eral of the fisheries; at Greenport, N. Y., and Provincetown, Mass. In October, 1877, I visited Mr. H. L. Dudley, at his works on Pine Island, Connecticut, and there had an excellent opportunity of observing the operations of an oil and guano factory. A similar opportunity was afforded me by the officers of the Pacific Guano Company at Wood's Holl. Here I was enabled, by the aid of Mr. Herbert Gill, stenographer, to obtain very full statistics.

In addition to the circulars, over two hundred personal letters have been written. In almost every case full and satisfactory replies were received. The following gentlemen have been particularly obliging:— Mr. H. L. Dudley, Secretary of United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association, New Haven, Conn.; Mr. D. T. Church, Tiverton, R. I.; Prof. C. A. Goessman, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass.; Mr. E. H. Jenkins, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.; Hon. S. L. Goodale, Saco, Me.; Mr. E. G. Blackford, New York City; Mr. Barnet Phillips, New York City; Mr. W. O. Allison and Mr. Jasper Pryer, New York City.

I am also under obligation to Prof. W. O. Atwater, of Wesleyan University, who has written the portion relating to agriculture; to Mr. H. L. Dudley, for advice and criticism; and to Mr. Herbert A. Gill of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. William Jameson, and Mr. Walter P. Stoddard, of Wesleyan University, for aid in preparing the manuscripts for the press. My associate, Dr. T. H. Bean, has worked with me in studying the specific characters of the two species of Brevoortia. The drawings are by Mr. J. H. Emerton, of Salem, and Mr. H. L. Todd, of Washington. Electrotypes have been obtained from the "American Agriculturist," from George W. Miles & Co., the American Sardine Company, and the Pacific Guano Company.

Responses to the circular of inquiry.

9. The circular of inquiry elicited responses from the correspondents named below, in Appendix B, most of which were carefully prepared, and in many cases give the results of years of observation. In Appendix N will be found these responses in full.

Published accounts of the spectes.

10. In discussing the history of the name and classification of the Brevoortia tyrannus and its allies, allusion is made to various books, and so incidentally under other heads. In Appendix C will be found a complete bibliography of the subject, containing about one hundred and forty citations. Many of these authorities have been quoted in the text. Some of the most important descriptions have been reproduced in Appendix D.

Most of the work on this report was done in the winter of 1874-75. Since that time two pamphlets have been published, containing very valuable contributions to the knowledge of the menhaden. From these

I have derived much information and have quoted freely. The first was the report of Messrs. Boardman and Atkins.* The most recent contribution is that prepared by Mr. Luther Maddocks, under the auspices of the Maine association. This is a most interesting little essay, especially valuable for the complete statistics of fisheries and manufactures in Maine, and the account of the relations of the fisheries to the fishermen, the shore population, and the property of the adjoining towns.

The collections of the United States National Museum.

11. The collections of the Fish Commission, deposited in the National Museum, contain over one hundred bottles of menhaden in alcohol, including probably over one thousand specimens, from many localities, with photographs and casts. A list of these is given in Appendix E.

There is also a model of the menhaden fishing steamer "Leonard Brightman" with seine-boats (No. 25824, Ethn. Cat.), made by Joseph Lawler, of Bristol, Me.; models of the Cape Ann seine-boat (No. 25800), with fittings, and the Cape Ann seining-dory (No. 25827), from Higgins and Gifford, of Gloucester; a full series of "fittings" for seine-boats, manufactured by Wilcox and Crittenden, of Middletown, Conn., including "cleats" (No. 25177), "steering rowlocks with stern-sockets" (Nos. 25113-14), "oar-holders" of old and new models (Nos. 25171-'72), "davitiron" (No. 25166), "tow-iron" (No. 25167), and "tow link and hook" (No. 25168); a pump box and haft for seine-boat (No. 29499) from Andrew Kennedy, of Provincetown. The Pacific Guano Company is represented by a large model of their works, the same which was exhibited in their pavilion at the Exposition grounds in Philadelphia, and there is a very satisfactory model of the oil factory of Joseph Church & Co., at Bristol, Me. (No. 26899), made by Joseph Lawler.

4.-SOURCES OF ERROR WHICH HAVE BEEN SHUNNED.

The difficulty of obtaining exact information.

12. It has been necessary to make allowances for many inaccuracies of statement on the part of our correspondents. Some of them, having *The Menhaden and Herring Fisheries | of Maine as sources of fertilization. | A Report made to the Maine Board of Agriculture | By Samuel L. Boardman, Secretary of the Board | and | Charles G. Atkins, formerly Fish Commissioner of Maine, | 8vo. 1875, pp. 67.

