on the shad, salmon and whitefish, and the eggs of the European salmon were imported.

1873.

The summer headquarters were fixed at Portland, Maine. The opportunities for research were greatly increased by the aid of the Secretary of the Navy, who granted the use of an eighty-ton

steamer.

Explorations in the outer waters between Mt. Desert and Cape Cod were carried on in the United States Coast Survey steamer Bache. Operations in fish culture were carried on upon an extensive scale.

1874-1875.

In 1874 the zoological work centred at Noank, Conn. The attempt was made to introduce shad into Europe. In 1875 the station was for a second time at Wood's Holl, where a permanent seaside laboratory, with aquaria, was now established. The number of investigations this year was about twenty. The increase in the propagation work was proportionately much larger.

1876.

This year the Commissioner was unable to take the fishes and useful invertebrates in behalf of the Commission field for fishery investigations, having been instructed to exhibit, in connection with the Philadelphia International Exhibition, the methods of fish culture and the American fisheries. Much, however, was accomplished by single investigators in various localities. The propagation work continued. This year the first carp were introduced from Germany.

1877.

The field of investigation was resumed at Salem, Mass., and later at Halifax, N. S. A larger steamer of 300 tons made deep sea research possible. The Commissioner and his staff served as experts before the Halifax Fishery Commission. The propagating work was on the increase, and the government carp ponds were established in Washington.

1878-1879.

In 1878 the summer station was at Gloucester, Mass.; in 1879 at Provincetown. These centres of the fishing interests were selected that more attention might be devoted to studying the history, statistics and methods of the sea fisheries; a plan for the systematic investigation which seemed yearly more necessary in view of the dissensions between the governments of the United States and Great Britain. In 1879 a combination was formed with the Superintendent of the Tenth Census, by which the Commissioner was enabled to carry more rapidly forward this branch of the work. Specialists were dispatched to all parts of the country to study the biological, statistical and practical aspects of the fisheries. In 1878 the breeding of cod and haddock was accomplished at Gloucester. In 1879 the propagation of the oyster was accomplished, by cooperation with the Maryland Commission under the direction of Major Ferguson, and the distribution of the carp throughout the country was begun.

1880.

The summer station is at Newport, R. I. The Fish Hawk, a steamer of 484 tons, constructed expressly for the work of the commission, lies at the wharf, now equipped for scientific research, later to be employed in the propagation of sea fish such as the cod and the mackerel. Over fifty investigators are in the field in the service of the commission. The season was opened by the participation of the commission in the International Exhibition at Berlin. The first honor prize, the gift of the Emperor of Germany, was awarded to Professor Baird, not alone as an acknowledgment that the display of the United States was the most perfect and most imposing, but as a personal tribute to one who, in the words of the President of the Deutscher Fischerei Verein, is regarded in Europe as the first fishculturist in the world.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL, AND ITS ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION. By CHARLES W. SMILEY, of Washington, D. C.

66

1. NAMES AND CHARACTERISTICS.

THE fish to be noticed in this paper is a member of the family Scombrida, described by Mitchill as the Cybium maculatum. Its general appearance is much like that of the common mackerel, Scomber scombrus, though it is considerably larger. Its color is greenish above, blending into ashen gray. Its sides and all beneath are lustrous white, while about twenty yellowish round spots, a quarter of an inch in diameter, are irregularly distributed along the sides. Its eyes are large its mouth is also large and armed with acute and slightly conical teeth, which, however, are wanting in front. Its length is seventeen to twenty inches. De Kay, while describing it as Cybium maculatum, calls it the spotted cybium," and applies the name Spanish mackerel to the Scomber colias. It is true that the Scomber colias formerly monop olized the term Spanish mackerel, for it was then in market and sold in considerable quantities. Great schools of these fish appeared in New York Bay in 1811 and 1813. About 1820, they were exceedingly abundant at Gloucester, and Provincetown, Mass. But it has disappeared from our coast. During a ten years' search no specimen has been taken unless a rare specimen taken by Hon. Samuel Powel, of Newport, R. I., October 22, 1875, was of this species. Mr. Powel was very certain that it was Scomber colius. However no specimen is known to exist in any Museum. But the vernacular still has a use for the name,Spanish mackerel, having transferred it to the Cybium maculatum. The latter was first described by Mitchill more than sixty years ago. It was then very scarce in our waters, though believed to be abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea. Of late years it has appeared in larger and larger numbers along our coast, extending as far north as Narragansett Bay.

2. LOCALITY AND ABUNDANCE.

In 1854, Professor Theodore N. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institution, reported it to be of very slight commercial importance. Seth

The

Green places its first appearance within fifteen years. Few, if any, were taken in Chesapeake Bay prior to 1870. It is now found in schools off Fire Island, the shoals annually increasing in size, one having been reported five miles square. About 1872 or 1873 there was quite an abundance of this fish in Narragansett Bay. Between three hundred and four hundred were taken at one haul of the seine, but the run was short, and the fish did not reappear. Chesapeake Bay has been annually visited by large schools for several years where it is known as the "bay mackerel." None were known to have been marketed there prior to 1870, but in 1879, 1,300,000 of this fish were sold, and the season of 1880 is expected to yield 2,000,000. They are taken in pound-nets and gill-nets. At Cherrystone, Maryland, there are fourteen pounds, which average a catch of five hundred to a day. As many as 4,000 per day have been taken in a single pound on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, while 2,500 is not a rare catch with one pound. The bay fish, however, are smaller and leaner than those caught farther north. The fishermen disagree in regard to the length of time in which schools have visited the bay, some asserting that there were only scattering fish prior to 1875, and others that schools have appeared for many years; but all agree that there has been a surprising increase during the last five years. The occurrence of the fish hardly ought to be judged by the amount caught, for the increase in catch has been entirely coincident with the increase of pound and net-fishing. It is well known that the fish ordinarily refuses the hook.

3. METHOD OF CAPTURE, AND SALE.

The first pound, which was really a success in the Chesapeake, was constructed by George Snediker at New Point, Va., in 1875. Now there are one hundred and sixty-four between cape Charles and the Rappahannock river. Two years later, gill-nets were introduced and came immediately into general favor. This season there are one hundred and seventy-five men, between Smith's Island and Occohamock creek, engaged in taking Spanish mackerel. A net, seventy-five to one hundred fathoms long, will average twenty to forty fish per day, and as many as five hundred have been taken in that length of time. The fish average from one and one-half to two pounds each in weight. The markets in the

order of their importance, are Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia. In the New York market the receipts, since 1878, have been as follows:

In New York market the price per pound ranged from eighteen to thirty cents during 1879; for May, 1880, from fifteen to forty cents, but owing to the large shipments in June the price fell to ten to fifteen cents. On special occasions the fish have sold readily at one dollar per pound. The catch of 1873 at Newport, R. I., was sold at prices varying from seventy-five cents to one dollar per pound.

5. THE MIGRATIONS.

This fish usually appears in the Chesapeake in May, when the temperature has reached 65 or 70 degrees, and the number increases until the middle of June. They remain abundant until September and diminish as the temperature of the water falls, until, in early October, nearly all have disappeared. They come in small schools, but later get scattered, and often quite isolated. Before leaving, the schools seem to be somewhat reformed. The individuals of the schools are of different sizes, the males and