7. They swim both high and low; when high, with their heads out. 8. They come from the south, moving along slowly with the tides; up in the spring and down in the fall.

9. There is sometimes a scarcity, but never a failure.

10. They do scare them badly.

11. They come into creeks with the flood and go out with the ebb; sometimes, however, they come in at night.

12. Generally deep water; however, they sometimes work in-shore on the flood tide.

13. A depth of 10 or 12 feet is preferred. They swim on the top of the water.

14. Cold weather makes them torpid..

15. Seldom, and the sizes go in separate schools.

16. They are never seen on the coast, but are in the sounds, rivers, creeks, and bays.

17. They begin to leave during the latter part of August, and the first to leave are the best; some remain until the middle of October.

18. By a southern route.

20. They feed on a slimy substance which comes from the bottom; it looks like a discoloration of the water, but is composed of vegetable or animal matter; the large bodies break into small oues at night and go near shore; in the morning they gather again and go out.

21. At the heads of rivers and creeks, and near fresh water. They spawn in June and July.

24. The water must be warm.

26. I think they float.

28. They are found in abundance in shoal water, where the fresh and salt water mingle.

29. No.

30. Bluefish and porpoises destroy them, but the parent fish do not. 31. Crab-lice are found in the gills, and there is a five-pronged insect, which makes a sore, seen in the tail; we call these insects graplings. 32. They suffer greatly, but are very active; the bluefish is their worst enemy.

33. Never knew of it.

34. Haul-seines, purse-nets, gill-nets, and weirs.

35. Haul-seines are 100 fathoms long and 8 feet deep; nets are 200 fathoms long, and from 18 to 20 feet deep.

36. Barges are mostly employed, and vessels of from 10 to 20 tons burden.

37. Twelve men for purse-nets and 25 for haul-seines; one man for gill-nets.

38. All hours of the day and night. Gilling is done at night.

39. No.

40. Yes; it scatters and sends them down deep.

41. Five vessels averaging about 15 tons, and 5 barges.

42. They are made into oil and manure, and sold to farmers. 43. Tangier belongs to Crockett & Co., Manokin to Ford, Avery & Co.

44. About 800 barrels at Ford's, and 500 at Taugier.

46. The fish are boiled in large kettles at Tangier, but are crushed at Manokin. The Tangier and Manokin factory cost each $2,500. 47. Fifteen cents per bushel.

48. About 1,000 fish, or from 4 to 43 bushels.

50. One quart, and is least in July.

51. One and one-half gallons, and is greatest in August and September.

52. Yes, as much again.

54. Philadelphia and other cities.

55. Home.

56. Used for lubricating purposes. 57. From 40 to 60 cents.

58. Yes.

61. Statement of Isaac D. Robbins, Hog Island, February 21, 1874.

No efforts are made here to catch the mossbunker. We have them dur ing the largest part of the year, from April to September, and sometimes in winter. I once saw many of these fish in Swangut Creek which had died from the effects of hot weather; they were then about 2 inches long. In the fall we see them from 3 to 5 inches long. We make no use of these fish, but I have an impression that there are enough of them to make our land very rich if they were made into manure.

On the Chesapeake side of the peninsula I have known large quantities of these fish caught, and a few years ago some gentlemen undertook to convert them into oil and manure, but to what extent they were successful I cannot say.

The grown mossbunker is from 9 to 12 inches long, and generally very fat.

62. Statement of J. L. Anderton, Apateague Island, Virginia, January 12, 1875.

1. Alewives.

2. They are more abundant than any others found in this vicinity. 3. Increased.

4. There is no establishment in this vicinity.

5. It does not in this vicinity.

6. First seem to come near the coast in April. The main body appear in June.

The first are the smallest.

7. They swim high, make a ripple on the water, and attract birds. 8. They come from a southward direction.

9. Their appearance is regular and certain.

10. No.

11. They come nearer the shore on the flow of the tide and move off on the ebb.

12. On bars and in coves.

13. Four and a half to five feet. They swim nearly to the top of the

water.

14. It does.

15. They come before they are mature, and we find the one and two year old fish with the oldest.

16. They are seen on the coast from April till June, from 4 to 10 inches in length.

17. They leave in November by degrees.

18. They go southward.

19. Somewhere south, I think.

26. I think they float.

29. Yes.

30. Don't think the parent fish devours them; birds eat them. 31. Lampreys are sometimes found attached on the outside. 32. Quite considerable.

33. I have not noticed any.

34. Noue in this vicinity, except small gill-nets.

42. There are but few caught in this vicinity. They are used on the spot.

63. Statement of G. Henry Seldon, Kinsale, Westmoreland County, Virginia, August, 1874.

1. Alewives.

2. More abundant than any other fish.

3. Diminished very much within the last ten years, particularly in the small rivers.

4. From 5,600 to 6,000 barrels taken in 1873 by one establishment in this vicinity. This is about the average number of barrels taken each

year.

