4. About 12 barrels; by lobstermen for bait; none previously taken. 6. October; all arrive nearly at the same time, dividing into, say, four schools, all seen at once.

7. Mostly high; make a ripple; attract birds.

9. Since first noticing them their appearance has been nearly regular in time and numbers.

10. Their capture is not pursued here.

11. Seen mostly on the flood.

13. Unknown; both high and low.

14. Yes.

17. At the first change to coldness-in a body.

20. Animal.

23. Sleaked, or greased.

26. Probably float.

30. Bluefish.

40. Yes.

41. None.

42. All use baiting purposes.

43. None.

56. A quantity is used in paints.

58. Probably.

61. January 3, 1875.

28. Statement of R. C. Kenney, Nantucket, Mass., January 21, 1874.

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 20th ultimo, relative to "Statistics of the Menhaden Fisheries, &c.," and herewith transmit such information as I have been able to obtain on the subject.

1. Pogy.

2. More numerous than any other kind of fish.

3. They vary from year to year, but as a whole, for the past ten years remain about the same.

5. It does not.

6. They appear about the 1st of May, or if the season is early, a little sooner. Are most abundant in June and July; the last run are the larg est and fattest.

6. They gradually increase in abundance from the first.

7. Swim on the surface, causing a ripple, and do not appear to attract birds as other fish do.

8. When they appear in our vicinity it is from the direction of Sandy Hook and the Jersey shore. By our vicinity, I mean from the entrance to the Vineyard Sound, around Cape Cod.

9. Their appearance in large numbers is not regular or certain. When they fail to appear for a season the next year is usually a good one;

above the average. I think the prevalence of strong southerly winds favorable to their return.

10. It does not.

11. The tide has no apparent effect upon them.

12. Cannot name any definite locality.

13. Have seen them in deep and in shoal water. They usually track the shore.

14. They appear to prefer warm weather. A cold turn will drive them off.

15. When taken in any quantity there appears to be a mixture of old and young.

16. We frequently see them in the fall of the year, from 3 to 4 inches in length.

17. They commence leaving the coast about the 1st of October, and disappear altogether in November.

18. They return by the same route that they came.

19. I am not certain but think they go to the edge of the Gulf Stream. 21. Judging from the number of small fish seen I should say they spawned around our shores in June and July.

26. I think they sink to the bottom and become attached to stones, &c., like other spawn.

29. Yes.

31. Have sometimes seen lamprey eels attached to the outside.

32. Sharks, sword-fish, porpoise, and bluefish are very destructive to them.

33. I know of none.

34. Purse-nets, gill-nets, generally; sometimes by sweep-nets and fish

wears.

35. Purse-nets are from two hundred to three hundred fathoms in length and from fifteen to thirty fathoms in depth. Gill-nets are about seventy-five fathoms in length and from two and a half to three fathoms in depth.

36. In this vicinity sail-boats of about 5 tons' burden are used for setting the nets.

37. For a purse-net about eight men are required; for a gill-net one man with a dory; for a fish-wear from seven to eight men.

38. The gill-nets are set nights; the others through the day.

39. No difference.

40. I think not.

42. About one-half are put on board our fishing-vessels to be used as bait in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The balance are sent to the factory at Woods Holl, Mass.

43. The nearest factory is at Woods Holl, Mass. The owners are unknown to me.

47. The price per barrel, for some years past, has been from fifty to seventy-five cents, as taken from the nets.

52. They do.

56. Used for tanning purposes.

57. From forty to fifty cents per gallon.

58. I cannot see that they diminish under any circumstances.

29. Statement of C. B. Marchant, collector of customs, Edgartown, Mass., January 13, 1875.

1. This species is known in this locality by the name of menhaden. 2. They are more abundant here than any other species of fish.

3. Their numbers have not materially decreased or diminished during the last ten years.

4. There were about 5,000 barrels taken here in 1873; in 1872, 10,000 barrels. The following companies and persons are engaged in their capture: Jason Luce & Co., Richard Flanders & Co., Prince Stewart & Co., Edwin A. Luce, Thomas Norton, Edmund Cottle, and John Look.

5. Their capture does not affect their abundance.

6. They come on the coast the 1st of May; other schools at intervals to the middle of June. The first caught are not the largest taken during the season.

