THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 FISHES 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, 
 EMBRACING A PRACTICAL ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 ANGLING. 
 
 BY JEROME V. C. SMITH, M. D. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ALLEN AND TICKNOR 
 1833. 
 
 r' i. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 
 
 ALLEN AND TICKNOR, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
HON. JOSIA.H QUINCY, 
 Volume 
 
 RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
 M361859 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN the course of several years residence on a small 
 island in Boston harbor, the author became interested 
 in the study -of ichthyology. The daily opportunities 
 which the locality afforded of examining a large' portion 
 of the species described in the following pages, resulted, 
 three years since, in a catalogue of the fishes of the 
 Northern States ; but within a few months past, the 
 manuscript has been revised, and that part of it is now 
 presented, which more particularly relates to Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 There are many unfortunate errors, and repetitions, 
 which escaped notice, till it was too late to make the 
 corrections. The distance at which the writer resides 
 from the compositor, and the extreme difficulty, often- 
 times, of going to the city, against wind and tide, are 
 some, among many apologies, that might be offered 
 in extenuation of these vexatious deformities. A table 
 of errata, however, is inserted at the end. 
 
 With respect to the engravings, they are far short, 
 in many instances, of what was anticipated. Some of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 them are beautifully and accurately executed ; but others 
 are miserable caricatures. The artist was young and 
 inexperienced, and when he would have willingly 
 made a second drawing, the press could not be kept in 
 waiting. As a revised and enlarged edition, embracing 
 the natural history of all the fishes of the North, is con- 
 templated, the engravings in that will not only be more 
 numerous, but correctly delineated on copper. 
 
 No pretensions are made to originality ; the object 
 has been to collect and preserve such facts as are already 
 known in this interesting department of local Natural 
 History. The remarks and observations of other writers 
 have been freely introduced, wherever they were perti- 
 nent to the subject under consideration. 
 
 The collection of native fishes, from which the scien- 
 tific arrangement has been made, will probably be 
 deposited with the Boston Society of Natural History. 
 With a little exertion on the part of the members, it 
 might become a most valuable ichthyological cabinet. 
 
 Those gentlemen who have so promptly and kindly 
 forwarded specimens from various sections of the State, 
 will please accept our sincere thanks. To DAVID 
 ECKLEY, Esq., of Boston, the author is particularly in- 
 debted. His exact knowledge of the habits and char- 
 acters of the aquatic tribes, and his truly philosophical 
 energy, demand the warmest gratitude. All that is 
 interesting to the practical angler, in the second part of 
 the volume, originated with that gentleman. 
 
 The services of Capt. J. P. COUTHOUY, in procuring 
 and preserving the marine fishes of this coast, during 
 a period of several years, with reference to a correct 
 classification, also place the writer under lasting obliga- 
 tions. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vii 
 
 To SOLOMON LINCOLN, Esq., acknowledgments are 
 made in another place, for his valuable services. 
 
 A digest of the Fishery Laws, by the Hon. JOHN 
 PICKERING, to have been annexed, and to have con- 
 stituted part the third, was not seasonably completed, 
 and may therefore be expected hereafter, should the 
 present Essay meet the approbation of the public. 
 
 J. V. C. SMITH. 
 QUARANTINE GROUND, 
 
 Port of Boston, May, 1833, 
 

IMPORTANCE 
 
 THE FISHERIES 
 
 IT was an opinion of Pliny, " that nature's 
 great and wonderful power is more demonstrated 
 in the sea than on the land." This power is dis- 
 played in forms of exquisite beauty, and awful 
 grandeur. It is exhibited on the mountain wave, 
 and in the unexplored caverns of the deep. It 
 appears, in an eminent degree, among the myriads 
 of tribes which traverse the ocean with a veloci- 
 ty far surpassing that produced by human power, 
 equalling almost that of the tenants of the air. 
 Science has not so far penetrated this field of 
 agreeable research, as to induce us to suppose, 
 that we have anything like a complete history 
 of the watery tribes. We have indeed new 
 1 
 
2 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 names, but with their increase, we have not a 
 corresponding knowledge of the habits and char- 
 acter of the marine inhabitants. Linnaeus has 
 given names to upwards of four hundred species ; 
 yet it is probable that the recesses of the fathom- 
 less sea contain a great variety of tribes never 
 seen by man. Imagination has frequently been 
 busy in tenanting these unexplored regions with 
 unreal creations, and superstition has exercised 
 her inventive faculties to impose a belief in their 
 existence, on credulous and inexperienced minds. 
 
 It would be an agreeable employment to enter 
 into a detail of the interesting facts connected 
 with this branch of Natural History. It would 
 afford a rich gratification to the inquiring mind, 
 to discover the singular adaptation to its state of 
 existence, which is to be found in this class of 
 animated nature, and to witness the order and 
 beauty which here, as well as elsewhere, is 
 stamped upon the works of the Almighty. 
 
 The object, however, in this introductory part 
 of the following work, is rather more of a prac- 
 tical nature, than an examination of the history 
 of the marine tribes ; rather to exhibit the im- 
 portance of the fisheries as a matter of sound 
 political economy, than to enter upon the sub- 
 ject with the enthusiasm which would be felt 
 alone by the man of science, to show how 
 
THE FISHERIES. 3 
 
 much individuals and even nations may, from in- 
 considerable sources, derive comfort, strength and 
 power. 
 
 To increase the physical and moral power of a 
 nation, to the greatest possible extent, regard 
 must be had to the proper adaptation of the 
 means to produce desired results, under every 
 variety of circumstances. Education must, in 
 some measure, be adapted to the genius of the 
 people, in order to give the greatest efficacy to 
 their institutions. Even forms of religion must 
 be shaped to correspond with the prevailing dis- 
 positions, habits and taste. A grave, sober peo- 
 ple will prefer great simplicity in their forms of 
 worship, and others, whose local circumstances 
 place them more under the dominion of the im- 
 agination, will avoid whatever appears to them 
 cold and austere, and seek to elevate their feel- 
 ings and indulge their taste by more showy and 
 imposing observances. So, also, in relation to the 
 ordinary pursuits of life, employments which in 
 some nations tend most to promote general pros- 
 perity, in others are found not to be adapted to 
 their habits or circumstances. 
 
 It will often occur also, in a country like ours, 
 full of resources putting forth its strength in 
 every variety of form, where under favorable 
 auspices, any individual with common skill and 
 
4 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 prudence, if he but throws himself upon the cur- 
 rent, will be sure of being borne on to prosperous 
 results, that those pursuits which can be turned 
 to the quickest account in building up fortunes, 
 are followed to an unreasonable extent, and that 
 the result, under a change of circumstances, is 
 frequent distress and disappointment. 
 
 The avidity with which the Spanish adventur- 
 ers rushed into the pursuit of the glittering trea- 
 sures of South America, absorbed all inclination 
 to cultivate those practical arts, upon which ex- 
 perience shows, that the prosperity of a nation 
 mainly depends ; and its operation was to weaken 
 and undermine the very' foundations of the 
 strength and glory of the Spanish monarchy. 
 
 A prevalent desire among a people to gather 
 riches too fast, and to swell their fortunes under 
 the influence of a feverish excitement, by means 
 ill adapted to employ all the powers whose exer- 
 cise contributes to ultimate and permanent good, 
 is frequently cherished by an ignorance of the 
 true principles of a wise political economy. We 
 should not think it strange even in our own coun- 
 try, where so much has been done, and is now 
 being done, to ascertain the mutual connexion and 
 dependence of the arts of life, and their bearing 
 on general interests. We should not think it 
 strange if the importance of some of the humbler 
 
THE FISHERIES. 5 
 
 and less attractive pursuits should be overlooked 
 or undervalued. 
 
 It is for these reasons, that we have been in- 
 duced to comply with a request to offer some 
 remarks on the history, nature, extent and im- 
 portance of the Fisheries. 
 
 In the language of an early historian of Vir- 
 ginia,* " therefore, honorable and worthy coun- 
 trymen, let not the meanness of the word fish 
 distaste you, for it will afford as good gold as the 
 mines of Guiana or Potosi, with less hazard and 
 charge, and more certainty and facility." 
 
 Sir Henry Wotton remarked of fishing, that 
 it was " a rest to the mind, a cheerer of his 
 spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet 
 thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of 
 contentedness ; and that it begat habits of peace 
 and patience." 
 
 " The Romans, in the height of their glory," 
 says the celebrated Walton, " made fish the mis- 
 tress of all their entertainments," of which the 
 value and importance are confirmed not only by 
 their historians, but by their essayists and bards. 
 
 It is not for us, however, to speak of the de- 
 licious entertainments which may be provided 
 from the treasures of the deep ; we shall remark 
 
 * Smith. 
 
6 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 on them with the more useful design of fostering 
 the fisheries as a branch of industry, as wise 
 economy for a state or nation like our own. 
 
 The first knowledge we have of the fisheries on 
 the American coasts, was in the year 1504, when 
 vessels from Biscay, Bretagne and Normandy, 
 were employed in the cod fishery, on the coasts 
 of Newfoundland. In 1517, the French, Spanish 
 and Portuguese had vessels engaged in this fish- 
 ery. England had then one ship employed in 
 this lucrative trade. Prince was in error when he 
 dated the commencement of the English fishing 
 trade in 1560, because in 1548, an act was passed 
 by Parliament, prohibiting the admirals and others 
 from making exactions in money or fish, from 
 English fishermen, going on the service of fishing 
 at Newfoundland. This was the first act of par- 
 liament which had any relation to this country ; 
 and it indicates the sagacity of the English states- 
 men, in protecting a trade which has ever since 
 been of great value to their nation. 
 
 In 1578, England employed fifteen vessels in 
 the trade, France one hundred and fifty, Spain one 
 hundred, and Portugal fifty. In 1615, the num- 
 ber of British vessels had increased to two hun- 
 dred and fifty, and those of other nations to four 
 hundred. 
 
 It is an interesting fact to us, that had it not 
 
THE FISHERIES. 7 
 
 been for the treasures of the sea, the pilgrim fa- 
 thers of New England would have probably 
 perished by famine. The pious Brewster and his 
 associates lived for months almost entirely upon 
 fish, and his daily thanks were given, that he and 
 his associates could " suck of the abundance of the 
 seas, and of the treasures hid in the sands." The 
 infant colony of Plymouth was nourished into 
 strength and power by the trade of fishing. It 
 was, for a long series of years, one of the princi- 
 pal sources from whence they derived sustenance 
 for themselves, and articles of traffic, in exchange 
 for which they obtained commodities necessary for 
 their comfort and protection. It is due to that 
 noble race of natives, who were afterwards almost 
 entirely swept from New England by pestilence 
 and war, here to state, that to them were our fa- 
 thers indebted for their first knowledge of the man- 
 ner of taking fish, as well as of the rudiments of 
 Indian agriculture. 
 
 It is a singular and an interesting fact, that our 
 beautiful system of free schools took its rise in 
 Plymouth Colony, from the fisheries. The sub- 
 ject was commenced in 1663, in the Colony Court, 
 by the following proposition : "It is proposed by 
 the court unto the several townships in this juris- 
 diction, as a thing that they ought to take into se- 
 rious consideration, that some course may be taken 
 
8 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 in every town, that there may be a school-master 
 set up to train up children to reading and writing." 
 In 1670, " the court did freely give and grant all 
 such profits as might or should accrue annually to 
 the colony, for fishing with nets or seines, at Cape 
 Cod, for mackerel, bass or herring, to be improv- 
 ed for and towards a free school, in some town of 
 this jurisdiction, for the training up of youth in 
 literature for the good and benefit of posterity, 
 provided a beginning be made within one year af- 
 ter said grant, &c." This school was immediate- 
 ly established at Plymouth, and was supported by 
 the proceeds of the Cape fishery, until 1677, 
 when they were distributed among several towns 
 for the same purpose. After the union of Massa- 
 chusetts with Plymouth, in 1692, this fishery be- 
 came free.* 
 
 Many of the towns in the colony of Massachu- 
 setts began at an early date to cultivate their river 
 fisheries. Wears w r ere erected upon the rivers in 
 Watertown and Roxbury, as early as 1631. In 
 1641, we learn from Winthrop, that 300,000 dry 
 fish were sent to market. 
 
 The English commenced the whale fishery at a 
 very early period. Before the American Revolu- 
 tion, it had grown into an important branch of 
 trade, then considered of great value to the na- 
 * Deane's History of Scituate. 
 
THE FISHERIES. 9 
 
 tion ; yet the whole amount of tonnage employed 
 did not equal that of the port of New Bedford at 
 the present time. The enterprising Hollanders, 
 however, surpassed the English in this trade, and 
 during nine years preceding the year 1778, their 
 ships bore to those of Great Britain the proportion 
 of two to one. 
 
 Previously to the American Revolution, the cod 
 fishery of Massachusetts employed 28,000 tons of 
 shipping, and four thousand seamen. The annual 
 value of their industry and enterprise was about 
 $1,000,000. 
 
 In 1775, Great Britain deeming the various fish- 
 eries of essential importance to the colonies, and 
 like an unnatural parent, desirous of enforcing 
 obedience by arbitrary and oppressive measures 
 at the instigation of Lord North, passed the ob- 
 noxious act, prohibiting the colonies the exercises 
 of the right of fishery on the banks of Newfound- 
 land. This unwise act of arbitrary power drew 
 forth the powerful invectives of Fox and Burke, 
 and sixteen peers regarded it with so much dis- 
 pleasure as to enter their protest against the pas- 
 sage of the bill. It was in a debate preceding the 
 passage of the act, that in allusion to the enter- 
 prise of the Americans in the whale fishery, the 
 eloquent Burke said 
 
 " While we follow them among the tumbling 
 
10 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating 
 into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's and 
 Davis's Straits, while we are looking for them be- 
 neath the Arctic circle, we hear that they have 
 pierced into the opposite region of polar cold, 
 that they are at the Antipodes, and engaged under 
 the frozen serpent of the south. Faulkland isl- 
 and, which seemed too remote and romantic an 
 object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a 
 stage and resting place for their victorious indus- 
 try. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discourag- 
 ing to them, than the accumulated winter of both 
 poles. We know that while some of them draw 
 the line or strike the harpoon on the coast of Af- 
 rica, others run the longitude, and pursue their 
 gigantic game on the coast of Brazil. No sea, but 
 what is vexed with their fisheries. Neither the 
 perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of 
 France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of 
 English enterprise, have carried their most perilous 
 mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it 
 has been pursued by this recent people, who are 
 still in the gristle, and not hardened into man- 
 hood." 
 
 The war of our independence, however, gave a 
 new direction to the " victorious industry," which 
 was carried to an extent which far surpassed " the 
 sagacity of English enterprise," whether in the 
 
THE FISHERIES. 11 
 
 cabinet or the field. It was the spirit of men 
 trained to such daring pursuits, accustomed to 
 perilous undertakings, which, in the course of 
 eight years, obtained from Great Britain a recog- 
 nition " as a right " of that which had been with- 
 held, at the commencement of that period, as a 
 privilege, to be dispensed at the pleasure of par- 
 liament. 
 
 The restoration of peace revived the fisheries of 
 this country. The state of Massachusetts, alive 
 to its true interests, and desirous of strengthening 
 this essential branch of national industry, made a 
 representation to Congress in 1790, asking some 
 encouragement in the form of bounty, on export- 
 ed fish. This was granted, and a few years after- 
 wards a bounty was allowed to vessels employed 
 in the business for a given length of time. This 
 gave a stimulus to the trade, and up to the period 
 when restrictions were placed upon our commerce, 
 it gradually increased in value and extent. ' In 
 1807, 71,000 tons of vessels were employed in 
 the cod fishery alone, and the average value of 
 exports from this country, of the productions of 
 the sea for that and the four preceding years, was 
 estimated at $3,000,000. From that time, until 
 the close of the last war, all our fisheries dimin- 
 ished. With the return of peace, they revived, 
 and the very next year 68,000 tons of vessels, 
 
12 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 employing 10,000 fishermen, were again upon the 
 ocean, thus exhibiting the sagacity and prompt- 
 ness with which the sons of New England avail 
 themselves of such circumstances as affect individ- 
 ual or public prosperity. 
 
 This branch of the fisheries has been pursued 
 since that period, with a success somewhat change- 
 able, but within the few last years, apparently 
 more sure and increasing. 
 
 The enterprise with which our fisheries have 
 been prosecuted has attracted the attention and 
 excited the jealousy of our colonial neighbors. A 
 late writer* upon the British dominions of North 
 America, in remarking on their fisheries says, 
 " By encouraging bounties to secure the adven- 
 turer against the serious loss consequent upon an 
 unsuccessful voyage, the number of vessels would 
 soon be considerably increased, and this important 
 branch of trade so effectually carried on by the 
 hardy inhabitants, as to compete in some degree 
 at least, if not rival, that of our American neigh- 
 bors, who are now almost in the exclusive enjoy- 
 ment of it, and carry on their enterprising fisheries 
 at the very mouths of our bays and harbors." 
 
 The inhabitants of the British dominions pos- 
 sess very great facilities for the promotion of this 
 
 * Bouchette. 
 
THE FISHERIES. 13 
 
 trade. They have a country filled with a heavy 
 growth of the most valuable timber for the build- 
 ing of vessels, and they derive no inconsiderable 
 advantages from their proximity to the fishing 
 grounds. They can, and frequently do, in some 
 districts, carry on their fisheries in open boats 
 of cheap construction, within a few miles from 
 shore. The bounty allowed by our government 
 to encourage the trade, being, in part, intended 
 as a drawback for duties paid on imported salt, 
 can scarcely be an adequate cause for the supe- 
 rior success of our fisheries over those of the 
 British, even on their own shores. The colonial 
 fishermen derive a similar encouragement from 
 the importation (free of duty) of the salt which 
 they consume. The form in which they receive 
 encouragement is different, but its effect is de- 
 signed to be the same. The secret of the suc- 
 cess of our fishermen lies in their greater activity 
 and perseverance. A late English traveller in 
 Nova Scotia, was surprised to find the bays swarm- 
 ing with Marblehead boats, before the Nova Sco- 
 tians had moved in the business. Burke acknowl- 
 edged the superiority of the hardy fishermen of 
 New England, more than half a century since, a 
 superiority which they have ever since maintained, 
 and will continue to maintain unless our govern- 
 ment should withdraw the protection and reward 
 
14 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 which now in some measure give a stimulus to in- 
 creased exertion to extend this lucrative branch of 
 our commercial pursuits. 
 
 Another branch of our fisheries which has grown 
 up within a few years is deserving consideration, 
 as an object of great importance to the State and 
 nation, viz : the Mackerel Fishery. This busi- 
 nes was, as before stated, pursued to some extent 
 in the early settlement of the country, but the 
 whole annual profit of the fishery of Cape Cod, 
 when its proceeds were appropriated for the sup- 
 port of a free grammar school, was but from 30 
 to 40 annually. This fishery included Macker- 
 el, bass, and herring. It appears from the histor- 
 ical collections, that mackerel were first taken in 
 any considerable quantities in seines by moonlight. 
 This method is supposed to have been first adopt- 
 ed by Mr Isaac Allerton and his associates, at 
 Nantasket, as early as 1626.* Fishing by torch- 
 light is common on the St Lawrence. The scene 
 as witnessed from the banks of that broad and 
 beautiful expanse of water, is described as almost 
 of a fairy nature. The flashing of the lights upon 
 
 * " 1671 John Prince and Nathaniel Bosworth, of Hull, 
 petition the General Court of Plymouth for liberty to fish at 
 Cape Cod for Mackerel, they having discovered a method of 
 fishing with nets by moon-light." Thacher's History of 
 Plymouth." 
 