5. The capture has a tendency to affect their abundance.

6. They appear in Chesapeake Bay about the 10th of March. The main body arrives about the 15th of April. The first fish are the largest. They come in quick succession.

7. They appear in schools, but swim low. There is therefore no ripple seen, and their arrival is known only by their capture, and the attraction of birds.

8. They come up the coast from the south; their movements are very swift, passing to the headwaters of the bays and rivers, where they are seen to linger a short time to spawn; then returning, they leave our coast and go to the coast of New England.

9. They are never known to fail.

10. They do not appear to be scared by seines or nets any longer than they are in sight of them.

11. Their migration is more on the ebb tide, as they stop on the flood tide to feed.

12. In large bays and rivers where the bottom is soft.

13. From three to eight fathoms of water. When the weather is cool they swim deep, but come near the surface at times; these times can be ascertained by the birds striking them. When the weather is warm these fish are seen to swim with the tops of their heads out of the water. 14. As the mercury sinks they swim deeper in the water.

15. They seldom appear on their breeding grounds before matured. The one and two year old fish are not found among the oldest.

16. The young fish are seen on the coast about the 1st of June, at which time they are about 4 inches long.

17. They leave the coast generally in the latter part of October in a body.

18. They leave the coast by the southern route going south of course. 19. It is thought that they spend the winter in or beyond the Gulf Stream, where the water is warm.

20. There is a sediment upon which they feed; this they purify by straining it through their gills.

21. They spawn in the headwaters of our bays and rivers, generally in the month of April.

22. In their migration movements they are mixed indiscriminately, as may be seen from the manner in which they are caught in the gill-nets; but when coming upon the breeding grounds, they are not huddled in schools, as may be seen afterwards.

23. The milt of this fish does color the water.

24. Cannot tell the exact temperature of water which is most favorable for spawning, but I think when it is from 45° to 65°; when the water is cold they spawn in the deep where the cold winds cannot chill the spawn; when the weather is moderately cold, it does not destroy the spawn, but the young fish will not hatch as soon as when the water is of the right temperature. Where the water becomes heated by the burning rays of the sun the spawn is instantly destroyed.

25. In from 4 to 10 feet of water; the eggs lay on the bottom. Where it is soft, and produces a little grass, it is all the better for the spawn. 26. When the eggs are spawned they sink to the bottom, but become attached neither to stones, grass, nor any thing of the kind; neither do they float until hatched, but lay on the bottom.

27. In four or six days' time after the eggs are laid they begin to hatch out. It has been said that they hatch out in two days after they have been laid, but this is very seldom; however it is not impossible, but my own experience teaches me that to hatch them out in two days would require the tide, locality, and temperature of the water to be very favor able.

28. The young of this fish are found in great abundance in the headwaters of our bays and rivers, generally near the shore.

29. The spawn is never known to run from this fish while being handled after they are captured.

30. The parent fish does not destroy the spawn, but other fish, such as the rock-bass and the pickerel destroy the spawn of this fish.

31. The lampreys are often found attached to the outside of this fish. In their gills and roof of the mouth is found an insect as large as the end of a man's small finger and three-quarters of an inch long. This is the small size of this insect. I have seen them an inch and a quarter long. It is transparent and has a tail resembling that of a lobster; and so great is the adhesive power of this insect, that you might attach one of them to your finger while it is alive and you could not throw it off. This insect is known to us as the fish-louse, because it attaches to the inside of the head of this fish; they are known in many localities as the buggy-head fish.

32. The bass, trout, bluefish, sharks, and the porpoises all feed upon this species of fish.

33. No disease of any description has ever occurred among them, causing death in any numbers worthy of notice in the past thirty years.

34. Purse seines, gill-seines, haul seines, fike-nets, and hedge-nets are all used in capturing these fish, and are generally used with great suc

cess.

35. Seines for capturing this fish are from 50 to 400 fathoms long, from 2 to 5 fathoms deep, and of a 2 or 24 inch mesh. The seines used at the oil factories are called purse-seines; they are about 100 fathoms long and 500 deep.

36. Small-size schooners and sloops, being from 6 to 20 tons burden. 37. Two men to each vessel, except the tug, which has 5 men.

38. Toward midday is the most successful period for catching these fish.

39. They are taken in greater numbers on the ebb tide.

40. They do not appear upon the surface of the water in windy as they do in moderate weather.

41. Seven vessels are employed in this vicinity having crews of 15 or 18 men, but the aggregate number of men at the factory and on board of the vessels is 45 or 50.

42. The fish thus caught are taken to the factory and there boiled up for oil.

43. The only factory in this neighborhood is the one at New Point Comfort, owned by Nickleson & Co., of Norfolk, Va.

44. The average quantity of good oil produced by this one factory is about 300 barrels a year.

48. One bushel.

49. Probably 10 gallons.

50. Probably 24 gallons in the spring and summer.