Under direction of the Maine Board of Agriculture, Mr. Samuel L. Boardman, its secretary, visited in 1874 and 1875 nearly all the manufacturing establishments in Maine, thoroughly investigating their operations. The account of the agricultural uses of fish is the most complete which has yet been published (pp. 34–67). Mr. Charles G. Atkins, formerly commissioner of fisheries for the State of Maine, and for several years in charge of the salmon-hatching establishment at Bucksport, contributed a very thorough study of the habits of the fish (pp. 1–33).

The Menhaden fishery of Maine | with statistical and historical details | its| relations to Agriculture | and as a direct source of human food | -1 New processes, products, and discoveries | — Published by the | Association of the Menhaden Oil and Guano Manufacturers of Maine | Press of B. Thurston & Company, Portland, 1878. 8vo. p. 46, 4 cuts.

been unable to obtain exact information, have ventured to guess at what they did not really know from experience. I do not think that there has been intentional misrepresentation or any effort to withhold information. There being no ulterior object, such as future legislation, in collecting this information, there has been no temptation to concealment; still the testimony has been partly that of interested persons. The most fair and honorable men, however careful may be their observations, are involuntarily influenced by preconceived opinions or by considerations of personal interest, and, even if it were possible to secure unprejudiced opinions, these necessarily would express only part of the truth. Then, too, the movements of fishes are so capricious, the opportunities of observation so few and so imperfect, that satisfactory results can, in most cases, be reached only after years of constant study.

Prejudices and superstitions.

13. Some curious prejudices and fancies have been encountered among the fishermen. These refer chiefly to the time and manner of spawning, the character of the eggs, the nature of their food, and the relation of the fish to its peculiar parasite.

Inaccuracies of observation and statement.

14. There has been some difficulty in eliminating unreliable data from the great mass of facts contributed by correspondents. This, however, has not been so great as was apprehended at the beginning of the work, since a knowledge of the beliefs and traditions current among seafaring men renders it easy to detect many of the errors at once. The concurrent testimony of a number of reliable correspondents has been thought sufficient to establish points in question: when possible, these have been investigated personally, to render their establishment doubly certain. A large proportion of the communications received have evidently been prepared with much care. It is believed that many facts. hitherto unrecorded have been brought to light by this investigation. All communications are given in full in Appendix N. This bas been done both to show the character of the testimony upon which this history has been founded, and to put upon record many facts which, while not directly connected with the subject under consideration, are nevertheless of value to the student of the fisheries.

B.—THE NAMES OF THE MENHADEN.

5.-POPULAR NAMES.

Local names and usages.

15. Brevoortia tyrannus has at least thirty distinct popular names, most of them limited in application within narrow geographical boundaries. To this circumstance may be attributed the prevailing ignorance regard

ing its habits and migrations, which has perhaps prevented the more extensive utilization of this fish, particularly in the Southern States. It accounts for the extraordinary blunder of the compilers of the fishery statistics of the census of the United States for 1870, in which the oils produced from the whitefish of the great lakes (Coregonus albus) and the whitefish of Connecticut are classed as identical, a blunder which is followed by a number of others of the same character and quite as certain to mislead. The discrepancy of local names also enables us to understand how the extensive manufacturing interests and fisheries connected with this fish have gradually sprung up, little noticed save by those directly interested in the business.

The geographical distribution of the popular names.

16. In Maine and Massachusetts the name "pogy" is almost universally in use, though in the vicinity of Cape Ann it is partially replaced by "hard-head" and "hard-head shad." The name "menhaden" is exclusively applied in Southern Massachusetts, the Vineyard Sound, Buzzard's Bay, and Narragansett Bay, where it appears to have originated. From the eastern boundary of Connecticut to the mouth of the Connecticut River the name "bony-fish" predominates, while in the western part of the State the species is usually known as the "white fish." In the waters of New York the usage of two centuries is in favor of "mossbunker," a name which also holds throughout New Jersey. In Delaware Bay, the Potomac, and Chesapeake Bay other variations are found in "alewife" and "greentail." Virginia gives us "bug-fish" in its various forms, while in North Carolina we first meet the name of "fat-back," which is more or less prevalent as far south as the Saint John's River, Florida. In all the Southern States, especially in the vicinity of Beaufort, N. C., the names "yellow-tail" and "yellow-tailed shad" are occasionally heard. I am informed that in the Indian River, Florida, the fish is occasionally called the "shiner" and the "herring."

17. The following table gives the usage at a number of points on the coast chosen to exhibit most clearly the geographical distribution of the popular names of Brevoortia tyrannus:

Passamaquoddy Bay, Me... ....Pogy; Bony-fish.