THE FISHERIES. 15 
 
 its glassy surface spread out before the spectator, 
 with its edges fringed by a dark mass of huge 
 forest tress, sweeping to the very brink of the riv- 
 er with the song of the voyager floating over 
 the smooth and silent waters, may well fill the 
 mind with delightful emotions. 
 
 To show the superior success of our Mackerel 
 fishery over that of Nova Scotia, it is merely ne- 
 cessary to advert to a few facts in relation to the 
 mode and circumstances under which the colonial 
 fishery is carried on. In Nova Scotia, mackerel 
 are taken by seining with great facility. The Sur- 
 veyor General of Lower Canada states in his late 
 interesting work, that 1000 barrels have been ta- 
 ken in a seine at one draught. At the commence- 
 ment of the season, the fisherman obtains permis- 
 sion of the proprietor of the beach to erect his 
 hut and occupy a certain space for his boats and 
 nets, for which he pays, at the end of the season, 
 a certain part of the fish taken. The fishery is 
 usually held in shares, the owner of the boat 
 and nets taking one part of the proceeds, and the 
 fishermen the remainder. Some of the proprietors 
 receive each 2000 barrels of mackerel annually for 
 the use of their fishing grounds. Notwithstanding 
 these facilities and advantages on the side of the 
 Nova Scotians, the fishermen of New England 
 have entered into the business with great spirit 
 
16 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 and zeal ; and it bids fair to become one of our 
 chief and most permanent sources of prosperity. 
 So rapid has been the increase of the business, 
 that the eagle-eyed friends of retrenchment can 
 scarcely keep pace with its progress, in order to 
 prune off any extravagant allowance which a pros- 
 perous year of fishing might bring to the Inspector 
 General. 
 
 In 1803, Massachusetts passed a law providing 
 for an inspection of fish. In the following year, 
 the number of barrels of mackerel packed in Mas- 
 sachusetts, was 8,079. The number gradually 
 increased until 1808, when after a temporary de- 
 clension, the business extended, and in 1811 the 
 number of barrels packed was upwards of 19,000. 
 The war almost entirely destroyed the business. 
 In 1815 it revived, and the returns of the next 
 year show that 16,000 barrels were packed. In 
 1820, the increase was so rapid that the number of 
 barrels packed amounted to 236,243. This was 
 before the separation of Maine. The number 
 packed in Massachusetts the subsequent year, was 
 111,009, but in 1825 it was again increased to 
 an amount exceeding that of the whole state at the 
 time of the separation, and in 1831 there were 
 packed in this State 348,750 barrels ; and the 
 mere increase from the preceding year, amounted 
 to a greater number than were packed in the sev- 
 
THE FISHERIES. 17 
 
 en years subsequent to the passage of the Inspec- 
 tion law.* The number of vessels employed in 
 1831 did not fall much short of 400, and the num- 
 ber of men employed probably exceeded 4000. If 
 we include those who are employed in building 
 the vessels, manufacturing the barrels, making or 
 importing the salt, packing the fish, transporting 
 them to market, and vending them, we can form 
 some opinion of the extent of the advantages of 
 this trade to the community. The probable value 
 of the proceeds of the mackerel fishery for 1831, 
 exceeded one million and a half of dollars. 
 
 There is no doubt but the fisheries of Massachu- 
 setts have derived great advantage from our In- 
 spection laws. Whatever plausibility there may 
 be in a specious theory, which is sometimes put 
 forth and urged with much ingenuity and zeal, 
 that these laws are a restriction upon trade, still 
 there is no doubt as to their great practical benefit, 
 both to purchaser and seller. The fishermen of 
 Massachusetts have acquired for their produce a 
 high character, under the operation of these laws, 
 which commands for them regular prices and cer- 
 tain sales. The public are protected, at the same 
 time, from imposition in purchasing an article with 
 
 * The returns for 1832 were not completed when this 
 sketch was prepared. Owing to temporary causes, the 
 te catch" falls much short of that of the preceding year. 
 
18 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 which they are not familiarly acquainted, and 
 which they would not purchase at all, were it not 
 for the character stamped upon them by the laws 
 of the State. It is true that the laws have in 
 some instances been carelessly enforced, but they 
 give a remedy to the injured it is true also, that 
 there have been frequent attempts at vexatious 
 and almost farcical legislation on this subject, which 
 have been promptly rejected by the Legislature ; 
 yet these attempts to interfere to an unnecessary 
 extent, with the occupation and business of citizens, 
 has sometimes created disgust against the laws, 
 and rendered the whole system odious to many. 
 The Whale fishery, at the present time, attracts 
 unusual attention, both in Europe and America. 
 It is a wild and romantic employment. It requires 
 patience, perseverance, intrepidity it is full of 
 interest and excitement. We are glad to kno\v 
 that the object of the chase affords a rich reward 
 to those who fear not a perpetual conflict with the 
 elements, and continually grapple with danger 
 in pursuing their game. " The congratulation 
 and enjoyment resulting from victory, are scarcely 
 to be equalled in any other human pursuit." 
 We have noticed the early history of this 
 fishery in our previous remarks. It is now 
 rapidly increasing. The number of barrels of 
 sperm oil which have* been imported into the Uni- 
 
THE FISHERIES. 19 
 
 ted States since the late war has not fallen short of 
 1 ,000,000 barrels. Nearly one third of the quanti- 
 ty now imported, is consumed in manufacturing es- 
 tablishments. The quantity of whale oil imported 
 has been about the same as of sperm. The num- 
 ber of ships employed in the whale fishery, the 
 past year, was upwards of 300. The number of 
 persons employed to navigate them exceeded 
 6000. It is well known, that these vessels are chief- 
 ly owned, built and manned in Massachusetts. 
 They are supposed to require to equip for sea, 
 6000 tons of iron hoops for casks, 18,000 bolts of 
 sail cloth, 36,000 barrels of flour, 30,000 barrels of 
 beef and pork, 6,000,000 staves for casks, besides 
 numerous other expensive articles of equipment 
 and provisions. They require annually about 
 700,000 pounds of sheathing copper.* 
 
 It is a fact highly honorable to the enterprising 
 men engaged in this hazardous, daring and roman- 
 tic-employment, that they can compete so success- 
 fully with those of other nations, while they encour- 
 age their fishery by a protective duty and liberal 
 bounties. The protective duty of Great Britain is 
 nearly double our own. 
 
 There is probably no branch of business more 
 directly calculated, in all its ramifications, to enrich 
 a state, than this. It gives employment to me- 
 
 * Boston Courier. 
 
20 THE IMPORTANCE OP 
 
 chanics and artizans of almost every description 
 wherever it extends itself, it scatters opulence. In 
 peace, it is rearing up a hardy race of navigators, 
 who with souls steeled by unremitted action al- 
 most naturalized to the element on which they 
 pursue their gigantic game accustomed to buffet 
 the tempest and the storm on every ocean, will 
 not hesitate-, in war, if it must come, to display 
 the same daring intrepidity, the same recklessness 
 of danger, the same. love of country and of home, 
 in defending their dearest rights. It would be 
 gratifying to sketch, in detail, the animating scenes 
 which are presented in this employment, to por- 
 tray the exciting contests by man for the mastery 
 over the monsters of the deep and to describe 
 the skill and ingenuity by which victory is obtain- 
 ed but the limits which we have prescribed to 
 ourselves will not permit us to continue the sub- 
 ject further. 
 
 The remaining fisheries of the Commonwealth, 
 as subjects of general interest, are in a great mea- 
 sure losing, and in some instances have lost their 
 importance. The beautiful salmon, which Isaac 
 Walton accounted the king offish, is a rare visitor 
 to our waters, although we find them occasionally 
 exhibited by those who cater for the public taste. 
 
 The statutes in relation to our interior fisheries, 
 including those of the Colonies of Massachusetts 
 
THE FISHERIES. 21 
 
 and Plymouth, contain many provisions as singular 
 as they are absurd. In the almost endless variety 
 of detail, however, certain general principles have 
 been settled in a manner to prevent angry and 
 unprofitable litigation. 
 
 In relation to our sea-coast fisheries, the statutes 
 and general principles are highly important, and 
 new acts of legislation should be adopted with 
 great caution. Our citizens would regard with 
 extreme sensitiveness any enactments which might 
 tend to abridge, under the appearance of enlarg- 
 ing their privileges. Whatever may be the right, 
 our hardy and enterprising fishermen, for the 
 sake of an exclusive privilege of fishing on our 
 own shores, would scarcely wish to abstain from 
 carrying their successful industry into the mouths 
 of the bays and harbors of New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 In relation to the general subject, however,' it 
 must be apparent, that the fisheries of this Com- 
 monwealth are of vital importance to its interests. 
 There are many views of it, showing the depend- 
 ance of other branches of manufactures and trade 
 on them, which cannot now be presented. The 
 direct advantages are numerous. Taking into 
 consideration the amount of capital invested in 
 them, they ^ield a fair income which is divided 
 among a large number of persons, contributing to 
 
22 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 the support of no inconsiderable portion of our 
 population, who but for this employment, might 
 be left in destitute circumstances. Perhaps no 
 trade no pursuit with the same amount of cap- 
 ital, employs so large number of our citizens, and 
 gives more encouraging impulses to enterprise and 
 exertion. The employment is not unfriendly to 
 the morals of those who engage in it. It has 
 been remarked, that every person on board a fish- 
 ing vessel, has an interest in common with his as- 
 sociates. Their reward depends upon their indus- 
 try and enterprise. Much caution is observed in 
 the selection of crews of fishing vessels, and it 
 often happens, that every individual is connected, 
 by blood and the strongest ties of friendship. They 
 are remarkable for their sobriety and good con- 
 duct, and they rank with the most skilful naviga- 
 tors. 
 
 The celebrated Talleyrand, in speaking of our 
 fishermen, said, " Excepting the whalers, fishing is 
 an idle employment, requiring neither courage nor 
 skill ; the fishermen do not venture more than two 
 leagues from the coast, the fisheries do not fur- 
 nish a nursery for seamen, they have no attach- 
 ment to their homes, they are cosmopolites, and a 
 few codfish more or less determine their country." 
 These remarks only show how ignorant a learned 
 man may be of facts which fall under the observa- 
 
 
THE FISHERIES. 23 
 
 tion of all who have any curiosity to examine the 
 subject. 
 
 Bouchette says, " The daring enterprise of the 
 fisherman is known on this side the ocean, as well 
 as the other it would be idle to dwell upon the 
 boldness, the activity, the extreme collectedness 
 and presence of mind, that characterize that class 
 of navigators, who apparently naturalized to the 
 elements, buffet the heavy swell of the Atlantic, 
 in their frail fishing smacks and vessels, and seem 
 to laugh the ocean storms to scorn." 
 
 It might be enough to quote one foreign writer 
 against another, to show the absurdity of the alle- 
 gations of the French diplomatist but who that 
 has seen upon the shores of New England, beau- 
 tiful villages springing up under no operating 
 cause but the " silver drawn from the sea," filled 
 with seminaries for learning and temples for the 
 worship of God abounding with all the means 
 for social improvement and intellectual culture 
 the wharves laden with the rich productions of the 
 ocean the harbor whitened by the canvas of 
 the enterprising fishermen, and does not know that 
 the declarations of Talleyrand are the very reverse 
 of the truth ! Who does not know, that when 
 war swept the barque of the fisherman from the 
 ocean, that he was among the foremost to enrol his 
 name under the flag of his country and gallant- 
 
24 THE IMPORTANCE OF 
 
 ly to stake his life upon a contest for what he con- 
 ceived duty to that country required ? Who does 
 not know, that the fishermen of New England, 
 under a Tucker, (himself a fisherman), and a 
 Hull, performed for their country the most brilliant 
 achievements, and displayed at the same time, all 
 the noble qualities of the citizen and the patriot ? 
 
 Massachusetts, with her intelligent population, 
 her advances in manufactures and the arts, her 
 enterprising commerce and flourishing fisheries, 
 contains within herself, all the elements of strength 
 and power. A minute examination of the mutual 
 bearing of all these interests, will show how im- 
 portant it is, that each should be sustained by the 
 protection of the others. The inhabitants of the 
 sea-board will exchange with those of the interior, 
 the products of the ocean and foreign climes, for 
 those of our native soil, with mutual advantage and 
 profit. The interior will naturally seek channels for 
 the conveyance of its surplus productions to the 
 sea-board, for the purposes of exchange, and thus 
 private interests, if not public sentiment, will in 
 obedience to the dictates of a wise and prudent 
 policy, open avenues which will at the same time 
 develope the resources of the State bind together 
 the various local interests and quicken the cir- 
 culation of intelligence and good feelings. 
 
 Small though she is in territory, what State. 
 
THE FISHERIES. 25 
 
 more than Massachusetts, possesses within herself 
 all that constitutes the moral and physical strength 
 of a Commonwealth ? Where is industry more 
 manfully displayed and better rewarded ? We think 
 no where on the face of the earth. It is for us 
 then to examine all the capacities of our ancient 
 Commonwealth to study well all her interests, 
 to procure for them all the protection of good 
 laws, to overlook none of her important, nor in- 
 considerable branches of industry, and above all, 
 to take good precaution to observe the principles 
 and to obey the precepts of that noble generation 
 of men, who appropriated the proceeds of the 
 Cape Cod fishery to found our beautiful system of 
 free schools.* 
 
 * Some of the uses to which the productions of the sea may 
 be applied, and which are not adverted to in the preceding 
 sketch, appear by the following extract from the Barnstablo 
 Journal, of Feb. 7, 1833. 
 
 " FEEDING CATTLE ON FISH. The cattle at Province- 
 town feed upon fish with apparently as good relish as upon 
 the best kinds ot fodder. It is said that some cows, kept there 
 several years, will, when grain and fish are placed before 
 them^at the same time, prefer the latter, eating the whole of 
 the fish before they touch the grain. Like one of old, we 
 were rather incredulous on this subject, till we had the evi- 
 dence of ocular demonstration. We have seen the cows at 
 that place boldly enter the surf, in pursuit of the offals thrown 
 from the fish boats on the shore, and when obtained, masticate 
 and swallow every part except the hardest bones. A Pro- 
 
26 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FISHERIES. 
 
 vincetown cow will dissect the head of a cod with wonderful 
 celerity. She places one foot upon a part of it, and with her 
 teeth tears off the skin and gristly parts, and in a few mo- 
 ments nothing is left but the bones. 
 
 The inhabitants of Provincetown are not the only people 
 who feed their cattle upon fish. The nations of the Coroman- 
 del coast, as well as in the other parts of the East, practise 
 feeding their flocks and herds with fish. The celebrated tra- 
 veller, Ibn Batuta, who visited Zafar, the most easterly city 
 in Yemen, in the early part of the fourteenth century, says 
 that the inhabitants of that city carried on a great trade in 
 horses in India, and at that period fed their flocks and herds 
 with fish, a practice which he says, he had no where else ob- 
 served. 
 
 [NoTE. The preceding article has been obligingly furnish- 
 ed by SOLOMON LINCOLN, Esq. of Hingham, whose indus- 
 try and research entitles him to our warmest thanks.] 
 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 FISHES 
 
 THE naturalist, by his observations on the phe- 
 nomena of life, is irresistibly led to the conclusion, 
 that a progressive advancement towards the per- 
 fect organization of man, is discoverable in the 
 whole chain of inferior existences. 
 
 As it respects the time and order of the crea- 
 tion of animals, we are expressly informed, in the 
 book of Genesis, that on the fifth day after the 
 creation of the world, " God said, ' let the waters 
 bring forth abundantly, the moving creatures that 
 hath life, &c. J j: Moreover, the sacred chronicle 
 further says, that " God created great whales, and 
 every living creature that moveth, which the wa- 
 ters brought forth abundantly after their kind." 
 Man was created on the sixth and the seventh 
 was the first Sabbath a day of rest. 
 
28 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 It is therefore implied, that man, being the last 
 in the series of organized beings, surpassed all that 
 had preceded him in the perfection of his organs, 
 the elements of which were displayed in a 
 graduated scale of animal mechanism. 
 
 There is a beautiful simplicity discoverable in 
 the structure of purely aquatic beings, that 
 strengthens the declaration of the sacred historian, 
 that they were the first that were endowed with 
 life ; and the accurate anatomist discovers, that 
 the machinery of organic life, commencing with 
 the single heart of fishes, becomes more and more 
 complex, as species advance towards the animal 
 perfectability of man.* 
 
 In ICHTHYOLOGY, as in all other departments of 
 natural history, it was found necessary to establish 
 an orderly course of examination, in order to as- 
 certain the true characters of the almost endless 
 varieties of animals, which inhabit the ocean and 
 its tributary streams. It was discovered in the 
 earliest ages, in relation to the study of ichthyolo- 
 
 * A certain literary gentleman, in a romantic work on the 
 Deluge, supposes that in the old world, the atmospheric 
 temperature was much greater, than in this modern affair, in 
 which we live, and consequently terrestrial animals had such 
 an exaltation of the passions, that they were destroyed for 
 their crimes ; but fishes, residing in a cooler element, were so 
 much hetter in their conduct, that they were exempted from 
 the otherwise terrible destruction of the primitive world. 
 
 ' --; 
 
OP PISHES. 29 
 
 gy, that nature had pursued an undeviating plan, 
 with regard to the shape of the body and the po- 
 sition of the limbs of all such animals as were 
 designed to exist in water. A further discovery 
 in connexion with this, that there was a peculiari- 
 ty in the structure of the gills of fishes, fitting 
 them for different localities, led the way to- 
 wards a systematic arrangement. To Linnaeus, 
 Artedi, Shaw, and lastly, the lamented Cuvier, 
 who improved upon their labors, modern science is 
 indebted for our limited knowledge of this inter- 
 esting pursuit. 
 
 Fishes are naturally divided into two great fam- 
 ilies, viz : the spinous and the cartilaginous. In 
 the first division, are included all that have a skel- 
 eton of bones, resembling, in some measure, the 
 compact frame-work of land animals. They have 
 articulations approaching, in structure, the joints of 
 quadrupeds, and there is, moreover, a firmness 
 of body, in consequence of the peculiar arrange- 
 ment of the asseous textures, and the shortness of 
 the muscles, indicating their peaceable disposition ; 
 in fine, the spinous fishes have not that organiza- 
 tion which presupposes extraordinary speed. 
 
 On the other hand, cartilaginous fishes are so 
 constructed, that they can be distorted with impu- 
 nity. Their bones possess both elasticity and 
 flexibility. Their swallows (esophagus) as well 
 
30 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 as digestive organs, are capable of supporting a 
 surprising distention, without subjecting the indi- 
 vidual to even a temporary inconvenience. In the 
 act of gorging their food, the jaws are thrown so 
 far apart, that with the organization of the spinous 
 fishes, the capsular ligaments would be torn from 
 the bones, and the blood-vessels rent from their 
 connexion with the heart. Such, indeed, is the 
 gristly elasticity of the skeleton of this second 
 natural division, that the bones are separated as 
 often as the stomach is called into vigorous action, 
 and resume their places again, without injuring, or 
 in fact, disturbing the functions of the vital or- 
 gans.* 
 
 These grand divisions are analogous to the two 
 great classes of land animals, the one of which is 
 carnivorous, and the other is sustained by the ve- 
 getable productions of the earth. Spinous fishes 
 may be compared, in general character, to the 
 graminivorous quadrupeds, being timid, not uni- 
 versally provided with weapons of defence, and 
 possessing, to a certain extent, social habits, and 
 are therefore rarely found alone. But the cartila- 
 ginous, like the carnivorous animals, are exceed- 
 ingly voracious ; they pursue their living ali- 
 
 * The jaws of serpents are separated in a similar manner, in 
 swallowing food. The distortion of the Boa Constrictor, in 
 the act of gorging, is truly horrible. 
 
