17. October 15 to November 15. By degrees.

18. Southerly.

19. South of Hatteras.

20. Vegetable sea-weed and a sort of white jelly which determine their distance from the surface. They follow it.

21. Here in the spring and south in the winter. They spawn in and near rivers.

22. They mix promiscuously.

24. Before and after the warmest weather; in June, July, and October. 25. At the bottom in river-grass.

26. Float near the bottom.

27. Soon after laid.

28. Yes, in shoals, generally by themselves. Near the shore in the fall.

29. Yes.

30. All larger fish. No.

31. No.

32. Greatly.

33. No.

34. Purse-nets, pounds, and seines.

35. Average, 100 feet deep, 800 to 2,000 feet long.

36. Boats of from 40 to 75 tons burden.

37. Nine.

38. All day and into the night.

39. No great difference.

40. Sometimes.

41. Sixty boats, in all employing 240 men.

42. Used for their oil; the refuse is used for guano. They are also used for bait. The oil is made at the factories along the coast.

43. See No. 4.

45. Probably twice or thrice the actual catch (see No. 4).

46. Hydraulic presses, tanks, boilers, steam or hand power and run

ning gear. Costly.

48. One barrel.

49. Forty gallons.

50. A quart to the barrel.

51. Four gallons. In the autumn.

52. Yes.

53. Commenced here on a small scale thirty-five years ago; it is constantly increasing.

54. New York and Boston.

55. South.

56. Painting and to adulterate other oils.

57. Forty cents per gallon at wholesale. Two years ago it was over 50 cents per gallon.

58. No.

39. Statement of John Washington, Mystic, Conn., December 30, 1874.

1. Bony-fish.

2. The most numerous.

3. Not changed.

5. Not late years.

6. The stragglers arrive here about the fore part of April, the schools the last of the month, and continue coming in the first half of the sum

mer.

7. When traveling they swim low; when feeding at the surface they show a ripple. They do not attract birds.

8. They come from the south along the coast; we hear of their passing the Jersey coast eight or ten days sooner than they pass Montauk. After passing in past the outer islands, the large schools separate into smaller ones, and the farther they go from the sea the smaller they get until they arrive at the rivers and coves.

9. Their arrival each year varies but a few days. Never fail. Some seasons not as plenty as others.

10. The large schools do not come as near as formerly.

11. They travel with tides.

12. The entrance of rivers and bays when not disturbed.

13. Any depth suits them, but they swim near the surface.

14. They remain in the warm waters of the rivers and coves through the heat of summer. We also find some stragglers here in the river as late as freezing weather in the fall.

15. We find all ages, from one year up, in the large schools.

16. The young fish of 3 to 14 inches long are found here passing out of all the rivers and coves which have brackish water in them. In the months of October and November.

17. Old and young begin to go in October, and by the last of Novem ber are all gone.

18. They go to southwest along the coast, and faster than they come in the spring.

19. They pass to the south of Cape Hatteras and remain through the winter on the coast and in the sounds and bays of North and South Carolina. This is the winter resort of most kinds of the summer fish of this coast.

20. When in the rivers they feed on fine moss that grows on the weeds, and a scum that floats on the surface. At sea and in the open waters their principal feed are minute jellies and brit, a minute crab that at times is so numerous as to color the water.

21. In the brackish water of all the rivers and coves into which brooks empty their waters. In the months of May, June, and July.

22. My impression is that when the fish start in the spring to migrate north along the coast, those with the ripe spawn (which are earlier with some than others, for we find full-grown spawn all the season) leave the

main school and go to the nearest suitable water and deposit their spawn, anywhere from Carolina to Maine. The fish that come in this river to spawn come in May as stragglers when the schools are outside; at that time the spawn will run and the fish are soon spent; at this time they are worthless for bait or oil, and do not get in good condition until they pass out.

23. No.

24. Forty degrees to sixty degrees.

25. On flats that are nearly dry at low water.

30. Eels and frost-fish gathered in the vicinity of the spawning. grounds.

31. Very free from them.

32. To a great extent, as all other fish feed on them.

33. Have never seen any symptoms of any.

I cannot answer the others as to catch, profits, &c., as I am not en gaged in extracting oil from them.

