sometimes, though not always recognized by fishermen. 
The most familiar is the Striped Mullet, Mugil albula; the other is 
the so-called “White Mullet,” Mugil brasiliensis , The former is the 
larger, and has eight instead of nine rays in the anal fin, and forty-two 
instead of thirty-eight scales between the gill openings and the base of the 
caudal fin. There has been so much confusion among writers regarding 
the species of this family upon our coast that it has until very recently 
been impossible to define precisely their geographical range. The 
Striped Mullet occurs in the West Indies, the Gulf, and from Lower Cali¬ 
fornia to Peru. A single specimen of M. brasiliensis , was taken at 
Provincetown, in November, 1851. North of New Jersey the capture of 
a large individual is very unusual. In July great numbers of them, about 
an inch in length, have been observed on the Connecticut coast, especially 
in the vicinity of Noank; the fishermen there call them by the name of 