OP FISHES. 31 
 
 ment with untiring speed, and devour their help- 
 less victims, when practicable, at a single mouth- 
 ful. 
 
 It will be perceived, therefore, that this remark- 
 able difference in organization, adapts these two 
 families, to that peculiar condition of things, exist- 
 ing in the element in which they were designed to 
 live. 
 
 " Eat or be eaten" is the only law known to 
 the inhabitants of the ocean. Each individual, 
 therefore, under the instinctive influence of that 
 immutable ordinance, feeds luxuriously on its 
 nearest neighbor ; and, at last, from the insecurity 
 of its home, is preyed upon in its turn. 
 
 Another law, no less important and interesting 
 in its operation, explains that prolific attribute, 
 which is characteristic of this race of beings. Sus- 
 tained on food already animalized, its rapid assim- 
 ilation soon perfects the growth ; and were it not 
 for incessant slaughter throughout the seas, the 
 ocean could not contain its own. The putrid ex- 
 halations of the floating dead, if this eternal war- 
 fare for food were suspended, would corrupt the 
 atmosphere of the whole globe, and all life would 
 inevitably be sacrificed to the over-peopling of the 
 world of waters.* 
 
 * Most fishes seem to give a preference to living food: it 
 is only under the influence of extreme hunger, that they are 
 
32 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 Before commencing a particular description of 
 the fishes, peculiar to the sea-board and interior of 
 this Commonwealth, which is the ultimate object 
 of this essay, it may, perhaps, contribute towards 
 the advancement of such as are desirous of under- 
 standing some of the first principles of the science 
 of ichthyology, to make the following preliminary 
 observations on the anatomy of this great and 
 truly diversified tribe of animals. Avoiding all 
 the jargon of technical language, a plain and con- 
 cise description of the most prominent physical 
 characteristics, is all that is contemplated. 
 
 willing to feed on putrid aliment. In this respect, they re- 
 semble the frogs, toads, serpents, and indeed, several families 
 of reptiles, that would starve, before they would voluntarily 
 swallow animal matter in a state of decomposition or, in- 
 deed, deprived of motion. Frogs and serpents, as far as the 
 writer's observation extends, never dart upon insects or other 
 reptiles, unless they first perceive that they possess some 
 power of motion. 
 
 The toad, whose biography is given in some of the books 
 on natural history, in consequence of the loss of one eye, was 
 not only unable to strike the object regularly, when it darted 
 its tongue, as in former times, but it was also deceived in the 
 character of the object. At any 'rate, the poor toad became 
 melancholy, took less exercise than formerly and, if the 
 above account is true, which there ie no reason to doubt, 
 took less food too, and being sick of the world, finally died of 
 a broken heart ! This is a fair specimen of a very clever 
 gentleman's sympathy for the inferior animals, which was ex- 
 ceedingly excited by his researches in natural history. 
 
OF FISHES. 33 
 
 BONES AND ARTICULATIONS. 
 
 The skulls of fishes, more particularly the por- 
 tion including the brain, is the only compact part 
 of the skeleton. Bones without number seem to 
 penetrate the muscles, floating at one extremity 
 like the ribs of an umbrella. Next to the head, 
 the spine presents regularity and comparative so- 
 lidity. Joints, necessarily, are numerous, but dif- 
 fer essentially in structure from land animals. 
 
 SKELETON OF AN OSSEUS FISH. 
 
 Although serpents have spinal articulations, so 
 flexible that they can be tied into knots, without 
 injury to the spinal marrow, they do not possess 
 that freedom of motion which is so peculiar and 
 common to joints in the back-bone of fishes. 
 Each vertebra, entering into the composition of 
 the spine, instead of being locked into the next, 
 by hook-like processes of the bone, is excavated 
 at each end. Thus, when two are brought in 
 3 
 
34 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 contact, there will be an oval or spherical space 
 between them, as the case may be, depending on 
 the kind of motion required at any particular 
 place. In this cavity is placed a strong sac, con- 
 taining a gelatinous fluid ; the bones move round 
 it, like a surveyor's compass with the ball and 
 socket joint. The sac is more or less convex, 
 according to the necessary mobility of the section 
 where it may be found. Near the tail, the organ 
 of locomotion in propelling the body forward, 
 they are nearly globular. 
 
 Towards the chest and head, where less motion 
 is requisite, the sacks assume the appearance of 
 slightly convex lenses. Being incompressible, 
 though yielding, and remarkably, withal, confined 
 to their places by strong elastic ligaments, both 
 symmetry and power are beautifully and effectual- 
 ly combined.* 
 
 * Between the joints of the spinal column of quadrupeds, 
 as well as man, there are pieces of what the books term in- 
 tervertebral substance, resembling in shape a common sun- 
 glass, but thicker in the centre. If it were not for the inter- 
 vention of this elastic stuff between every two bones of the 
 spine, which is built up of twenty-four bones, every time we 
 take a step, the meeting of the foot with the ground would 
 produce such a jar in the body, as to destroy the action of 
 many vessels, and perhaps break down the brain. Construct- 
 ed as it is, there is no jerk felt in the system the weight of 
 the body is transmitted so easily, from bone to bone, through 
 these twenty-four cushions, that no sensation whatever is 
 
OF FISHES. 35 
 
 MUSCLES; 
 
 That prodigious mass of flesh enveloping the 
 bones, is regularly destributed in a way that is 
 both conducive to the protection of the vital ap- 
 paratus, and to the best mode of exerting muscu- 
 lar power. Like the cordage of a ship, every 
 
 A DISSECTION OF THE MUSCLES OF THE JAWS, AND THE FIRST 
 TISSUE OF MUSCULAR FIBRES. UNDER THE SKIN. 
 
 felt. The fact of this intervertebral substance being elastic, 
 has been taken advantage of by soldiers, who have often en- 
 listed themselves under a recruiting officer at night, when, 
 after being on their feet all day, the weight of the body, by 
 pressing down the intervertebral pieces, had made them 
 shorter. Thus, the next morning, after lying in a recum- 
 bent posture, the pieces recover their former thickness, and 
 the individual is an inch or more taller than the night be- 
 fore, when his height was measured. There is scarcely a 
 person that is not an inch taller in the morrrng than at night, 
 provided he has been exercising much on his feet, -through 
 the day. In old age, this substance looses its elasticity, and 
 hence aged people become crooked and unsteady in walking. 
 In fishes and serpents, no such change is ever effected by 
 age. 
 
36 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 rope has its appropriate place ; but, owing to the 
 little obliquity of their direction, the muscles act 
 to very great disadvantage. If the bones were 
 provided with long projecting processes, as in the 
 bones of land animals, they would have retarded 
 the motion of the fish through the water ; it was 
 necessary, therefore, in the economy of their na- 
 tures, to sacrifice the mechanical advantage of nu- 
 merous levers, that facility might be afforded to 
 their easy movement in their destined element. 
 Those muscles which control the fins and jaws, 
 are short, well developed and strong in contraction : 
 those on the sides, take a winding direction, and 
 consequently cannot act in producing short curves. 
 The object to be attained, in this conformation, 
 was ample security of the viscera, with a sub- 
 stance that would give power to exert power. 
 
 CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 
 
 A single heart, an organ containing only two 
 cavities, instead -of four, as in mammalia ; circu- 
 lating cold blood, which in terrestrial animals is 
 warm, gives additional interest to the natural his^ 
 tory of the beings under consideration ; in them, 
 the heart does not propel the vital fluid through 
 the system, which presents another extraordi- 
 nary circumstance in their organization. The 
 
OF FISHES. 
 
 37 
 
 SCHEME OF THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD IN FISHES 
 
 A A. The gills, 'the fringes of which are the extreme 
 terminations of arteries. 
 
 B. The ventricle of the heart, or forcing pump, which 
 drives the blood into a single artery, that soon divides into 
 two principal branches, carrying the blood equally to the gills, 
 on each side of the head. 
 
 C. The oracle of the heart, or receiving organ, into which 
 the veins empty the blood which has been the round of cir- 
 culation. This contracts, and throws its contents into the 
 ventricle, and that, again, forces it onward into the gills. 
 
 D. The main artery of the heart, or branchial artery, anal- 
 ogous to the pulmonary artery of breathing animals. 
 
 E. Refers to the branchial veins, which carry the blood 
 that has been exposed to the action of the water, in the gills, 
 back into the bod 3^, and pours it into the great tube lying un- 
 der the back-bone. 
 
 F. This is the vessel into which all the renewed blood is 
 emptied which is an artery, acting like the left side of 
 the heart in warm blooded animals ; when it contracts, or 
 pulsates, it throws its contents through all the small vessels 
 that branch from it, into and over every portion of the body. 
 
 heart exerts its muscular force in throwing gru- 
 mous blood, which has been the round of circula- 
 tion, to the gills, and no further. From these, it 
 
38 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 is collected by numerous vessels, which ultimately 
 unite in one single artery, coursing its way down 
 the body, under the protection of the vertebral 
 column. This, unlike the vascular apparatus of 
 any species of warm-blooded creatures, takes up- 
 on itself the action of a heart, propelling the 
 blood, by successive pulsations, to the remotest 
 parts of the body. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to remark, that animals 
 breathing air, have a double heart; indeed man, 
 and not only man, but all animals that breathe at- 
 mospheric air, have two hearts, but for the sake 
 of economising the room for the purpose of 
 packing the parts to the best advantage, the two 
 are united ; hence they occupy less space than 
 would otherwise be the case, were they placed at 
 different parts of the body. One heart throws all 
 the blood, which has once been the round of circula- 
 tion, into the lungs ; here its office ceases. 
 The blood is collected from the lungs, where the 
 first heart left it, and gradually poured into the 
 other, or left heart, which forces the blood through 
 every artery in the body. Both hearts are forcing 
 pumps, and both have valves. The much ad- 
 mired invention of the ship-pump, with three 
 valves, is only an imitation, and a poor one too, of 
 the semilunar valves of the pulmonary artery. 
 Reptiles and fishes, having only one heart, the 
 
OF FISHES. 39 
 
 heart of the gills, which is equivalent to the heart 
 of the lungs, in mammalia, are cold-blooded ani- 
 mals. On the contrary, those having two hearts, 
 are warm-blooded animals. A whale has no gills, 
 but lungs, and consequently breathes air, and 
 therefore, necessarily has a double heart. Since 
 it has lungs, and a double heart, it also necessari- 
 ly, has warm blood ; and therefore, a whale, as 
 Dr Mitchell rightly declared, is not a fish. And 
 why ? because the fish is without lungs, has but a 
 single heart, and cannot breathe air alone, or wa- 
 ter alone, but a mixture of both. 
 
 GILLS. 
 
 In the economy of fishes, the gills fulfill the of- 
 fice of lungs ; they are so constructed, that 
 there is a free exposure, in their fringes, of ,the 
 impure venous blood, to the direct action of the 
 water. 
 
 Deprive the water of its air, by an air-pump, 
 and it will no longer sustain aquatic life. The 
 simple act of soaking the fimbriae of the gills, in 
 this fluid, is not sufficient ; it is necessary to have 
 the water forcibly driven through them by an ac- 
 tion of the jaws. 
 
 If the operculum, or gill cover, be confined and 
 closed with a ligature, suffocation takes place im- 
 
40 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 mediately. On the other hand, if the gills are 
 forcibly kept open, so that no reaction can be ef- 
 fected upon the column of water on which the 
 mouth is exerting a pressure, death will also 
 ensue. 
 
 Most of the lizards possess lungs, which are 
 long cylinders, extending through the whole ex- 
 tent of the body, but if their mouths be propped 
 open, they will assuredly die for want of air, 
 in a "little time, as they necessarily breathe 
 through their nostrils. The frog respires precise- 
 ly in the same way drawing the mouth full of 
 air, and when the pouch under the lower jaw is 
 thrust out with it, the reptile forces it into its 
 lungs, through a slit at the root of the tongue, 
 which is the glottis. Thus, the mouth of the 
 frog, toad, and all the lizards, is a bellows, to force 
 the air into the lungs. Breathing with them, is 
 an act of volition. This explanation will account 
 to the young reader, for the broad, flat heads of 
 this class of reptiles ; in this respect, there is a 
 curious analogy between them and the action of 
 the jaws of fishes. The one is a forcing pump, 
 as in the fish, for forcing the water suddenly 
 through the fringes of the gills, and the other, 
 a bellows for driving the atmospheric air into the 
 long slender lungs. The muscular force of the 
 sides and abdomen, soon presses it out again. 
 
OF FISHES. 41 
 
 DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 
 
 No contrivance could be more simple, and at 
 the same time more complete, than their digestive 
 apparatus ; the stomach varies in anatomical struc- 
 ture, according to the nature of the substances on 
 which the species are to subsist. Possessing but 
 
 STOMACH OF THE SALMON. 
 
 slight muscularity, the gastric juice, which is 'se- 
 creted in rapid abundance, soon dissolves the 
 bones and tissues of smaller animals, and converts 
 them into that condition, which fits them for being 
 assimilated to a living system.* 
 
 * Instances are without number, which might be cited, il- 
 lustrative of the active power of the gastric fluid of fishes. 
 Very recently, a master of a vessel informed the writer, that 
 he caught a shark, which the day before had bitten one of 
 his men in two, who was bathing, along-side, but there was 
 nothing remaining in the stomach, but the tibia, some of the 
 bones of one foot, and the metallic eyes of some buttons. 
 
42 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 AIR BLADDER. 
 
 Only such fishes as swim with facility, rising and 
 falling, as circumstances require, possess this cu- 
 rious and extraordinary organ. Flounders, and 
 indeed all the flat fish, together with many of the 
 eels, are without it ; therefore, as scavengers of 
 the ocean, they generally remain at the bottom. 
 In common parlance, this air sac is called the sound. 
 
 These diagrams are representations of the different forms 
 which the sound or swimming bladders have, in different 
 families of fishes. The short threads at the extremities, are 
 <ur ducts which communicate with some organ that is sup- 
 posed to secrete the air, and through them it passes into 
 the sac. 
 
 In domestic economy, sounds become an article of 
 merchandise, being sold in barrels, for food. 
 The physiology of this apparently simple bladder 
 of air, is not well understood. The fish undoubt- 
 edly secretes the air in it, and has, also, the pow- 
 er of allowing it to be diminished or increased in 
 quantity, unless taken by surprise. 
 
OF FISHES. 43 
 
 There are circumstances, in which fishes are 
 buoyed to the surface, in spite of their utmost exer- 
 tions, by the rarifaction of the air within the sound. 
 On George's Bank, the fishermen not unfre- 
 quently take a cod, that comes to the top of 
 the water with a heavy lead, before it is possible 
 to coil the line, owing to the protrusion and buoy- 
 ancy of the bladder, through the mouth. 
 
 PROTRUSION OF THE AIR BLADDER THROUGH THE MO0TH. 
 
 During exceedingly warm weather, fishes in 
 shoal water sometimes die from the bursting of the 
 sound, or by the air forcing it through the mouth. 
 If they were, on the approach of this trouble, to 
 plunge into colder water, the air would be sud- 
 denly condensed, and they would escape; but, 
 unfortunately, they are apt to loiter in shoal coves, 
 for the worms and insects which the heat of the 
 sun brings into activity. Thus, in turn, they be- 
 come food for the very animals for which they 
 were searching. 
 
44 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 TEETH. 
 
 Whilst some species of fish are distinguished 
 for the number and peculiarity of their teeth, oth- 
 ers are as remarkable for having none at all. In 
 those in which they are developed, they are cha- 
 racterized by being usually small, in proportion to 
 the bulk of the animal, sharp pointed, and calcu- 
 lated for retaining a hold of prey, the articula- 
 tion of the jaws admitting of no side-way motion, as 
 in mastication. When teeth are found on the 
 margin of the jaws, they generally may be detect- 
 ed also in the fauces and throat, quite down into 
 the gullet. Sharks are without rivals, as it re- 
 spects the number and office of their teeth. Many 
 of them have six and seven rows, spear-pointed, 
 with cutting edges, like lancets, hooking inward 
 towards the throat. Each tooth has its muscles 
 for erecting or depressing it. There is nothing 
 analogous to this, in the whole range of natural 
 history. Their mouths are only humbly imitated 
 in common mouse-traps ; the admission is easy, 
 but an exit is literally impossible. 
 
 Fishes that feed on shell-fish, as clams, oysters, 
 crabs, &tc., have no teeth in the gums, as they 
 would be soon broken in seizing such hard sub- 
 stances. But beyond, the palate and throat 
 are thickly studded with large bony knobs, re- 
 sembling the double teeth of man, beautifully 
 
OP PISHES. 45 
 
 enamelled, with which the hardest covering of 
 such marine animals as they are able to get within 
 their grip, are readily crushed. 
 
 We have various specimens in our cabinet, of 
 this crushing apparatus, which are as difficult to 
 describe as they would be to represent in draw- 
 ings. The entire roof of the mouth, in some of 
 the heads which came from South America, is as 
 hard as the enamel of a molar tooth, yet so 
 rough, as to hold the morsel from sliding, till 
 ground into a proper condition by the opposing 
 jaw, which has no tongue connected with it. 
 
 EXTERNAL COVERINGS. 
 
 The scales, which constitute the coverings of most 
 of the edible fish, it has been thought, first suggest- 
 ed the idea of tiling or shingling edifices. Scales, 
 in the Levitical law, were the evidences of a clean, 
 or in other words, of an edible fish. The direct 
 influence of that conservatory regulation, in rela- 
 tion to this kind of food, is observable in the mar- 
 kets of all Christian countries. Such as have 
 smooth skins, exude an oily secretion, that facili- 
 tates their movements, almost without friction. 
 The first class inhabit the neighborhood of rocky 
 shores, and require a coat of mail to prevent lacer- 
 ations of their bodies ; the second, burrow in filth, 
 and steal unexpectedly upon their unsuspecting 
 prey. 
 
46 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 MOTION AND USE OF FINS. 
 
 By these appendages, equivalent to arms and 
 feet, the fish performs a variety of motions. The 
 propelling instrument, the exclusive organ of pow- 
 erful movements, is the candal fluke or tail-fin, 
 which operates on the water precisely like a single 
 oar, in sculling a boat. Those on the sides are 
 only serviceable in balancing, wheeling round, and 
 in making a sudden stop. That upon the back 
 sustains a very interesting office, being, in fact, a 
 keel, which, on boats, is placed on the under side. 
 Had the keel of a fish been on the abdomen, in- 
 stead of the back, it would have destroyed its abil- 
 ity for feeding on the bottom ; moreover, there 
 would have been great danger of grounding in 
 shoal water. Nature, contemplating these objec- 
 tions, wisely placed this important appendage, by 
 which the body is kept upright, on the back, out 
 of the way, as well as out of danger.* 
 
 * It would be worth the while to ascertain whether Dr 
 Bushnell, the inventor and only successful navigator of the 
 sub-marine boat, which was constructed for attaching kegs of 
 powder to the bottom of British ships, during the Revolution, 
 had the keel on the upper side. As his first object was to 
 sink under water, there would be circumstances in which the 
 under-side keel would fasten the boat in the mud, particularly 
 if he were scudding before a whale, who threatened to swal- 
 low the whole concern, if he did not succeed in reaching a 
 place too shoal for the pursuing enejny. 
 