40. Statement of Leander Wilcox, Mystic Bridge, Conn., January 15, 1875.

1. Bony fish.

2. Most plentiful.

3. Probably increased.

4. One hundred and nine thousand six hundred barrels. Mint Head Company or Noyes Neck Oil Company, 4,200 barrels; G. S. Allyn & Co., 38,000 barrels; Quinippiac Company, 36,000 barrels; R. Chapman, 9,000 barrels; Quiambog Company, 7,200 barrels; Gardner & Co., 11,200 barrels; Andrews Island Company, 8,000 barrels.

6. May 1. No. At four different times.

7. High. They make a ripple. Yes.

8. South. They pass both east and west in this region.

9. Quite regular. They never fail for more than one season; even

then only partially; they return in greater abundance.

11. More are apt to come to the top at the turn of the tide.

12. Differ at different times.

13. From 10 to 100 feet, and they sometimes lie on the bottom. 14. Yes.

15. No. No.

16. Yes, in midsummer. They are from 2 to 3 inches long.

17. In December, or before, in a body or in schools.

18. As they came.

19. In warm climates, always keeping in water of a uniform temperature.

20. A fine white jelly.

21. Here in the spring and south in the winter.

22. There are a dozen or more females to one male.

23. No.

24. The water must be measurably cold, never warm.

25. Shoal.

26. Float.

28. Yes; everywhere; but they do not mix with adults; they school by themselves and are often mistaken for large fish.

29. No.

30. Eels, toad fish, and other inshore fish.

31. No.

32. Largely from sharks, bluefish, and porpoises. 33. No.

34. Purse-seines, pounds, and gill-nets.

35. From 500 to 1,000 yards long and from 80 to 150 feet deep.

36. Small lighters, from 2 to 75 tons burden, and steamers of the lat ter size.

37. Ten men.

38. All hours.

39. No. See 11.

40. Not much effect.

41. About 55 altogether. They employ, say, 500 hands, beside 250 landsmen to handle and manufacture into oil.

42. Brought to their factories.

43. Quiambog Oil Company, Mint Head or Noyes Neck Oil Com pany, G. S. Allyn & Co., R. Chapman & Co., and Quinippiac Company. 44. On an average, one gallon to each barrel of fish. See No. 4. 45. Twice the actual manufacture.

46. Cost from $5,000 to $75,000.

47. In 1874 about 35 cents.

48. Differs very much; from 2,500 to 3,000.

53. Commenced twenty years ago.

54. New York and Boston.

55. North and south.

56. To adulterate other oils and for painting and tanning; it takes the place of whale-oil.

57. In 1874, 40 cents.

58. No. See No. 3.

41. Statement of Samuel C. Beebe, Cornfield Point Light-Vessel, No. 12, Saybrook, Conn., January 6, 1875.

1. Bony fish.

2. More abundant.

3. Increased.

4. Fish are measured by the thousand in cars. Luce Brothers took in 1873, with three seines, 9,000,000. In 1872, with four seines, 13,000,000. In 1871, 17,000,000.

5. It does not seem to.

6. In April; but these are not the largest. There are two runs, called the spring and eastern run.

7. High. They make ripples on the water.

8. By Watch Hill and Montauk. They work towards the bays and rivers, along the sound and at its head.

9. They have never altogether failed, but are more plentiful at some seasons than at others.

10. No.

11. In bays, &c., they move in at the flow and out at the ebb.

12. Bays.

16. They are, from June to November, at different times. Very small. 17. About the middle of November, in a body.

18. Montauk Point.

19. Southern bays and rivers.

20. Suction of scum, it is supposed.

21. In bays and rivers. During May, June, July, and August. 22. They are mixed indiscriminately.

35. From 100 to 150 fathoms long, and 11 to 18 deep.

36. Sloops, mostly averaging 20 tons.

37. From 8 to 12.

38. The greater part.

39. I have never noticed any difference.

40. Not much, but they generally work to windward.

41. About 150 vessels; an average of 10 men each.

42. They are used for the oil.

43. Luce Brothers.

47. In 1873, from $2 to $2.50 per thousand. In previous years from $1.25 to $2.

48. Eight gallons to the thousand.

50. It is least in summer, and most in the fall.

56. Used for painting.

58. No.

42. Statement of R. E. Ingham, Saybrook Light-House, Saybrook, Conn.,

March 17, 1874.

1. Whitefish and bony-fish.

2. More abundant.

3. No.