7. They swim near the surface, ripple the water, and attract birds. 8. They enter these waters from the southwest.

9. They frequently fail for one or more seasons, but return again in usual numbers.

10. Pounds used for their capture appear to scare them.

11. More fish are caught on the first of an ebb-tide than at other times.

12. Their favorite locality in this vicinity is the Vineyard Sound. 13. They are found in greatest numbers in deep water near the shore, and on the surface of the water.

14. They seek water of the highest temperature.

15. All fish seen are of full growth, or nearly so.

16. Young fish are not often seen on this coast.

17. They leave this vicinity about the middle of July, and return in small numbers in November.

18. They are moving to the eastward.

19. Unknown.

20. Unknown.

29. The spawn is often found to escape when captured.

30. The bluefish destroy the spawn; the parent fish is not known to devour them.

31. Crabs, worms, &c., not observed attached to gills or mouths of

these fish.

32. The enemies of these fish do not perceptibly diminish their num bers in this locality.

33. No fatal epidemic or disease has been observed among these fish. 34. The method of their capture in this locality is in pounds.

35. The dimensions of these pounds are about 1,200 feet long by 28 feet wide.

36. No vessels are employed in their capture.

37. Forty men are engaged in their capture.

38. These men are employed all the time during the season of fishing.

39. The fish are taken principally on an ebb-tide.

40. A southwest wind the most favorable for their catch.

42. The fish are sold to vessels on the spot for bait.

43. None.

47. The price per barrel, in 1873 and previous years, averages 50

cents.

58. The catch of these fish does not appear to diminish their number.

30. Statement of Jason Luce & Co., North Tisbury, Mass., January 6, 1875.

1. Menhaden.

2. They exceed others.

3. Diminished.

4. Five thousand.

5. No.

6. About the 1st of May, and the first are the largest.

7. They swim high, make a ripple and attract birds.

8. They come from the south and go west.

9. They are sure to come.

10. I think not.

19. South.

20. Suction.

31. Statement of Gallup, Morgan & Co., Groton, Conn., December 28, 1877.

We have two steamers; the Daisy and the John A. Morgan; ton. nage respectively, 66, 87; 14 men each crew. Length of seine, about 230 fathoms; depth, 25 fathoms. Number of barrels of fish taken, 24,000.

32. Statement of Luce Brothers, East Lyme, December 4, 1877.

We have one steamer, 76 tons burden; 9 sloops, 19 tons burden; 4 crews of 12 men each. We employ 40 men in our mill. Seine, 150 fathoms long, 18 fathoms deep. We have taken 23,800,000 fish; made 2,400 barrels of oil, or 103,200 gallons.

33. Statement of Daniel T. Church, Tiverton, R. I., March 23, 1874.

1. Menhaden.

2. There is no fish so plenty in Narragansett Bay as menhaden if we take several years as the standard; but if we should take years as they come, and name each year separately, it would be different. For instance, during 1871, 1872, and 1873 scup appeared in Narragansett Bay in immense quantities, and there is no doubt in my mind but that there has been during the years named more of them than menhaden; but for a number of years preceding scup were scarce.

3. Menhaden has, on an average, been plenty in Narragansett Bay for the last ten years. But for about ten years they were so scarce that some of the fishermen left the business. It is my opinion that when bluefish were plenty they destroyed such large quantities that there was a vast diminution, and it was seriously feared that they were to disappear; but since the bluefish have grown scarce menhaden have grown plenty, and 1871, 1872, and 1873 have been great years in the business for bluefish. Sharks and a large fish called horse-mackerel have been for some unknown reason scarce. The horse-mackerel spoken of does not frequent the waters of Narragansett Bay, but are found east of Cape Cod.

4. Taking for a basis of estimate that there are eight menhaden factories on Narragansett Bay that used 20,000 barrels each, it would make the number of barrels caught during year 1873 about 160,000, and I think the above estimate about right.

5. We do not think that fishermen have any perceptible effect on men. haden, for it is a fact well known that a few years back they were scarce and it was generally conceded that the business was a failure, and some left the business because of the scarcity, and fish-gear, such as boats and seines, were sold for less than fifty cents on the dollar. But since then they have been plenty, and the year 1873 has been a year of surprise to all, for the sea has been one blanket of menhaden from the Chesapeake to the Bay of Fundy.

Menhaden strike the coast not far from the first of May, and there is not many days' difference between their arrival on the coast of Virginia or Maine. It is the opinion of those best informed that menhaden go to sea in winter and come in during the spring. I once had a brother in