OP FISHES. 47 
 
 ORGANS OF SENSE. 
 
 Hearing and seeing are probably the most per- 
 fectly developed of their senses. The machinery 
 of the internal ear is tolerably well understood, it 
 being satisfactorily ascertained that fishes are only 
 susceptible of simple sounds.* 
 
 A DISSECTION OF THE EAR OF A HADDOCK, WHICH BEARS 
 A STRONG RESEMBLANCE TO THE LABYRINTH OF THE HI/- 
 MAN EAR. 
 
 c 
 
 A. The sacculus vestibuli. 
 
 J?. The bony concretion which lies within, and which, by 
 its vibration, increases the impulse on the acoustic nerve. 
 
 G. The auditory nerve, passing to be distributed on the 
 sacculus vestibuli, and the extremities of the semicircular 
 canals. 
 
 D D D, The semicircular canals, three in number, ar- 
 ranged very much as they are in quadrupeds. 
 
 E. One of the extremities of the semicircular canals, in 
 which a twig of the auditory nerve is seen to be expanded. 
 
 F. This is a smaller portion of the same nerve. 
 
 * Fishes have no external ear, nor is there any visible open- 
 ing, except in the skate. But there have been so many 
 
48 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 The eye, though widely different from the land- 
 seeing organ, is readily explained, in all its rela- 
 tions, by the familiar principles of optics. 
 
 In the first place, the fish's eye is nearly glo- 
 bular and the cornea flat ; in terrestrial animals, 
 on the other hand, the cornea is a segment of a 
 small sphere applied to the side of a larger one, 
 which gives the possessor the manifest advantage 
 of having the eye extended further into the field of 
 vision ; it is also kept convex by the aqueous 
 humor. Now in the fish, it requires no aqueous 
 fluid within the eye, because the element in which 
 it swims is an equivalent. We are supposing 
 that the reader is perfectly acquainted with the 
 laws of refraction and reflection of light, but 
 if he is not, he cannot understand why the lens 
 is placed so far forward in the fish, towards the 
 pupil, nor why the cornea is 'necessarily nearly flat. 
 
 quarrels between anatomists on the subject, that all the skates 
 in the ocean would not pay for the paper, which has been 
 wasted about a certain little hole in their head, therefore we 
 shall be careful about getting into the ring. Fishes have just 
 so much acoustic apparatus as constitutes the central por- 
 tion of the ear in man, viz : the vestibule and semi-circular 
 canals, but the whole is boxed up in the solid bones of the 
 skull, so that sound, propagated through the water, gives a vi- 
 bratory motion or tremor to the whole body, and which, agi- 
 tating the auditory nsrve, produces the sensation of hearing. 
 Fishes can easily be taught to feed, in ponds, by the ringing 
 of a bell. 
 
THE FISHERIES. 49 
 
 The water in which the fish lives will always 
 keep the outer tunics moist, consequently, na- 
 ture has not lost labor by bestowing a lachrymal 
 sac ; no tears are required for lubrication. 
 
 Not being designed for facial expression, the 
 oblique muscles are merely cords in embryo, as it 
 were, showing the chain which establishes a rela- 
 tionship between all .races of animals. The pig- 
 mentum nigrum covers only a portion of the pas- 
 terior surface of the retina, enabling them to see 
 in the day, but the metallic lustre of the remaining 
 surface, becomes a concave mirror in the night, 
 which gives them vision, as distinct, probably, as 
 at noon day. Some fishes are only taken by a 
 hook in the night : those are the owls, that cannot 
 see by day. Others, the voracious kinds, dart at 
 all times, both night and day, at the bait, with 
 precision. Sharks follow vessels, hundreds of 
 miles, and never fail to catch every bone which 
 is thrown overboard, at all times. 
 
 But there is another contrivance in the consti- 
 
 * 
 
 tution of the fish's eye, very wonderful, inas- 
 much as it shows most convincingly, a provision 
 against the pressure of the incumbent column of 
 water. Thus, in the voracious species, principally 
 the sharks, the sclerotic, or outside coat, is perfect- 
 ly hard bone, except on the back, where there is 
 an opening for the entrance of the optic nerve. In 
 4 
 
50 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 pursuing their prey, at unfathomable depths, for 
 aught we know, the hydrostatic pressure would 
 crush in the whole globe were it of mem- 
 branous tunics, like the land-seeing eye ; but 
 being of bone, it resists the pressure, and thus 
 saves the organ. Shoal water fishes, possessing 
 the membranous eye, if forced down to a certain 
 depth, would be made blind, and come to the sur- 
 face with the entire loss of the internal humors. A 
 pretty accurate judgment may be formed of the 
 depth to which any species of fish swim, by an 
 examination of the coats of the eye, as in one case 
 there are ribs of bone, as in bird's and turtle's eyes, 
 and in others, flat pieces are inserted, merely to 
 offer firmer resistance to the pressure of the water, 
 which is greater there, than on the body. 
 
 There are no eye-lids, because it is necessary to 
 see, even while they sleep. Fishes undoubtedly 
 sleep, but necessarily with open and vigilant 
 eyes. 
 
 There are no eyelids, because they would have 
 been entirely useless, it being necessary for fishes 
 to perceive, even while they sleep. It has been 
 said to us that the vitreous, and other humors resist 
 the external pressure, and therefore our hypothe- 
 sis in regard to the object of an osseous scleroti- 
 ca, is quite objectionable. If it were true, that 
 the vitreous humor, and crystalline lens, were 
 
OF FISHES. 51 
 
 of equal density, the internal resistance would be in 
 proportion to weight placed over it ; but as they 
 do not correspond, in that respect, they would be 
 liable to the injuries and destruction, fiom the cause 
 that has been mentioned. 
 
 Over the eye, the first investing membrane, the 
 conjunctiva of the human eye, is loose, and wrink- 
 led in fishes brought up from deep water, but 
 smooth and glossy on those at medium depths. 
 Does this not look like compressing the fluids into 
 smaller space ? It is certain that some aquatic 
 eyes cannot, by the nature of globular tunics, be 
 condensed, without rupturing them. But it is 
 needless to dwell on a subject, which, perhaps, is 
 already familiar to our readers. 
 
 As it respects the power of vision under w r ater, 
 we can only infer the principle, by our knowledge 
 of the laws of optics. That fishes see at great dis- 
 tances, is well established, but a turbid condition 
 of the water, renders vision indistinct, and hence 
 they are often deceived, and involved in feared 
 difficulties. In clear, calm weather, they proba- 
 bly are able to discover objects much farther than 
 would at first be supposed, considering the medi- 
 um through which the light is transmitted. The 
 whale examines a boat one or two miles off, dis- 
 tinctly, and if enraged by the sting of a harpoon, 
 runs or swims with prodigious speed towards the 
 object that has excited its revenge. 
 
52 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 When fishes are out of water, they see indis- 
 tinctly, as a man descerns things with his head sub- 
 mersed. Pearl divers, on the coast of Brazil, see 
 objects precisely as an aged person does through 
 concave glasses. It has been ascertained that 
 there is an advantage in furnishing the divers w r ith 
 spectacles, whose convexity, on both sides, is just 
 equal to the convexity of their own corneas. The 
 reason is plain : without them they cannot judge 
 accurately of distances. In reaching out the hand 
 for an oyster, which appears within reach, it may, 
 perhaps, be at the distance of ten feet ; hence 
 there is a loss of time, requiring the Indian to come 
 up for breath, and plunge again, to correct the de- 
 ception of vision. The rationale of this error of 
 vision, is simply this : viz, the aqueous humor of 
 the diver's eye, is of the samedensity of the water 
 that covers him, therefore, there is no refraction of 
 the rays of light, or at least, only a very little, in 
 passing from the water, to the retina, but the con- 
 vex artificial lenses, remedy the defect, most per- 
 fectly. 
 
 When the fish is brought into the air, the eye 
 not being defended either by eyelids, brushes of 
 hair, or, indeed, by anything more than the con- 
 junctiva, which is nothing more than a continua- 
 tion of the common skin of the head, carried over 
 the globe, the first glare of light partially paralyses 
 
OF PISHES. 53 
 
 the optic nerve ; but the organ begins at once to 
 accommodate itself, in some degree, to the exi- 
 gency of the case : the pupil diminishes its diame- 
 ter a trifle, but the fish then sees precisely, as we 
 see under water ; in reality, it is near-sighted. 
 Having no aqueous humor, the refraction produces 
 the utmost confusion for the moment. We have no- 
 ticed, that in putting a fish back into the water, after 
 having been in the air a few seconds, the vision is 
 very considerably deranged ; it swims against what- 
 ever may be in the line of its direction : indeed, 
 there does not appear to be any determinate pur- 
 pose ; but as soon as the visual organs have re-ac- 
 commodated themselves again to the water, and 
 the optic axes are restored from the distortion 
 which they received in the atmosphere, the fortu- 
 nate refugee appears again as it did before the 
 capture. 
 
 Before leaving this subject, we cannot refrain 
 from making some observations -on the structure of 
 the eyes of the Anableps Tetrophthalmus, a scaly 
 fish, from four to ten inches in length, found at 
 Surinam, and, we believe, no where else. By 
 the politeness of Captain James Crosby, of Bos- 
 ton, and the American Consul, at Surinam, we 
 have been provided with several specimens, in a 
 fine state of preservation. As it respects the hab- 
 its of the anableps, we are not informed, but the 
 
54 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 structure of its eyes is such a remarkable deviation 
 from every other living creature, that we hope to 
 be pardoned for the prolixity of these remarks. 
 
 In the first place, the cornea presents an acute 
 horizontal angle, along its middle, and on each 
 side, sloping off at angles of forty-five degrees, the 
 corneas, for in reality there are two of them, are flat 
 surfaces, in our specimens, though probably slight- 
 ly convexed in life. Thus, it will be understood, 
 that two sides of a common prism, represents them. 
 On a careful dissection we have ascertained that 
 the sclerotica is a cartilaginous box, nearly globu- 
 lar, rolling within a bony orbit, which is entirely 
 elevated above the plane of the cranium. The 
 partition between the two corneas, is membranous, 
 and like the blade of a knife, the further edge be- 
 ing attached to the capsule of the crystalline lens. 
 The iris, therefore, is divided in the middle, so that 
 the pupil resembles a half moon, either side, or in 
 other words, above and below the horizontal parti- 
 tion. On minute inspection, we cannot discover 
 any difference of shape or structure in the lens, 
 from the same refracting instrument in the eyes of 
 other fishes. Certain it is, that the anableps can 
 perceive objects from above and below, embra- 
 cing half a circle in the sphere of distinct vision, 
 and that is the only advantage, at first view, we can 
 imagine they derive from the organization of the 
 
OP FISHES. 55 
 
 prismatic cornea. On the other hand, the whole 
 globe is so raised upon the top of the head, that 
 without this structure, they would, perhaps, only 
 distinguish objects that were on a level with the 
 base of the orbit ; a defect, admitting such to be 
 the fact, completely obviated, by giving the cornea 
 an acute angle across its horizontal centre al- 
 lowing the rays of light, from the angle subtended 
 by the planes of the two corneas, to reach the re- 
 tina from two directions, nearly perpendicular to 
 the horizon. Some have imagined that the one 
 pupil was long-sighted, for distant views, and the 
 other short-sighted, for minute objects. 
 
 THE EYE OF THE ANABLEPS TETROPHTHALMUS. 
 
 Fishes are acutely sensible of touch ; the 
 sense of smelling, for which appropriate nerves 
 are elaborately distributed, gives them the faculty 
 of detecting the existence of food, or enemies, at 
 immense distances. Taste is undoubtedly the 
 weakest of their senses, residing, if at all, in 
 
56 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 the oesophagus, as everything presented to them, 
 under circumstances of hunger, is swallowed with 
 ravenous avidity, without regard to quality or 
 flavor. 
 
 SCHEME OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE VERTEBRAL NERVES 
 OF THE FISH, FOLLOWING THE COURSES OF THE FLOAT- 
 ING OR CILIARY BONES. 
 
 AGE TO WHICH THEY LIVE. 
 
 Perhaps there is no subject on which the natu- 
 ralist has labored with less success, than in trying 
 to ascertain the age to which fishes attain. Ad- 
 mitting that an individual of any species were un- 
 disturbed by enemies, or unmolested by its own 
 kindred, and quietly enjoying a circumscribed body 
 of water, amply supplied with appropriate food, 
 there is no reason for doubting that it would live 
 for many centuries. We know of no limits to 
 their longevity, nor can we suppose that the inter- 
 nal machinery would wear itself out, so long as 
 the digestive organs were properly excited. 
 
OF FISHES. 57 
 
 But the time must ultimately arrive when death 
 will terminate their existence ; though admirably 
 constructed for an uncommonly long life, they are 
 not, nor can they be exempted from the operation 
 of a law, which to intelligent beings, is contempla- 
 ted with the deepest feelings of ^awe and solem- 
 nity. 
 
 Pike and carp, in artificial ponds, have been re- 
 peatedly found, with gold rings in their fins, and 
 other kinds of labels, on which were also found dates, 
 that proved, conclusively, that one hundred years 
 had elapsed since the inscription was made. 
 
 Gesner speaks of & pike that was known to be 
 267 years old. It is affirmed by some of the French 
 writers, that several pike are in a pond, which for- 
 merly belonged to the Duke of Orleans, father of 
 the present king, so .very aged, that their original 
 complexion is completely lost : they have become 
 of a dingy hue, and actually give the spectator 
 the idea of extreme old age. 
 
 Cartilaginous fishes have a still greater prospect 
 of living to an advanced period. Instead of bones, 
 as previously remarked, their skeletons are elastic, 
 having but a small portion of earthy matter in them. 
 As the vessels secrete but little ossific matter, they 
 do not become rigid, as in the land animal : the 
 heart is in no danger of being converted into bone, 
 indeed, we do not know why many of them 
 
58 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 might not live and continue to grow for a thou- 
 sand years. 
 
 It was at one time thought that the circles dis- 
 coverable on the ends of the vertebrae of the osse- 
 ous tribes, indicated the age, as the rings on the 
 extremity of a log, marked the years of the growth 
 of the tree. Those, unfortunately, are no guides, 
 and we therefore regret that we know of no 
 mode, at the present day, of solving a problem of 
 the highest interest to the curious. Of the marine 
 fishes, the sharks unquestionably, reach a truly pa- 
 triarchal age. 
 
 SLEEP. 
 
 Exposed as these animals must necessarily be, to 
 the voracious jaws of millions of belligerent, as well 
 as hungry associates, it would seem hardly pos- 
 sible that they should find a safe opportunity for 
 this kind of rest, however much they might at any 
 period require it. Again, being without eye-lids, 
 they would be regarded, at first thought, as organiz- 
 ed to require no suspension of the powers of voli- 
 tion . Impossible as it is to speak with certainty 
 on this point, we are fully persuaded that they not 
 only require sleep, but that they also find safe and 
 convenient times to enjoy that sort of repose. Gold 
 fishes, in vases, repose, regularly through the night, 
 
OF PISHES. 59 
 
 after the lights have been extinguished. This is 
 inferred from their remaining precisely in one posi- 
 tion, six and eight hours at a time. 
 
 PROCREATION. 
 
 Fishes are astonishingly prolific : a majority are 
 oviperous, and some of the condropterygii are vi- 
 viperous. This latter class, however, are less nu- 
 merous than the first. It has been often asserted 
 by credible writers, that the cod produces nine mil- 
 lion of eggs in a season ; the common flounder a 
 million, and the mackerel, above five hundred 
 thousand. On the other hand, the cartilaginous 
 varieties seldom give birth to more than a few 
 hundreds of living young at a time. If only one 
 in the three hundred arrives at maturity, its power 
 will ensure the continuance of the race, but with 
 the social and andromous, scarcely ten eggs in a 
 thousand are ever developed, being the necessa- 
 ry aliment of others, but the continuance of the 
 species is thus insured against all probable contin- 
 gencies. 
 
 Each egg is filled with a yolk, surrounded by al- 
 bumen, like that of the serpent, the crocodile, and 
 the bird. They are commonly extruded in shal- 
 low water, out of the reach of eddies, where by the 
 glutinous envelope in which the mass is held to- 
 
60 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 gether, they get fastened to some stick or stone, 
 which retains them in a favorable condition for 
 the influence of solar heat. By what combina- 
 tion of circumstances the male is apprised of the 
 desire which the female has for expelling her bur- 
 den, cannot be ~ explained : but it is nevertheless 
 true, that they commonly accompany her, and no 
 sooner are the ova deposited, than he swims over 
 them to complete the process. There is no ac- 
 quaintance between the parents : the male, in com- 
 ing in contact with the spawn, is excited by the 
 presence of the appropriate stimulus of the genital 
 organs, and a fluid is emitted over them, which, 
 though greatly diluted in water into which it is 
 infused, exerts a specific action on the egg, which 
 immediately begins to quicken into life. 
 
 It may so happen, however, that the male of 
 another species accidentally in his wanderings, 
 comes in the region of roes which excite him to 
 expregnate them, just as readily, as the presence 
 and contact of those of the family to which he be- 
 longs. The excitation effected by the eggs, can- 
 not be withstood, for there are no moral re- 
 straints in the regions below, and physical necessi- 
 ty, absolutely, in this instance, forces into being, a 
 race partaking of the habits and characteristics of 
 the two progenitors. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy says, " it is a fertile and a 
 
OF FISHES. 61 
 
 very curious subject for new experiments, that 
 of crossing the breeds of fishes, and offers a very 
 interesting and untouched field of investigation, 
 which I hope will soon be taken up by stfme en- 
 lightened country gentleman, who in this way 
 might make not only curious, but useful discove- 
 ries." 
 
 We have stated the fact that the ova are im- 
 pregnated out of the body of the mother, and it 
 may appear somewhat surprising that the mere 
 pouring of the seminal fluid from the milt of the 
 dead male, is equally successful. The vitality of 
 fishes is of an order so low, that the temperature 
 of the air or of the water, is generally equal to the 
 heat of their blood, hence no vital property is 
 lost, even in the dead fish, if the experiment is per- 
 formed before the commencement of putrefaction. 
 
 Jacobi, a German experimentalist, on the in- 
 crease of trout, and salmon, has satisfactorily set- 
 tled the question, that this operation can be done 
 very readily. That gentleman raised his own 
 trout, from the egg, which he accomplished in the 
 following manner. He had a box, with a wire gra- 
 ting at one end, for admitting the water, freely, 
 from a lively stream and holes, at the other end 
 for the same water to pass out : thus there was a 
 running course over small pebbles, placed on the 
 bottom. In November and December, when the 
 
62 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY i 
 
 trout were nearly in a condition for spawning, he 
 caught both males and females in a net. By gen- 
 tle pressure of the hands, the ova were received in- 
 to a vessel of water. He then, by similar contri- 
 vance, forced the seminal liquor of the male into 
 the vessel, and after the two had been in this con- 
 dition only a few minutes, he placed the eggs in 
 his hatching box, to wait the result. At the expi- 
 ration of a few weeks, the parchment-like shells 
 burst and to his unspeakable delight, the box 
 was swarming with an immense school of infant 
 trout. To each individual, was appended a little sac, 
 which contained the yolk. This was their food 
 for a considerable time being gradually taken 
 into the stomach, by the absorbing function of the 
 naval string. Here is a very striking analogy to 
 the provision, which is made for the young of birds. 
 The yolk does not in any way become organized 
 in the process of incubation : it was expressly 
 designed for the first food of the newly created an- 
 irnal. Surely, this is an illustration of the homely 
 saying, " that there is never a .mouth without some- 
 thing to put into it." When the chick is hatch- 
 ed, the yolk is still as perfect, as before, but in- 
 stead of being in the old shell, it is now within the 
 body. Enclosed in a slightly elastic capsule, there 
 is a duct leading from it, that terminates in the 
 stomach. Through this, it continues flowing, as 
 
OF FISHES. 63 
 
 fast as the necessities of the system require it, 
 till the whole is ultimately exhausted. When this 
 is finished, the pipe becomes a binding ligament 
 of the viscera, and the little tottling biped, is ready 
 to pick up something with its bill. 
 
 A YOUNG SHARK CARRYING THE YOLK OF THE EGG FROM 
 WHICH IT WAS HATCHED, SUSPENDED BY THE UMBILICAL 
 CORD, IN A SAC. 
 
 Farmers, from their ignorance of the wonderful 
 provision by Divine Providence, for all oviperous 
 animals, destroy a vast deal of young poultry, in 
 their mistaken humanity in trying to make them 
 feed too soon. Let them alone, and they will give 
 seasonable indications of their simple wants. 
 
 From the box, Jacobi transported his stock, and 
 founded new colonies wherever he chose. Bloch 
 relates, as the result of an experiment, in speaking 
 of the reproductive power of the carp, that in a 
 pond of seven acres, in which were placed four 
 
64 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
 
 males and three females, the increase was 110,000 
 young carp. 
 
 Interesting as this inquiry must be to the phys- 
 iologist, we regret the necessity for bringing it to a 
 close ; this we are unwilling to do, without express- 
 ing an earnest hope, that these observations will 
 induce others, more competent than ourselves, to 
 pursue an investigation, fraught with such a high 
 degree of interest. 
 
 GROWTH. 
 
 Probably the spinous fishes complete their 
 growth much sooner than terrestrial animals which, 
 at an adult age, arrive to about the same weight. 
 On the other hand, the cartilaginous, as well as 
 some varieties of the flat, ones, continue to increase 
 in size, under favorable circumstances, many years. 
 The skate, which in this northern latitude, does not 
 often exceed five feet in breadth, in the West In- 
 dies, has been known to attain the enormous size 
 of twenty-five feet in length, by fourteen in 
 breadth. 
 
 The rapid growth of some fish is very extraor- 
 dinary. Three pike were taken out of a pond in 
 StrafTordshire, belonging to the present Sir Jervoise 
 Clark Jervoise, two of which weighed tbirtysix 
 pounds each, and the other thirtyfive pounds. 
 
OF FISHES. 65 
 
 The pond was fished every seven years, and suppos- 
 ing that store pike of six or seven pound weight were 
 left in it, the growth of the pike in question must have 
 been at the rate of at least four pounds a year. Sal- 
 mon, however, grow much faster. It is now ascer- 
 tained that grilse, or young salmon, of from two 
 and a half, to three pounds weight, which are sent 
 to London markets in the month of May, come 
 from spawn only deposited in the preceding Octo- 
 ber or November, and the ova takes three months 
 of the time to quicken. It has also been ascer- 
 tained by experiment, that a grilse which weighed 
 six pounds in February, after spawning, has, on its 
 return from the sea in September, weighed thirteen 
 pounds ; and a salmon fry of April, will in June 
 weigh four pounds, and in August, six pounds. 
 
 BRAIN BONES. 
 
 Contiguous to the lobes of the brain, natural- 
 ists 'have discovered two peculiar bones, in com- 
 mon parlance, called 'brain bones. They are ena- 
 melled, like the finest tooth ; convexed on one 
 side, concave on the other, and serrated at the 
 edges. By cooks, these bones are termed thejish 
 money. By boiling, they are easily detached. In 
 looking into the cavity in which they are lodged, it 
 is evident that the fibres of the acoustic nerve ran 
 5 
 
66 PHYSIOLOGY OP FISHES. 
 
 through it : a gelatinous fluid, glairy, of a similar 
 character to the white of an egg, seems both to 
 suspend the bone, and also afford a proper bed for 
 defending the nerves. Though comparative anat- 
 omists are not precisely satisfied as to the office 
 they sustain, it is pretty generally conceded that 
 they are a part of the organ of hearing. If, how- 
 ever, our readers will examine the diagram we 
 have given of the labyrinth of the fish's ear, which 
 corresponds very nearly with the vestibule and se- 
 micircular canals of the human ear, he will per- 
 ceive that the brain bones are entirely unnecessary 
 to the perfection of the organ. Their use is not 
 
 understood.* 
 / 
 
 * Since the compositor completed the preceding pages, in 
 which it is remarked that fishes are without eye- lids, a speci- 
 men has come to hand, of a small fish, seven inches in length, 
 from Africa, the mounting of whose eyes on the top of the 
 head, bears some resemblance to the anableps, covered by a 
 regular pair of eye-lids. This must be regarded as belonging 
 to an unknown genus. In a small shark, too, we have detect- 
 ed the nictitating membrane, organized much as it is in the 
 owl, and other night-seeing birds. 
 
CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 ARISTOTLE is supposed to have been the first 
 naturalist who regarded fishes as a distinct class of 
 animals, though he seems not to have understood 
 their very peculiar organization. Pliny was the 
 next writer of antiquity who devoted much atten- 
 tion to them, though from the earliest ages of the 
 world, they were an important article of food, as 
 much as at the present day. 
 
 Without detailing the classifications of a series 
 of distinguished writers, those of Linnaeus and Cu- 
 vier are now generally adopted. Had that great and 
 good man, Cuvier, been permitted to live a 
 few more years, he would probably have completed 
 that splendid work on fishes, which occupied 
 many years of his industrious life and which, OB 
 a dying bed, he spoke of leaving in an unfinished 
 condition, with the deepest interest and regret. 
 
 Linnaeus divided these animals into five orders : 
 
 1. APODAL, with bony gills, and no ventral fins. 
 
 2. JUGULAR, with bony gills, and ventral fins before the 
 pectoral. 
 
 3. THORACIC, with bony gills, and ventral fins under the 
 throat. 
 
68 CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 4. ABDOMINAL, with bony gills, and ventral fins behind 
 the thorax. 
 
 5. BRANCHIOSTAGOUS, with gills destitute of bony rays 
 or concealed gills. 
 
 6. CHONDROPTERYGIOUS, with cartilaginous gills, and 
 leathery fins, the common skin being continued over them. 
 
 Cuvier found there was a great deal of difficul- 
 ty and vexation, when an attempt was made to 
 divide them into orders, " established on fixed and 
 precise characters ; but the two great divisions, 
 founded on the character of their bones, as being 
 cartilaginous or osseous, are natural and well mark- 
 ed. The first series, or chondropterygii, have, as 
 a general character, the palatine bones arranged 
 so as to supply the place of those of the upper 
 jaws." He therefore divided them into three or- 
 ders. 
 
 CHONDROPTERYGII. 
 
 1. CYCLOSTOMI, The jaws fixed in an immovable ring, 
 but the branchial openings numerous. 
 
 2. SELACHTI, with branchiae as in the preceding, but not 
 their jaws. 
 
 3. STURIONES, branchis opening as usual, in a cleft, 
 protected by an operculum,or gill cover. 
 
 OS SEOUS. 
 
 4. PLECTOGNATHI, maxillary bone, and palatine arch, fix- 
 ed to the cranium. 
 
 5. LOPHOBRAJVCHII, with complete jaws, but having 
 the branchiae in small tufts. 
 
 6. MAL.ACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES, ventral fins on 
 the hinder part of the abdomen. 
 
CLASSIFICATION. 69 
 
 7. MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATI, ventral fins un- 
 der the pectoral, on the throat. 
 
 8. MALACOPTERYGII APODES, destitute entirely of 
 fins. 
 
 9. ACAJVTHOPTERYGTI. first dorsal fin, or the first por- 
 tion of both, where there are two, having spinous rays. 
 
 This last order, ACANTHOPTERYGII, is divided 
 into seven families : 
 
 1. Tcenioides, as Mediterranean Band-fish having a 
 short snout. 
 
 2. Gobioides, without a swimming bladder, and having 
 slender flexible dorsal spines, as the brenny. 
 
 3. Labroides, a single dorsal fin, as the Wrasse, of Euro- 
 pean seas. 
 
 4. Percoides, having the dorsal and anal fin supported be- 
 fore, by strong, sharp spines, as thesculpin and perch. 
 
 5. Scomberoides, having small scales, as the mackerel. 
 
 6. Squamipenneg , scales encrusting the soft part of the 
 dorsal and anal fins, as the Chalodon. 
 
 7. Fistularidce, the mouth at the extremity of a long 
 tube, which is a prolongation of the ethmoid, and other bones 
 of the head, as the pipefish. 
 
C LA SS I. 
 CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 
 
 ORDER I.-CYCLOSTOMI. 
 
 GEN. PETROMYZON. 
 
 SEA LAMPREY. Petromyzon Marinus. Like 
 the eel family, in general, the lamprey has a long, 
 flexible, slender body, covered with an oily excre- 
 tion, admirably fitting it to slide into dark, 
 and oftentimes difficult hiding places. It is 
 unsocial in its habits, timid in the day-time, but 
 voracious, courageous and unyielding in the night, 
 when it ventures from its lurking place, in search of 
 food. The size to which they grow in the arms 
 of the sea, in the limits of Massachusetts, particu- 
 larly, is not great, nor are they commonly more 
 than two feet in length. As the traveller, howev- 
 er, follows the southern shore, he not only finds 
 the sea lamprey much thicker, but also much long- 
 er. Three feet may be considered an average 
 length in the southern states, but the saltness of the 
 water and its coldness, so far to the north, is unfa- 
 vorable to their multiplication, as well as magni- 
 
PETROMYZON. 71 
 
 tude. To the eastward, at the mouths of some of 
 the rivers, in Maine, the marinus, even when fully 
 grown, does not exceed seventeen and twenty 
 inches. 
 
 This fish may be designated, with certainty, by 
 its marbled, brownish skin, possessing a silvery 
 shade towards the underside of the abdomen, 
 and one dorsal fin, distinct from the second. In 
 the top of what authors call the maxillary ring, 
 there are two large teeth. Though there may be 
 variations in color and, size, in following the coast, 
 it may be distinguished by the other marks which 
 have been detailed. Within the inner side of the 
 jaws, and commencement of the fauces, are twen- 
 ty rows of fine teeth, and seven breathing holes on 
 the side of the neck. 
 
 SALT WATER LAMPREY. 
 
 All the lamprey's movements, strikingly resem- 
 ble those of the serpent, nor does their muscular 
 apparatus differ essentially from it. 
 
72 PETROMYZON. 
 
 The manner in which the gills are arranged, un- 
 der the skin, is a subject of deep interest to the 
 anatomist, inasmuch as he discovers at once, a 
 structure of the utmost consequence to the species, 
 since they were expressly designed by nature to 
 occupy a place where no other beings were loca- 
 ted, viz : the muddy beds of bays, the ooze 
 which accumulates in estuaries, arid in fact, just 
 those places where fishes could not live on account 
 of the foreign matter in the water, which would 
 clog up their gills, and consequently produce 
 death. 
 
 Between the side of the mouth and the skin, 
 there is a long canal, or pocket, in which the bran- 
 chiae, or fringes of the gills are placed in a row. 
 Opposite the space or little apartment, between 
 every two fringes, there is a round hole, tipped with 
 a cartilaginous ring, precisely like a hoop, to keep 
 it always open. When the lamprey is snugly coil- 
 ed up in a bed of loose, dark mud, where it finds 
 a variety of marine worms, putrid remains of vari- 
 ous animals, &tc., forced into such basins by the 
 eddying tides, it strains the water through a very 
 small aperture, into which it forms its mouth, till the 
 under side, or gular pouch is considerably distend- 
 ed, when by the action of the muscles about the 
 jaws, it is driven through all the fringes, arid comes 
 out at the orifices. By this beautiful, yet simple 
 
PETROMYZON. 73 
 
 contrivance, no mud can get into the fringes, or 
 if it does into the side holes, the next exertion of 
 the jaws, throws a stream of water to wash it out 
 again. So far as the gular pouch is concerned, in 
 the respiratory function, the lamprey bears consid- 
 erable analogy to the lizards. Breathing, with 
 those reptiles, is an entirely voluntary act : the 
 mouth is drawn full of air, through the nostrils, 
 and then, the under jaw being in action like a bel- 
 lows, forces it into the lungs. 
 
 As an article of food, they have been much priz- 
 ed, but as we do not see them very frequently in 
 the stalls, it is conjectured they are scarce, or there 
 are not purchasers enough to compensate for the 
 trouble of collecting them. 
 
 FRESH WATER LAMPREY. 
 
 FRESH WATER LAMPREY. Petromyzon Flu- 
 matilis. There is scarcely a portion of New Eng- 
 land, even in the most elevated regions, in which 
 the river lamprey may not be found. The ety- 
 mology of the name petromyzon, is found in two 
 Greek words, signifying to suck a stone. 
 
 Usually, its color is a dark olive on the back, 
 
74 PETROMYZON. 
 
 but with a light yellowish tinge on the abdomen. 
 The first dorsal fin, like that of the sea lamprey, is 
 separated from the second. To all intents and pur- 
 poses, it is the same fish, having the character- 
 istic two large teeth, only it is found in ponds and 
 streams so remote from the ocean, that it is next 
 to impossible that it should have had, within cen- 
 turies, any intercourse with the sea, though that is 
 the original seat of their ancestry. 
 
 Birds, in their rapid flights from one section of a 
 country to another, have not only distributed the 
 eggs of fishes and the seeds of plants, but even the 
 living animals themselves. It is in this way, that we 
 are obliged to account, for example, for the ap- 
 pearance of a lamprey in a small pool, hundreds 
 of miles from the ocean, which has no communica- 
 tion, whatever, with running streams. The wad- 
 ing birds, as the heron, might swallow one of these 
 animals, whose vitality is of so low an order, that 
 it is not necessary for them to breathe a mouthful 
 of water, even for many hours, and convey it in 
 its intestinal tube, three hundred miles, and if it 
 were voided, where such carnivorous birds would 
 be most disposed to rest, the fish would recover 
 any temporary injury by the journey, and if it 
 were pregnant, the race would be propagated, and 
 thus the waters of the interior of the country, be- 
 come stocked by a new family of aquatic be- 
 ings. 
 
PETROMYZON. 75 
 
 Such is the power of life, that it completely re- 
 sists, for a long time, the gastric juice of the stom- 
 ach. Repeated observations are on record, by 
 credible eye-witnesses, who have seen birds of 
 prey, swallow an eel, that escaped, unharmed, in 
 a few minutes. Nor is this so very strange, when 
 it is recollected that the intestine is very short and 
 large, and that the imprisoned fish has prodigious 
 strength, in proportion to its weight, and above all 
 the rest, coated with a mucous, so slippery, that 
 the grip of a strong man's hand, cannot hold one 
 fast. 
 
 On some of the highest points of the green moun- 
 tain, between Massachusetts and New York, in 
 those small basins of water which are formed be- 
 tween different eminences, lobsters are not only 
 numerous, but really and truly formed, precise- 
 ly like those of the ocean, yet they rarely exceed 
 two inches in length. The question at once arises, 
 how came these animals in that locality, if the ova 
 of the lobster were not conveyed there by some 
 bird ? The fresh water, together with the climate 
 of those high regions, have prevented the full de- 
 velopment of those miniature lobsters, though in 
 character, habit and anatomical structure, there is 
 the most perfect resemblance : and were the 
 ova from the family on the mountain, placed 
 under favorable circumstances, in the borders of 
 
76 PETROMYZON. 
 
 the sea, we have no doubt that the progeny would 
 be as large, in one or two generations, as any spe- 
 cimens which are exhibited from the ocean. 
 
 Occasionally, this lamprey may be seen in broad 
 day, in a clear spot of still water, in a bend of the 
 river, with its mouth firmly fixed to a stone 
 while its body gently waves in the water. The 
 mouth, indeed, is surrounded by a ring, which they 
 can enlarge or diminish at pleasure. ' When thus 
 adhering by the lips, by suction, for hours togeth- 
 er, they do not breathe : in order to exercise the 
 gills, they must first let go the hold and close the 
 jaws suddenly, to propel the volume through the 
 lateral apertures. 
 
 The Montreal Courant says, " On Wednesday 
 last a large sturgeon was observed to leap from 
 the water into a canoe lying at the island in the 
 port, opposite the foot of St. Joseph-street. Im- 
 mediately means were taken to secure the fish, 
 which, when taken, was found to have two lam- 
 preys, about seven inches in length, sticking to its 
 body, one on the top of the head, and the other 
 on the insertion of the large fin next the gills. 
 There cannot be a doubt but the fish, in its ago- 
 nies and efforts to get rid of the lampreys, sprung 
 out of the water with such violence as to precipi- 
 tate it into the canoe in its descent. The pecu- 
 liar construction of the mouths of lampreys, show 
 
PETROMYZON. 77 
 
 how powerfully they can attach themselves to any 
 substance, and seem expressly constructed to give 
 them a powerful suction ; nor is the rapacity of 
 these fishes less than their power of laying hold of 
 their prey ; for when kept some time' out of the 
 water, and again placed near the sturgeon, they 
 seized it a second time with much eagerness. The 
 sturgeon measured three feet eight inches ; his lit- 
 tle tormenters not a sixth part of his length, nor a 
 sixteenth of his weight." 
 
 These are considered excellent eating, in most 
 places, but on what account, we cannot understand, 
 since, if possible, their external appearance is more 
 forbidding than many other chondropterygious fish- 
 es, which are held in utter abhorrence. 
 
 Stewed lampreys, in England, was a dish once 
 held in high estimation. King Henry I. died of a 
 surfeit, in consequence of eating too heartily of this 
 favorite dainty. 
 
 In the reign of Henry IV., says a writer in the 
 Conversations Lexicon, so highly were they esteem- 
 ed, " that protection was granted to such vessels as 
 might bring them in ; and his successor issued a 
 warrant to William of Nantes, for supplying him 
 and his army with this article of food, wherever 
 they might happen to march." 
 
 In severe weather, the lamprey endeavors to 
 hide in deep places among the rocks, but the 
 
78 PETROMYZON. 
 
 fishermen, by extending pits, communicating with 
 the ocean, into which blood is thrown, entice 
 them into the spots where they stand in readiness 
 to capture them. 
 
 Some suppose the lamprey of Rome was of an- 
 other genus, the murenophis.* Pliny informs us 
 that Lucullus had fish ponds in the vicinity of Na- 
 ples, of such vast extent, that after the death of 
 the owner, the fish in them sold for 4,000,000 ses- 
 terces, equal the sum of $ 170,000. One Hir- 
 rius had a pond exclusively for his lampreys, 
 and so ample was his stock, that on a certain occa- 
 sion, when Caesar made a grand entertainment, he 
 furnished him with six thousand. The celebrated 
 orator, Hortensius, owned one, which seems to 
 have been a particular favorite, for it is said " that 
 he wept Utterly" when it was dead. Antonia, the 
 wife of Drusus, exhibited her affection for one of 
 them, by ornamenting it with jewels, but we are not 
 informed how they were put on. Its bite was, in 
 those days, considered poisonous, but no such opin- 
 ions are entertained in this age ; or if they are, 
 they are unfounded. 
 
 Annually, the city of Gloucester, we are told, 
 but for what reason, we have not been able to as- 
 
 * Several writers refer to the Gymnothorax, which was in 
 such estimation with the Romans. History relates the curi- 
 ous circumstance of a Roman lady going into mourning on ac 
 count of the death of a favorite muraena. 
 
PfcTROMYZON. 79 
 
 certain, at Christmas, used to present a lamprey- 
 eel pie to the king. Much is said by the old wri- 
 ters, of the Roman eel, which nearly resembled 
 the species under consideration. Reservoirs were 
 constructed, on a magnificent scale, by the opulent, 
 where the lampreys were made so docile, by reg- 
 ular feeding, as to rise to the surface when called. 
 Pliny relates, as a fact, that one Vedious Pollio, a 
 particular friend of Augustus, took delight in throw- 
 ing his slaves into the eel vats, for the pleasure of 
 seeing them torn to pieces and devoured. On a 
 particular occasion, the emperor honored Pollio 
 with his company, at a brilliant entertainment, at 
 which a slave unfortunately happened to break a 
 costly crystal vase. The unfeeling master, in a 
 paroxysm of fury, exclaimed to the other attend- 
 ants, " away with him to the muraenae." The 
 poor wretch, all but dead with horror, fell at the 
 feet of the emperor, beseeching that he might be 
 permitted to die some death lest terrible 1 Aston- 
 ished at the sudden and strange circumstance, Au- 
 gustus made speedy inquiry into this extraordinary 
 mode of punishment, and when he fully understood 
 the savage cruelty, disposition and practice, of Pol- 
 lio, ordered, at once, all the remaining vessels bro- 
 ken before his face : directed the reservoirs to be 
 filled up, gave freedom to the pleading slave, 
 and only consented to spare the life of the murder- 
 er, his master, in consideration of his former regard. 
 
80 SQUALIDES. 
 
 ORDER II. CELACHII. 
 
 SQUALIDES. 
 
 SHARKS have no bones like those of the second 
 class of fishes ; they are elastic, cartilaginous por- 
 tions, embraced by numerous muscles. The bran- 
 chiae are pectinated, the openings quite numer- 
 ous, without gill covers, and the palate and post- 
 mandibulary bones are studded with teeth. They 
 have pectoral and ventral fins, but the last is 
 placed backwards, on the abdomen. While some 
 are viviparous, others are oviparous, and all the 
 males may be identified by appendages at the in- 
 ternal margin of the ventral fins. Though these 
 are the indications of the sex, their use is totally 
 unknown. 
 
 GEN. SCYLLIAM. 
 
 SEA-DOG, SCYLLIUM CANICULA, le chein de 
 mer, of which we have a well preserved specimen, 
 four feet in length. It follows the perch, when they 
 first make their appearance in the spring, in the 
 margin of deep water. It has a remarkable metal- 
 lic color, like crude antimony. The teeth are ve- 
 ry small, giving the sensation to the finger of a 
 coarse rasp ; its body is slender, the head flat, 
 the nose long and pointed : the eyes much re- 
 
CYLLIUM. 
 
 sembling the cats, are placed low, towards the 
 snout. Beside the above marks, it will be recog- 
 nised by an anal fin, exactly opposite the space 
 
 which is between the two dorsals. When the 
 dead body is handled, it is as flexible as a whip- 
 lash, tough and leathery. Though we know 
 nothing with certainty of its habits, it probably 
 possesses all the traits of character, peculiar to the 
 order. 
 
 SCYLLIUM CATULUS, a little shark, very sim- 
 ilar to the preceding, only about eighteen inches 
 long. Its color is that of ashes having shades 
 of a red tinge, when first drawn from the water, on 
 the sides, towards the corners of the mouth. The 
 mouth, in this, is small, and shaped much like a 
 horse-shoe, but so completely underside the 
 head, further back than the eyes, that it is strange 
 they can apply the jaws at all, to hold their prey. 
 One of these miniature sharks, the past season, 
 was drawn into a pleasure boat, by a gentleman 
 6 
 
82 SdUALIDESv 
 
 fishing for cod , that quite frightened his associates 
 by its spiteful snappings. 
 
 Doc-FisH, Squalus Canis. A manifest dif- 
 ference is observable between the sea-dog and the 
 true dog-fah, the first, which has been described, 
 more nearly resembles the blue shark, whereas, 
 the latter, so far as it regards anatomical structure, 
 approximates the sea-wolf, in having a long, stiff, 
 dorsal fin, hard, conical, irregular teeth, a rough 
 skin, which, when dry, is used by cabinet makers 
 for polishing wood, and by surgical instrument ma- 
 kers, for covering cases. 
 
 It is a spiteful, voracious, cartilaginous shark, 
 very muscular, and the eternal enemy of the 
 cod, getting possession of the feeding ground, 
 some seasons, to the great loss of the fishermen. 
 In 1831, they were so uncommonly numerous, that 
 the cod-fishery was attended with immense loss. 
 The dog-fish is so familiarly known along the en- 
 tire coast of the United States, that it is quite un- 
 necessary to be minute in the description. 
 
 GEN. CARCHARIAS. 
 
 WHITE SHARK, Carcharias Vulgaris. All 
 sharks are a solitary, rapacious, blood-thirsty spe- 
 cies of animal, carrying slaughter and certain de- 
 struction, wherever they go. They are, as respects 
 their own element, precisely what the Bengal 
 
CARCHARIAS. Q3 
 
 tiger is in India, the most insidious and cruel, of 
 all the inhabitants of the great deep. Of all oth- 
 ers, the white shark is the most terrific, and 
 therefore regarded by mariners with peculiar 
 dread. 
 
 WHITE SHARK. 
 
 White sharks cannot be said to be very common 
 on this coast ; vessels, in approaching the land, oc- 
 casionally discover one of these huge devourers, 
 gently gliding through the water, in the wake of 
 the rudder. 
 
 Usually the color is a light ash, hence its 
 name, though it is by no means always of that 
 shade. On the back, as with nearly all fishes, the 
 skin is quite dark ; the tail has three lobes ; teeth 
 exceedingly numerous, and the body, when fully 
 grown, from twenty to thirty feet long. In trop- 
 ical climates, however, it attains its greatest size. 
 Fossil teeth of a shark, to which family the one under 
 consideration belongs, are found at Malta, measuring 
 four and a half inches from the point to the base, and 
 
84 SdUALIDES. 
 
 six inches from the point to the angle. All the 
 fossil bones of the antediluvian races, which have 
 been discovered, show that the primitive animals 
 were of far greater magnitude than those of the 
 present time. Perhaps there is no subject of deep- 
 er interest to the naturalist, than this curious fact, 
 sustained by the exhibition of entire skeletons, in 
 the cabinets of this country and Europe. These 
 prove, conclusively, that those which preceded 
 the present occupants of the soil, were truly gigan- 
 tic. The perfect bones of a lizard, sixty feet in 
 length ; the teeth, skulls, and vertebrae of the 
 mastadon, as well as some others, will ever re- 
 main objects of wonder and astonishment. Were 
 those moving mountains of flesh, propbrtioned to 
 the products of the earth ? and if so, and they 
 were permitted to roam over the globe, what 
 physical change in the constitution of the world, 
 rendered it necessary to drive entire species utter- 
 ly from existence, by a sudden and terrible des- 
 olation ? After the deluge, the animals which 
 were distributed over the, continent of Asia, seem 
 to have been diminished in form, and though, in 
 process of time, exceedingly numerous, the ag- 
 gregate, apparently, is better proportioned to the 
 amount of sustenance, yielded by the soil. 
 
 How these observations will apply to the 
 water, we are not prepared to say. The whale 
 
CARCHAR1AS. 85 
 
 is probably as large as the primitive whales, 
 but those animals which were certainly on the dry 
 land once, corresponding in bulk and power to 
 those in the ocean, no longer have a being. 
 
 But to return ; the white shark, in his wide, 
 dilatable jaws, has six rows of sharp, triangular 
 teeth, which can be raised or depressed by appro- 
 priate muscles, at pleasure. Its velocity is such, 
 that nothing seems to be able to escape, and its 
 greediness is never to be satisfied. By one gripe of 
 the jaws, they can cut a man in two. A red 
 hot cannon ball is sometimes lowered over 
 the side to one of these disagreeable followers 
 of a ship, which the seaman has the satisfaction 
 of seeing the shark receive, into his yawning 
 throat. 
 
 At the pearl fisheries of South America, where 
 white sharks are numerous, visiting the mighty cav- 
 erns in the rocks, the water being so clear, that a 
 small object may be seen at considerable distance, 
 the divers, familiar with the character of the mon- 
 ster, in their descents for the oyster, are obliged to 
 go armed, in self defence. For this purpose, some 
 carry a long sharp knife. As the shark's mouth is 
 placed somewhat under the head, he endeavors to 
 get over his intended victim, and if he discovers 
 no disposition in the Indian to move, gently settles 
 down over him with his horrible mouth, widely 
 
86 SQUALIDES. 
 
 extended. With the coolness of a philosopher, the 
 instant he is near enough to be reached, the diver 
 plunges the knife into his vitals. A very ingenious 
 mode, which is practised, says a writer, from whom 
 these observations have been principally extract- 
 ed, is for the diver to carry down with him four or 
 five hard wood sticks, about two feet long, sharpened 
 at both ends. In case he is likely to be disturbed in 
 his search for the oyster, by the visit of this king 
 of sharks, he thrusts one of the sticks between 
 his jaws, as he is in the act of closing them. 
 This props them asunder, and the force with 
 which they are brought to act on the stick, 
 securely pins both ends into the bones, and 
 away he goes, without the possibility of a remedy. 
 Instances have been known of an Indian, who was 
 so sharply set upon, that he gave away three sticks 
 in succession, before quitting his dangerous post. 
 
 At the Marquesas Islands, where this shark 
 abounds, the natives swim in the midst of them 
 quite fearlessly ; and the only reason why more 
 of them are not devoured, must be the peculiar 
 ease with which they are supplied with large 
 fish. Whenever, however, a native is so un- 
 happy as to be caught by one of them, his 
 associates never exert themselves in the least, 
 to extricate him, because it is a common matter 
 of belief there, that sharks never seize any 
 
CARCHARIAS. 87 
 
 but the wicked or transgressors of law, and 
 therefore the man deserves to die. 
 
 A gentleman of our acquaintance informed us, 
 that he saw a young girl swimming from a Boston 
 vessel, waiting to receive a cargo of sandal 
 wood, with a heavy bar of iron on her shoulder, 
 which she had contrived to steal from the deck. 
 She swam under water a considerable distance, 
 before coming up for breath, but the moment she 
 was seen, the boats put off, with the expectation 
 of recovering the bar. 
 
 Just as the boats were so near that she was fear- 
 ful of being struck with an oar, which was raised 
 by a man in the bow, she plunged a second time 
 the boats pursued the track, but as she came up to 
 the surface, still holding the iron, a " mighty white 
 shark swallowed her at one effort ; the veloci- 
 ty towards his object being so great, that as he 
 rolled upward, the girl was driven down his 
 throat." 
 
 He also saw a shark seize a man by the leg, 
 just below the knee, who, at the instant, being 
 just ashore, grasped a projecting stone on the 
 beach. The Shark drew with all its might, but 
 the man held on, screaming most piteously for aid, 
 but, although many of his comrades were near, no 
 one came to his assistance. His leg was dreadfully 
 lacerated, and the bone crushed : in that con- 
 
88 SQUALIDES. 
 
 dition he was exhausted by the loss of blood, and 
 the shark gained its object. 
 
 West India negroes, sometimes show a fearless 
 dexterity in diving in among these sharks, with 
 keen knives, purposely for the pleasure of butch- 
 ering them. On the coast of California, the In- 
 dians, occasionally sustain extraordinary combats 
 with the same species, for the amusement of Eu- 
 ropean spectators. 
 
 Notwithstanding the ferocity, and apparently in- 
 satiable appetite of the white shark, it is said they 
 will not touch a fowl having the feathers on. 
 
 In the history of Barbadoes, and in the relations 
 of voyagers to the South Sea Islands, all that is 
 shocking in the history of this creature may be 
 found. 
 
 In the records of Aix, a seaport of France, in 
 the Mediterranean Sea, is the account of a shark, 
 taken by the fishermen, twentytwo feet long, in 
 whose stomach, among other undigested remains, 
 was the headless body of a man, encased in com- 
 plete armor. 
 
 A friend has sent us the following note for 
 the truth of which he is ready to pledge his repu- 
 tation. 
 
 " Some years ago, a young gentleman going 
 passenger to the Island of Jamaica, when near the 
 port of destination, was drowned. A short time 
 
OARCHARIAS. 89 
 
 after, the uncle of the gentleman was on board a 
 vessel in that region, the crew of which caught a 
 large shark. On opening him, a common prac- 
 tice of sailors, in the stomach they found, among 
 other things, a gold watch, chain and seals, 
 which being examined, were at once recognised 
 by the uncle as the very same he had given his 
 nephew, at the time of sailing." 
 
 The aesophagug of this despot of the sea, is so 
 capacious, that a full sized man can readily be ta- 
 ken down whole. We possess, in a collection, the 
 dried jaws, which, opened, like the clasp of a 
 purse, will admit the shoulders of an adult person. 
 This fact, of the width and extensibility of the 
 throat, has given rise to an opinion that this was 
 the fish that swallowed Jonah. 
 
 But we neither believe, nor infer from the de- 
 claration in the sacred narrative, any such ridicu- 
 lous supposition. The words are these, viz : 
 " Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow 
 up Jonah." Such is the anatomical structure ot 
 the teeth, in all the larger varieties of shark, with 
 which naturalists are conversant, that nothing can 
 be very conveniently extracted from the stomach, 
 through the aesophagus, which has once been ad- 
 mitted there. 
 
 Like the entrance of a mouse-trap, there is free 
 admission, but no possible retreat. This mechan- 
 
90 SdUALIDES. 
 
 ism is particularly necessary in the economy of the 
 shark, obliged by the law of its nature to sub- 
 sist on living animals, which, were it not for 
 the singular provision in pointing all the teeth 
 backward, and the prickly spines in the gullet, di- 
 rected the same way, would escape almost as soon 
 as swallowed. 
 
 The same mechanical arrangement is noticeable 
 in the tnroats of all the serpents : the teeth are 
 not for mastication, but solely for holding and pre- 
 venting the escape of the prey. We therefore 
 place implicit confidence in the biblical account, 
 that God created a fish, expressly to accom- 
 plish the miracle of swallowing, and subsequent- 
 ly ejecting the undutiful prophet upon the dry 
 land. 
 
 Pliny's close observation may be inferred, from 
 a statement he makes, that the shark turns on its 
 back to bite,, unless it settles over the ob- 
 ject, an observation corroborated by succeeding 
 writers. 
 
 The tail being a powerful organ of destruction, as 
 soon as the animal is drawn on the deck of a ves- 
 sel, the seamen usually cut it off immediately, with 
 an axe. 
 
 When the skin is nicely manufactured, a kind of 
 leather is made, called shagreen, used in covering 
 mathematical and surgical instrument cases. 
 
CARCHARIAS. 91 
 
 BLUE SHARK, Carcharias Glaucus. Blue 
 sharks seem to be universally distributed over the 
 world : navigators have never penetrated a sea in 
 which they were not seen. They have a some- 
 what slender body, of a deep slate blue, on the 
 back and sides, but the color is considerably light- 
 er under the pectoral fins and abdomen. They 
 have, beside, a long, pointed snout, a bilobed tail, 
 pf which the lower one is the longest. Usually, 
 they average from seven to fourteen feet in length. 
 Vessels are followed by this shark, sometimes, 
 hundreds of leagues, without cessation. Seamen afc 
 firm that it is exceedingly greedy of human flesh. 
 This opinion has arisen, probably, from the circum- 
 stance that the species is so widely diffused, that 
 a body is scarcely lowered into the water, in any 
 latitude, before some of these voracious Bedouins 
 of the sea make their appearance. 
 
 ^Elian assures us that when their young are in 
 danger, they rush down the throat of the mother 
 for security. The young of this species are hatch- 
 ed from the egg, in the coiled oviducts of the fe- 
 male, and therefore, when expelled, are not only 
 alive, but exhibit, instantly, their natural character, 
 by seizing with their tiny mandibles, anything 
 that comes in their way. 
 
 To each young one, is suspended, by the um- 
 bilical cord, a sack, in which is enclosed the yolk 
 
92 SQUALIDES. 
 
 of the egg from which they had their being. This 
 highly nutritious substance is slowly absorbed 
 through the duct, into the stomach, and finally, 
 the cord shrinks and drops off. 
 
 By the time this curious process is completed, 
 adverted to in the physiological proem, the teeth 
 are sufficiently developed to hold the prey they 
 may overcome. To those who often witness this 
 appendage to young sharks, in calms, at sea, 
 this explanation, we trust, will be satisfactory. 
 
 During the excessive heat of summer, attracted 
 by the odor of the floating offals from a port, it is 
 no uncommon circumstance for them to penetrate 
 into the docks. Their sense of smell is admitted 
 to be exceedingly acute, or they never would pursue 
 vessels for such long periods together, when per- 
 sons on board are laboring under putrid diseases. 
 When they have attained the object of pursuit, 
 by unceasing perseverance, the chase is at once 
 given up. 
 
 Bathing, therefore, in the warm season at low 
 tide, in the vicinity of wharves, is certainly an ex- 
 posure, though it may so happen that a series of 
 years may elapse without any unpleasant occur- 
 rence from such a source. 
 
 A year since, while a lad was fishing in a small 
 boat, in the outer harbor of Newport, R. I., his 
 
CARCHARIA8. 93 
 
 boat was attacked in a most ferocious manner by a 
 shark. After the first attack, the shark leaped 
 from the ocean into the boat, which, from his 
 flouncing he would have sunk, had not another 
 boat, near at hand, come to the relief of the boy. 
 With great difficulty the monster was killed. 
 He measured eight feet in length, was of the most 
 ferocious kind of sharks, called by mariners man- 
 eater. He weighed between three and four hun- 
 dred. 
 
 The Newburyport Herald relates an occurrence 
 which happened in Rowley, not long since. Mr. 
 David Pickard, who was on the marshes, by a nar- 
 row creek, near the mouth of Rowley river, saw a 
 large fish a shark, as he supposed making up 
 the creek, with his back above water. Being pro- 
 vided with a gun, he discharged it at the creature, 
 when it made a monstrous leap, and deposited its 
 huge bulk high and dry upon the land. It meas- 
 ured nine feet in length. 
 
 The following fact, published in 1831, on the au- 
 thority of Captain Clark, of the brig Stranger, 
 from St Bartholomews, will corroborate the testi- 
 mony of naturalists, in relation to what has been 
 said of the mode of bringing forth its young, so 
 different from most other aquatic tribes. 
 
 " Having caught a shark, nine feet long, it was 
 opened on deek, and found to contain fiftytwo 
 
94 SQUAL1DES. 
 
 young ones each of which measured seventeen 
 inches in length, and all were very exactly of the 
 same size." 
 
 During the year 1831, a man was attacked in 
 his boat by a shark, overcome and devoured ; in 
 the Bay of Boston. 
 
 In "The Life of a Sailor" is a narrative of the 
 wreck of a vessel off the Havana. The crew took 
 to the boat, which upset ; they succeeded in right- 
 ing it, and while two men were bailing with 
 their hats, a shark was seen to approach. No lan- 
 guage can convey an idea of the panic which seiz- 
 ed the struggling seamen. Every man now strove 
 the more to obtain a moment's safety. Well 
 they knew that one drop of blood would be 
 scented by the everlasting pilot fish, the jackall 
 of the shark ; and that their destruction was inevit- 
 able, if one only of these monsters should discover 
 the rich repast, or be led to its food by the little 
 rapid hunter of its prey. 
 
 A few minutes after, about fifteen sharks came 
 right among them. The boat was again upset 
 by the simultaneous endeavor to escape danger, 
 and the twentytwo sailors were again devoted to 
 destruction. At first, the sharks did not seem in- 
 clined to seize their prey, but swam in among 
 the men, playing in the water, sometimes leaping 
 about and rubbing against their victims. This was 
 
CARCHAR1AS. 95 
 
 of short duration. A loud shriek from one of the 
 men announced his sudden pain ; a shark had seiz- 
 ed him by the leg, and severed it entirely from 
 the body. 
 
 No sooner had the blood been tasted, than the 
 dreaded attack took place : another and another 
 shriek proclaimed the loss of limbs. Some were 
 torn from the boat, to which they vainly endeav- 
 ored to cling some, it was supposed, sunk from 
 fear alone. The sharks had tasted the blood, and 
 were not to be driven from their feast. By great 
 exertion, again the boat was righted, and two men 
 were in her ; the rest had all perished. The two 
 survivors resolved, with gallant hearts, to redouble 
 their exertions. They lightened the boat suffi- 
 ciently not to be overset. 
 
 The voracious monsters endeavored to upset the 
 boat ; they swam by its side, in seeming anxiety 
 for their prey ; but after waiting some time, they 
 separated. The two rescued seamen, in spite of 
 the horrors they had witnessed, soon fell asleep, 
 and were the next day fortunately picked up by a 
 vessel. 
 
 Fox SHARK, or THRASHER, Carcharias Vulr 
 pes. Perhaps no class of sea stories are more 
 common than accounts of combats between the 
 thrasher and the whale, the latter of which, 
 is always said to be beaten most cruelly by the 
 
96 SaUALIDES. 
 
 thrasher. We apprehend, however, that there is 
 some mistake in these supposed battles. 
 
 The thrasher may always be known from all 
 other varieties, by the upper lobe of the tail, which 
 is as long as the entire body. Generally, the 
 thrasher averages from nine to fourteen feet. They 
 are seen on our coast very often, in the summer, 
 running with great swiftness, the tip of the long 
 tail fin cutting the water. 
 
 GEN. ZYG.SNA. 
 
 HAMMER-HEADED SHARK, Zyg&na Vulgaris. 
 Shovel-headed shark, is another name, by which this 
 remarkably constructed fish is known to American 
 
 HAMMER-HEADED SHARK. 
 
 seamen. But little time since, a sailor offered one, 
 recently caught, for sale, which he wheeled through 
 the streets of Boston, on a barrow, attracting 
 crowds of people, who gazed upon it in perfect 
 wonder. 
 
ZYG^NA. 97 
 
 The head, from which particular part it obtains 
 its vulgar name, is comparatively thin and re- 
 sembles, in relation to the body, a brick, laid across 
 the head of a fish. Such, indeed, is the structure, 
 that the eyes are ten, twenty, and twentyfive inch- 
 es apart, according to the size of the body, pre- 
 cisely as it respects each other, as it would be if 
 an eye were placed in each end of the brick. 
 Without a drawing, however, it is utterly impossi- 
 ble to form a right conception of its curious form. 
 The body is brown on the back, though gene- 
 rally partaking of the leaden, the prevailing qolor 
 of all the sharks. 
 
 The species under examination, in writing this 
 article, has a falcate first dorsal fin, on the rise of 
 the back, and a second, quite small, near the end 
 of the tail : the entire length is short of nine 
 feet. 
 
 Surely, if anything in animal organization, 
 seems like the result of some sport of nature, the 
 hammer-headed shark is an instance of it. If the 
 body, of a large flounder, deprived of its head and 
 tail, were laid across the head of a blue shark, it 
 would somewhat resemble the gluing on of the 
 head to the body. The eyes are at such a distance, 
 that at first view, one is led to suppose it a mon- 
 strous production. 
 
 It has been conjectured that the eyes, from being 
 7 
 
98 SaUALIDES. 
 
 lodged at the extremities of the cartilaginous wings, 
 as it were, of the skull, can be approximated on 
 the under side, so that the fish may look into its 
 own mouth, far back, on the under side, even un- 
 der the thick substance of the neck. Careful ex- 
 amination, however, on a recently caught, flexible 
 shark, convinces us satisfactorily, that no such ef- 
 fect can be produced. 
 
 By some authors, it is called the balance-fish ; 
 because it is said to balance in the water, as 
 though the centre of the body were supported on 
 a pivot, while the head and tail, alternately, as- 
 cend and descend. Others give the appellation of 
 sea-mallet, from the resemblance which the body 
 has to the handle of a mallet, inserted into the trans- 
 versely laid_ head. This mallet head is gently 
 curved in front, and brought quite to an edge, so 
 that it will cut its way with ease through the water. 
 
 The eye very much resembles that of the 
 horse, being nearly of the same dimensions. In a 
 dried specimen of a young one, four feet long, the 
 eyes present a hard shell, showing that they were 
 calculated for deep water. In the mouth is found 
 a liberal supply of four rows of teeth, lancet-shap- 
 ed, and serrated on their edges. 
 
 Scarcely a season passes by, in which fine spe- 
 cimens are not taken in the vicinity of Nahant, 
 about the Cape, &c. 
 
ZYG^NA. 99 
 
 In 1805, three powerful shovel-nosed sharks, 
 were taken in a net, at Sagharbor. The 
 largest was eleven feet in length. On open- 
 ing him, many detached parts of a man were 
 found in the abdomen, which were collected 
 and buried. A striped shirt, patched, was also 
 taken from the stomach. 
 
 Very opportunely, while writing, Captain Knott 
 Martin, on a return voyage from Cape Hayti, has 
 presented us with a fine specimen of a young one 
 of this species, only two feet and one inch in length ; 
 one inch and a half in diameter : the eyes are 
 five inches apart, and in the flexible jaws is a den- 
 tal apparatus, truly frightful. There can be no 
 doubt, from the exhibition of muscular strength, 
 this shark makes prodigious slaughter in appeasing 
 its voracious appetite. 
 
 Mr Fitzwilliam, an English gentleman, recent- 
 ly from Malta, has politely forwarded us the fol- 
 lowing note, with other interesting matter on natu- 
 ral history, illustrative of the character and habits 
 of the shovel-nosed shark. 
 
 " While lying at anchor near the Bell Buoy, in 
 the Isle of France, we were surrounded with nu- 
 merous sharks, of the shovel-nosed species, ^ two 
 of which appeared of so enormous a size, that we 
 determined, if possible, to catch them. Our hooks 
 were baited with four-pound pieces of pork, but 
 
100 SaUALIDES. 
 
 these appeared too small morsels for our voracious 
 customers, and for two days we were unsuc- 
 cessful. 
 
 "A young goat happening to die at this time, it 
 was immediately fastened on a hook for a bait ; it 
 had not been overboard many seconds, when one 
 of the sharks was seen to approach, smell of it, 
 turn on his back, and in a trice, swallow it. After 
 considerable difficulty, we hoisted this monster on 
 board, in doing which, with a stroke of his tail, he 
 shivered the bulwarks near him, into a thousand 
 splinters ; and it was, indeed, with great difficulty 
 we despatched him, even though the tail was imme- 
 diately chopped off to prevent further damage to 
 the property on deck. He measured eighteen 
 feet in length. 
 
 " It was now suggested, it would be worth while 
 to bajt another hook, with the entrails of the first 
 captive. In a few minutes the hook was in readi- 
 ness, and a second shark was taken, which was 
 longer and larger than the other, to appearance ; 
 but it was so violent in its struggles, that it suc- 
 ceeded in snapping off the chain, attached to the 
 hook, and escaped. 
 
 " The jaws of the one we saved, when cleaned, 
 were so large as to be slipped over the body of a 
 man. From the liver, alone, were procured more 
 than ten gallons of oil." 
 
SEJLACHE 101 
 
 Zygana Tiburo, belonging to this family, hav- 
 ing warty spots, is also occasionally taken by the 
 fishermen, dried specimens of which may be 
 found in the museums. The color is much like 
 the one in the preceding article, though, if any- 
 thing, the head is sharper and the skin, be- 
 tween the pectoral fins, near the region of the 
 branchiae, is of a clear white, shading into a 
 yellowish tinge towards the tail. 
 
 GEN. SELACHE. 
 
 BASKING SHARK, Selache Maximus. Be- 
 tween the head and body, there is not a good 
 proportion, the first being comparatively small 
 and snake like. When the branchial openings 
 are thrown asunder, from running almost round 
 the neck, they give the animal the appearance of 
 having its throat cut by several deep incisions. 
 The color of the skin is nearly that of sheet lead ; 
 one large dorsal fin, shaped like a ploughshare, 
 rises on the back ; the teeth are small and sharp, 
 and- in vast numbers. On this coast, they have 
 been captured, measuring thirty feet, usually the 
 harpoon is the surest method of securing them. 
 
 A few years since, at the time the appearance 
 of the sea-serpent produced so much excitement 
 in the vicinity of Gloucester, a party of gentlemen 
 from Boston, armed for successful combat, with 
 
102 SdUALIDES. 
 
 that emperor of serpents, fell in, we have been 
 informed, in the course of their excursion, with 
 one of these harmless, lazy fishes. Its dimensions 
 were so colossal, as to induce some to believe, 
 by the aid of a little imagination, that this was the 
 mighty leviathan, which had been magnified into 
 a tremendous snake, one hundred feet long. The 
 existence, however, of such a creature as the ser- 
 pent has been described to be, by the most unob- 
 jectionable evidence, is proved as clearly and con- 
 clusively, as human testimony can establish any 
 truth. 
 
 From a careful examination of the digestive or- 
 gans, there being an unusually long intestinal tube, 
 it is conceded by naturalists, that the basking shark 
 feeds i on vegetable food entirely, and therefore, 
 unless unreasonably excited, is a peaceably dispos- 
 ed, harmless, inoffensive being. 
 
 Beside the track of intestine, within its calibre, 
 there is curious provision for retaining the con- 
 tents, till all the nutritious matter is completely 
 extracted. This consists of a valve, or to 
 make it more clearly understood, the inner 
 plate is precisely like a winding stair-case, or the 
 twist of a screw-auger ; thus, instead of passing 
 down freely, and unobstructed ; by this arrangement 
 of the screw, the food is kept rolling over a vast 
 surface of absorbent vessels. 
 
SELACIIE. 103 
 
 Because this shark seems to delight in lying 
 upon the surface, basking in the hot sunshine, the 
 name of basking shark has been given it, by 
 common consent. Though really formidable in 
 appearance, by the concurrent testimony of mari- 
 ners, it is allowed to be a dull, unsuspecting, harm- 
 less creature. 
 
 INTESTINE OF THE BASKING SHAKK.* 
 
 This disposition must depend, to some extent, 
 on the quality of its aliment, which is altogether 
 marine plants. How far the habits of this animal 
 
 * Stomach of the basking shark laid open, and the coats of 
 theintestine dissected entirely away, in order to exhibit the 
 valvular structure within. 
 
 Jl. The cardiac orifice of the stomach. 
 
 BB. The converging muscular fibres about the pylorus, or 
 lower opening of the organ. 
 
 C. The commencement of the winding valve, as it is term- 
 ed, which is a continuous shelf, like a flight of winding 
 stairs, jutting from the inner circumference towards the cen- 
 tre. 
 
 D. refers to the width of the valvulae conniventes. 
 
104 SUUALIDES. 
 
 will warrant a comparison with the description 
 that is given in the book of Job, of the Behe- 
 moth, we leave to others to judge. "Behold 
 now the Behemoth, which I made with thee ; he 
 eateth grass as an ox." 
 
 That the structure within, is upon the simple 
 plan of the digestive organs of herbiverous quad- 
 rupeds, must be admitted by those who study com- 
 parative anatomy. 
 
 Beza, and others, learned in the history of the 
 sacred writings, contend that the Leviathan, was 
 a crocodile, which was the opinion of Bochart ; 
 but we can discover nothing in the description of 
 that formidable monster, that bears any more re- 
 semblance to it than the basking shark ; which an- 
 swers the precise figure of the Behemoth ; in the 
 whole Bible the word crocodile does not once 
 occur. 
 
 Pennant informs us that they swim with such 
 rapidity and violence, that there has been an in- 
 stance of a vessel of seventy tons having been 
 towed away by one of them, against the wind, by 
 the irons lodged in its body. It is further said of 
 the Behemoth, " His bones are as strong pieces 
 of brass ; his bones are like bars of iron." 
 
 As far south as New Jersey, they have been 
 taken, of greater dimensions, than at the north. 
 By good authority, we have been told of one or 
 
PLATYSOMI. 105 
 
 two, that measured not far from forty feet in 
 length. 
 
 Within the mouth a kind of whalebone is peal- 
 ed out, which has also given it the name of 
 the whalebone shark. On the best authori- 
 ty, it is said they are viviparous, the young, a 
 foot long having been taken out of the bodies of 
 the females. Simply the liver, has weighed a 
 thousand pounds, in some of the large ones, caught 
 on the northern coasts of Europe, yielding a 
 profitable quantity of oil, for which purpose they 
 are sought. 
 
 Not appearing to be very timid or susceptible, 
 they will lie perfectly quiet, till the intrepid har- 
 pooneer, who has approached him cautiously, 
 drives the instrument of death into the vital regions, 
 before he begins to move with the warp. 
 
 GEN. TORPEDO. 
 
 TORPEDO THE "NUMBING FISH," Torpedo 
 Vulgaris. That a variety of this remarkable fish 
 has been taken on these northern shores cannot 
 be questioned, though we frankly confess our ina- 
 bility to procure one. Individuals who have ac- 
 companied fishing parties, corroborate the testimo- 
 ny of those who assert that they have drawn up a 
 strange creature, something like a skate, which 
 they not caring to preserve, or even handle, in at- 
 
106 PLATYSOMI. 
 
 tempting to cut out the hook with a knife, instant- 
 ly felt a strange sensation in the arm, as though a 
 cord had been suddenly drawn round it. 
 
 As there is a fish known to those who habitu- 
 ally fish, inshore, for a living, the whole year round, 
 as the " numbing-Jish" or benumbing, it is very 
 conclusive that it has been seen: resembling, 
 somewhat, the skate, it would not be strange if those 
 who accidentally drew them up, should suppose 
 it one of them, particularly if it was jerked from 
 'the hook, a common mode of disengaging the 
 skate. 
 
 THE TORPEDO. 
 
 The Electric-Ray, or Topedo, is found in most 
 of the European seas, but in Torbay, England, 
 particularly, they are often drawn up in a traul 
 net, with others; sometimes they catch the 
 hook, and then it is, in handling them, that they 
 exhibit that curious electrical property, which 
 has given them the name of torpedo. 
 
 Icthyologists describe about twenty species of 
 
TORPEDO. 107 
 
 the ray, but this, alone, possesses to a consider- 
 able degree, the electrical property. In structure, 
 the torpedo does not seem to differ essentially from 
 the family of rays in general. The electrical or- 
 gans are lodged each side of the gills, reaching 
 to the cartilages of the great fins. Each lateral 
 battery is about five inches long being constituted 
 by plates of membrano-cartilaginous substance, 
 the interstices of which are filled with a gelatinous 
 fluid. Their color is a dusky brown, the skin is 
 smooth, the tail short, and the mouth small, with 
 five breathing apertures. 
 
 The apparatus of the torpedo, is analagous, in 
 character, to that of the gymnotus, or electrical 
 eel of Surinam. In the summer of 1827, Thomas 
 Trask, Esq. American Consul at Surinam, suc- 
 ceeded in bringing a live one to Boston, in a 
 barrel of water. Although we had the best oppor- 
 tunity, two days in succession, for experiment, 
 with extreme regret, we were completely un- 
 successful in getting an electric shock. It was 
 irritated, roused with iron as well as wood, but 
 there was no exhibition of that power which we 
 hoped to have experienced. 
 
 Either the new climate, the different kind of 
 water in which it was kept, its being changed daily, 
 or the influence of other causes, deprived it of the 
 faculty of secreting electricity, or its spirit was so 
 subdued, that it was indifferent to stimuli. 
 
108 PLATYSOMf. 
 
 This eel was a little more than three feet in 
 length, considerably larger than a man's wrist, and 
 of a deep slate color. While confined in a vat, 
 on the eve of sailing, Mr Trask ordered four ne- 
 groes to go and put it into the barrel, in which we 
 afterwards saw it, but they were repeatedly pros- 
 trated to the ground in the attempt, declaring that 
 their elbows were broken. 
 
 General Verveer, a gentleman of great respect- 
 ability, who resided many years in Surinam , as- 
 sured us that he once had an electrical eel, of such 
 extraordinary dimensions, that it was placed in a 
 trough where the cattle were in the habit of go- 
 ing to drink, \vith reference to sending it abroad ; 
 but some mules being turned loose, went directly 
 to the spot to drink and four of them were kill- 
 ed in succession, the moment their noses touched 
 the water. 
 
 This electricity both in the torpedo and the 
 gymnotus, is entirely under their control, and 
 was probably bestowed on them for the purpose 
 of overcoming their prey. The eel has no teeth, 
 therefore it has a compensation in the wonderful 
 machine within its own body, by which it can re- 
 peat the benumbing influence till it has gorged 
 the victim on which the power has been exerted. 
 Otherwise, in their habits, they may be considered 
 in the water what the anaconda is on the land. 
 
RAIA. 109 
 
 GEN. RAIA. 
 
 THORNBACK, Raia Clavata. Notwithstand- 
 ing the assertions of some to the contrary, others 
 who have seen the thornback in England, contend 
 that it has been taken on this coast. 
 
 THE THORNBACK. 
 
 The body is cineritious, rough, with bony tuber- 
 cles, each of which is furnished with a hooked 
 spine, the dorsal row being the longest ; the 
 tail is longer than the body, loaded with three rows 
 of spines. 
 
 Usually, they are from two to three feet long,' 
 when fully grown. We cannot assert positively 
 that we have seen one, yet we have an indistinct 
 recollection of such a circumstance, in the deep- 
 water near Scituate, about eight years ago. 
 
 SKATE, Raia Batis. All the borders of 
 Massachusetts are visited by the skate, some 
 of which are in breadth as much as four or five 
 feet, with a brown body, rough skin, hav- 
 
110 PLATYSOMI. 
 
 ing a dirty crust of mucus and mud and a long 
 tail : it may always be known to those who seek 
 it for cabinets. 
 
 THE SKATE. 
 
 It has five branchial openings on each side, 
 partly concealed by being underneath ; two 
 dorsal fins near the root of the tail ; small teeth, 
 of a conical form, with broad bases. Males may 
 be known from the females by crooked or hooked 
 spines on the pectoral fins. The ova are brown, 
 cariaceous, and square, having four long arms, 
 giving the egg-shell, which washes upon the 
 beach, the appearance of a hand-barrow. 
 
 Let it be remembered, that the skate is a broad, 
 thin, flat fish, terrific and disgusting to look upon, 
 possessing the voracity of the shark, with 
 out its rapidity. Their home is at the bottom, 
 from which, with singularly constructed optics, 
 
RAIA. Ill 
 
 they can look upwards on all that passes 
 over. 
 
 Cased in a partially bony shell, its edges seem 
 to be eked out by broad gelatinous wings, with 
 which they flap through the water, as a bird uses 
 its wings, in aerial progression. In shoal, calm 
 water, we have often seen them lying at ease on 
 the mud of inlets, varying in size from an inch to 
 five feet. 
 
 During the months of March and April, the fe 
 males cast their purses, or spawn ; from three to 
 five hundred eggs, have been extruded from one 
 of them, at a time. In the Spring, several males 
 may be . seen pursuing one female for hours to- 
 gether. 
 
 Directly before our dwelling, on a warm day in 
 July, as the tide was receding, an unusual splash- 
 ing of water attracted attention, and resulted in the 
 capture of a skate, whose diameter was equal to 
 that of a wagon wheel. When thrown upon 'a 
 wheel-barrow, a strong man could scarcely push 
 the load before him, to the house. 
 
 Skates are in less danger of being destroyed, 
 than most other fishes, excepting when young. 
 After having grown to a certain extent, even 
 sharks appear unwilling to attack them ; hence 
 they are exceedingly numerous. Lobster-men 
 spear the skate, for bait, by boat loads, and in 
 
112 PLATYSOMI. 
 
 England, the skirts or wing are considered excel- 
 lent eating.* 
 
 Another reason why sharks do not disturb them, 
 when they become large ; arises, it would seem, 
 from a conscious inability to swallow the morsel. 
 Prowling, says a writer, at the bottom of the ocean, 
 in the dark caverns beyond the ken of human 
 vision, and in cavities, dark and horrible beyond 
 what the imagination has ever conceived, they, 
 perhaps, continue to grow, till they become mon- 
 sters indeed. As we have no exact knowledge of 
 the period to which the lives of fishes are pro- 
 
 * No city in the world, is better and more plentifully sup- 
 plied with fish, than London. Turbot and brill are carried 
 there from the coast of Holland ; Salmon from the rivers in 
 Scotland and Ireland, a few however are caught in the 
 Thames, at the mouth of which mackerel and cod fish are 
 taken. In 1828, the following calculation was made of the 
 quantity of fish sold at Billingsgate. 
 
 Plaise and skates ... 50,754 bushels. 
 
 Turbot 87,958 
 
 Fresh Cod - - - 447,130 " 
 
 Herrings .... 3,336,407 
 
 Haddocks - - - - 482,493 
 
 Mackerel - ... 3,076,700 " 
 
 Fresh Salmon 45,446 " 
 
 Lobsters - - - . 1,954,600 " 
 
 To supply the actual demands of the people with this food, 
 it required 3,827 vessels ; the number of fishermen, there- 
 fore, exclusively devoted to this particular business, and sub- 
 servient to that metropolis alone, is truly immense. 
 
TRYGON. 113 
 
 longed, it is fair to conclude, from the vast dimen- 
 sions of some individuals of this species, that they 
 may live from one century to another. 
 
 A skate was killed in the vicinity of Guada- 
 loupe, measuring nearly twentyfive feet in length by 
 fourteen in breadth. This fact leads to the suppo- 
 sition that others may yet be discovered, by the 
 side of which this would be a mere pigmy. Time, 
 perhaps, may yet reveal the secret, that the kra- 
 ken, now considered an imaginary being, so viv- 
 idly pictured by bishop Pontoppidan, whose 
 back, rising above the surface, resembles an island, 
 is nothing more nor less, than one of these mon- 
 strous productions. 
 
 TRYGON. 
 
 STING RAY, Trygon Pastinaca. Occasion- 
 ally, but by no means very frequently, the sting- 
 
 THE STING RAY. 
 
 ray is taken with a hook, in fishing in about thirty 
 8 
 
114 STURIONES. 
 
 fathoms of water. The body is of an oval form, 
 of an olive color, and smooth. It has a sharp 
 nose, a small, slender tail, armed with a long ser- 
 rated bone towards its root. Usually, on these 
 shores, it averages from one to two feet in length, 
 and is denominated the saw-tailed skate. 
 
 ORDER III. STURIONES. 
 
 GEN. ACCIPENSER. 
 
 The fishes of this genus, have the general form 
 of the sharks; but their body, remarks Mr Park, 
 is more or less covered by long prominences, in 
 longitudinal rows. Their eyes and nostrils are 
 on the side of the head, the dorsal fin behind the 
 ventrals, and the anal under it. Sturgeons ascend 
 the rivers from the northern seas, at certain sea- 
 sons, in vast numbers, and their fishery, therefore, 
 becomes an object of peculiar importance. 
 
 STU,RGEON, Accipenser Sturio, is an anadro- 
 mous, subtle fish, solitary in its habits, voracious, 
 and when fully grown, of prodigious size and pow- 
 er. On this coast, the sturgeon is often seen, leap- 
 ing from the water, but is not often taken. 
 
ACCIPENSER. 115 
 
 It seems to delight, particularly, in lying about 
 the estuaries of rivers, into which it frequently pen- 
 etrates, hundreds of miles, returning to the ocean 
 again, as the supply of food fails, or the formation 
 of ice commences, in northern latitudes. Its abid- 
 ing place is not at sea, but always on the border 
 of the ocean, where muddy bottoms predomi- 
 nate. 
 
 Without teeth, it snaps at its prey most vigor- 
 ously, and rarely fails of overcoming the object of 
 its choice, either by artifice, or dint of extraordi- 
 
 THE STURGEON. 
 
 nary strength. Between the end of the snout and 
 mouth are four cirri, resembling the tendrils of 'a 
 vine, or earth worms, which the sturgeon exhibits 
 to other fishes, much to its own advantage. 
 
 Belonging to the cabinet of the Boston Society 
 of Natural History, is the bill or spatula of the 
 spoon-bill sturgeon, of the Ohio River, which is 
 really a curiosity. Being divested of the skin, it 
 presents an osseous blade, three and a half inches 
 wide, at the further extremity, and two feet and one 
 
116 STUR10NES. 
 
 inch long, including some portion of the head, 
 gently curved at the end, like a spoon handle. 
 
 It is a complete web of bony fibres, running in 
 every direction, apparently in the wildest confu- 
 sion, yet its strength and elasticity entirely depend 
 on this peculiar structure. 
 
 Dr Hildreth, of Marietta, says that this is also 
 called the paddle-nosed sturgeon, the Polyodon 
 Feuille of Lacipede, and the Spatularia of some 
 other writers. The sturgeon from which this 
 spatula was taken, was speared at Letart's Falls, 
 in June, 1830, a few miles above Pomeroy's coal 
 bank, Meig's county, 260 miles below Pittsburg. 
 and weighed forty pounds. 
 
 At the great falls of Lawrenceville, the same 
 fish is called the bill-fish. For particulars, see 
 Silliman's Journal, Vol. xii, No 2. 
 
 Settling itself into the soft ooze, with its head 
 towards the current, the sturgeon allows the 
 cirri to float, just above its nose, and there it 
 patiently waits, till some fish, allured by the sight 
 of the buoyant tendrils, dives to pick them up, 
 when the crafty deceiver pounces on its unsuspect- 
 ing prey, with unfailing success. 
 
 In summer only, the sturgeon is seen in Boston 
 harbor, from six to nine feet in length, leaping 
 from the water. N The force with which it propels 
 itself towards an object on the surface, carries it 
 
ACC1PENSER. 117 
 
 completely out. It is said, but with how much 
 truth, is not easy to determine, that it does not 
 hesitate to leap out in order to fall on other marine 
 animals, for the purpose of overcoming them by its 
 weight. In this way we are continually hearing of 
 their falling into boats, when the weather is calm. 
 
 In the Middletown Conn. Gazette, of July, 
 1831, is an interesting acccunt of a sturgeon, 
 weighing one hundred and eighty six pounds, 
 which unceremoniously sprang into a small boat, 
 bound from that place to Rocky Hill, and in the 
 fall broke an oar and one of the seats. 
 
 Says the Hartford Courant, in the summer of 
 1830, " Last Saturday afternoon, as sundry per- 
 sons were employed in painting the hull of the 
 schooner Exact, now lying at our wharf, they 
 were suddenly interrupted in their labor by an ab- 
 rupt and unceremonious visit from one of the in- 
 habitants of the river. They were standing in a 
 scow which was drawn along side the schooner, 
 surrounded with their paint-pots, and busily plying 
 their. brushes, when a sturgeon about seven feet 
 long and three feet in circumference, making his 
 way between the scow and the schooner, where 
 therye was just room enough to afford a passage, 
 dashed in among the astonished painters, overturn- 
 ed the pots, mixed their various contents in one 
 mass, and having thus formed a new combination 
 
118 STURIONES 
 
 of colors, took the business into his own hands. 
 Substituting his tail for a brush, he commenced 
 operations on a large scale, and as he flounced 
 about in his new quarters, scattered the paint in 
 every direction, spreading it over the side of the 
 vessel and scow, and not omitting to bestow a lib- 
 eral coat on the painters themselves. He was not 
 long permitted, however, to display his skill in his 
 new line of business, for the painters not relishing 
 this species of monopoly, commenced a united as- 
 sault on their new competitor, and despatched him 
 without rnercy." 
 
 No account is made of them, as food, owing, 
 perhaps, in some measure, to their scarcity, in 
 this vicinity ; but at New York, and particularly at 
 Albany, they were once esteemed. In Europe, 
 the sturgeon is much prized, being variously pre- 
 pared by smoking, pickling and drying. 
 
 In this country, the sturgeon fishery appears to 
 be- wholly neglected, though formerly, vast quan- 
 tities were taken in Virginia. In the cold regions 
 of Russia, the sturgeon is considered delicious; 
 thousands upon thousands of tons are salted in bar- 
 rels for exportation. 
 
 The Danube, Volga and Don, are among the 
 most famous sturgeon localities in the world. We 
 are assured by a traveller, that a grand dinner can- 
 not be given in Russia, without sterlet, accipenser 
 
ACUIPENSER. 119 
 
 ruthemus, a small species of sturgeon. " When 
 brought alive in summer, from Archangel to Mos- 
 cow and St Petersburg, they have been known to 
 cost from five hundred to a thousand roubles each. 
 A soup prepared from the sturgeon, commingled 
 with the most expensive wines, according to the 
 same narrator, has cost three thousand roubles." 
 
 In the time of the Emperor Severus, the stur- 
 geon was considered so much of a royal dish, that 
 it was carried to the table by servants adorned with 
 coronets, and escorted by musicians. This may have 
 been the origin of a ceremony once practised in Lon- 
 don, on lord-mayor's day, the mayor elect be- 
 ing obliged to present the king or his proxy with 
 a platter of sturgeon. 
 
 In English Law it is still considered as exclu- 
 sively belonging to the king, who also is enti- 
 tled by an ancient, grave, parliamentary conces- 
 sion, to all whales which may be cast on the sea- 
 shore of the realm, to be equally divided be- 
 tween his majesty and his royal spouse ; the 
 head,- as the most noble part, being for the king, 
 and the tail for the queen ; out of which she was 
 to be supplied with whalebone for making her 
 stays. This was particularly an unfortunate divis- 
 ion for her majesty, as the whole of the article in 
 question is found in the jaws. 
 
 The Indians of America used their bones, or 
 
120 STURIONES. 
 
 scales, which are Exceedingly hard, for rasps and 
 graters.* Caviare, an excellently flavored, though, 
 perhaps, rather indigestible food, is made of the 
 roes, pressed into hard cakes, about one inch 
 thick, by four square. 
 
 During the long Lent of the Greek church, and 
 the weekly fast days, exceeding in the aggregate, 
 four months, sturgeon is the principal food of all 
 European Russia. It was calculated in 1794, 
 that 1,750,500, yielded 4,366,800 pounds of ca- 
 viare. Its value as a wholesome food may be in- 
 ferred from this statement. The estimated value 
 of the sturgeons caught in Astrakhan and the Cas- 
 pian Sea, alone, is 1,760,405 roubles annually; 
 which sum is realized from England, by the sale 
 of isinglass and caviare, now getting into common 
 use. 
 
 The Persians will not eat sturgeon, but rent the 
 grounds of the Sallian to the Russians, who in the 
 spawning time, have taken with a hook and line, 
 fifteen thousand large sturgeons in one day. These 
 facts are introduced in this place, with a hope that 
 they may resuscitate the long neglected, but profit- 
 able sturgeon fishery at the south. 
 
 In our collection, is a small fish, evidently very 
 
 * The sturgeon is the largest fish in the Lakes. The stur- 
 geon of Lake Erie has no dorsal fin, otherwise it resembles 
 the sturgeon of the rivers and ocean, and has the same habit 
 of leaping or vaulting out of water. 
 
ACCIPENSER. 
 
 young, that exhibits a relationship to the stur- 
 geon, and yet, is altogether different. From the 
 central part of the plates which characterize 
 the tribe, are strong, short knobs ; a large head, 
 similarly armed ; prominent eyes, slender fins, and 
 jaws destitute of teeth. 
 
 What is most interesting, between the pectoral 
 fins is an oval surface, rather prominent, by which 
 it appears that the fish has the power of adhering 
 to surfaces, like the remora and lump-fish. This 
 was taken in a lobster-pot, by the keeper of the 
 Boston light-house. At a future period it will 
 be investigated. 
 
CLASS II. 
 
 OSSEOUS FISHES. 
 
 IN THIS DIVISION THE SCULL IS UNITED BY SUTURES. 
 
 ORDER I V. PLECTOGN ATHI. 
 
 GEN- ALUTERES. 
 
 FILE FISH. Aluteres Monoceros, the file fish 
 of Linnaeus, is scooped up in nets, in calms, about 
 fifty miles at sea, but under circumstances, 
 however, which render it doubtful whether it 
 
 THE FILE FISH. 
 
 can safely be denominated a native fish. It 
 may be recognised by a bony spine, as one of 
 the boundaries, anteriorly, of the dorsal fin, and 
 eight teeth in each jaw. 
 
OSTRACION. 
 
 Our specimens were obligingly forwarded by 
 Captain Couthuoy, of Boston, a gentleman to 
 whom our naturalists are under peculiar obli- 
 gations. 
 
 GEN. OSTRACION, 
 
 All the individuals of the genus ostracion, seem 
 to be boxed up in a tri-cornered chest, for their 
 shell is constructed of plates, which unite to form 
 a perfect shield, in which there are openings to 
 allow the exit of the tail. The tail, fins, mouth, 
 and the branchiae, are the only parts that will ad- 
 mit of motion. 
 
 TRUNK-FISH. Ostracion Triqueter, inhabits 
 the vicinity of Long Island, New York, but rarely 
 makes its appearance so far to the north as Mas- 
 sachusetts, unless driven on shore by the violence 
 of storms, and then it is presented as an empty 
 shell, three sided, about one foot long, with a 
 white dot near the centre of the hexagonal divisions 
 or lines which define the original sutures of the 
 plates. Boys cleanse the inside, and use them 
 for lantherns, which are very comical contriv- 
 ances. 
 
 Ostracion Bicaudalis. A beautiful specimen 
 of this fish was thrown on the beach at Holmes's 
 Hole, within a few months, and forwarded by Dr 
 
124 PLECTOGNATHI. 
 
 YateSj of that place, to the Boston Society of 
 Natural History, in whose cabinet it has been de- 
 posited. 
 
 OSTRACION BICAUDALIS. 
 
 The body is marbled, and dotted, as it were, 
 with black. Near the vent, two spines, are sent 
 directly backward, on the plane of the abdomen, 
 whose points approximate a very little ; these 
 are sharp, stiff, and hooked, much like a canine 
 tooth. Writers place the locality of this ge- 
 nus in the Indian seas ; but it is now morally 
 certain that it also exists in this northern latitude, 
 as all the specimens which have been cast on land, 
 could not have been lost by collectors of curiosi- 
 ties, from homeward-bound vessels. Besides, the 
 cutaneo-elastic substance which unites the fins, 
 tail, lips, &tc.,to parts within the tri-cornered shell, 
 shows most convincingly that it had not been long 
 dead. 
 
 We possess various smaller specimens, from 
 Trinidad, but this, compared with them, is vastly 
 more interesting. It measures not far from four- 
 
DIG DON. 125 
 
 teen inches, and from one ridge or angle, to the 
 other, three inches, giving the highest arch 
 of the back a circumference of nine inches. 
 They are in their own element, what the armadil- 
 lo, of South America, is on land. 
 
 GEN. DIODON. 
 
 SWELL-FISH, BALLOON-FISH, BLOWER, PUFF- 
 ER, Tetj'aodon Turgidus. It is not common 
 to meet with the swell-fish at any other season, 
 than the heat of summer. Whenever caught 
 with the hook, it is in fishing for cod and haddock ; 
 hence it is inferred that they feed upon similar 
 food, and swim at about the same depth. 
 
 The back has a tawny saffron color, the skin 
 rough, giving the sensation to the finger of sand 
 paper. The only apology we can make for not 
 having dissected one of them, with reference to 
 explaining their internal organization, is the poor 
 one, that there has not been time since the com- 
 mencement of this essay. Relying, however, 
 upon the assertions of comparative anatomists, the 
 following seems to be the peculiarity of its struc- 
 ture. 
 
 A valve is so constructed in the fauces, over 
 the orifice of. a tube, communicating with an ex- 
 tensive series of air-cells, opening downwards, 
 that by drawing the atmospheric air in at the 
 
126 PLECTOGNATHI. 
 
 mouth, it presses the valve down, and thus distends 
 the cells, but the pressure from behind throws it 
 back, so that none of it can escape through the 
 external orifice. 
 
 Just as it comes to the surface, it seems to inhale 
 a prodigious volume of air, that at once swells the 
 whole body into the shape of a balloon. Before 
 this, the body is comparatively slender. As the 
 fish may be rolled about like a foot-ball, bounding 
 and rebounding, when thrown, precisely in the 
 same manner; it evidently has not the pow- 
 er of allowing the air to escape. 
 
 If stamped upon, the bursting causes a loud 
 report. In the sun, the swelling increases so rap- 
 idly, by the expansive force of the pent up air, 
 that the skin gives way with a sudden rent, accom- 
 panied with a loud noise. Thrown upon the wa- 
 ter, it floats away partly on one side, resembling 
 at a distance, (the belly being delicately white,) a 
 white foam. 
 
 However, after a while the size begins to lessen, 
 till finally the fish succeeds in getting under wa- 
 ter again, and survives the trial. Probably the 
 temperature of the water has some agency in con- 
 densing the air, till the valve, or epiglottis, by its 
 own elasticity, re-acts, and by the openings, per- 
 mits the confined air to escape. 
 
 The swell-fish varies from eight inches to one 
 
LOPHOBRANCH II. 127 
 
 foot in length. It appears, in consequence of a 
 vertical cleft through the middle of the jaws, to 
 have two large upper and lower front teeth. 
 
 ORDER V. LOPHOBRANCHII. 
 
 The branchiae of this order are of a peculiar 
 character, and well worth the minute examination 
 of those who desire an accurate knowledge of the 
 anatomy of fishes. Instead of being pectinated, they 
 are disposed in tufted pairs on the margins of the 
 branchial curves. Above these, is the operculum ; 
 covering and attached all round, but having a for- 
 amen for the water to pass out through the tufts, 
 from the mouth. 
 
 Such as are found in this section of the country, 
 are small, four-sided, and harmless. Their eggs 
 are floated onward through the oviducts, to be 
 lodged in a little sac, constituted of the common 
 skin, put upon the stretch, by their presence, un- 
 der the tail in some, and under the belly in others 
 out of which the young escape, when they are 
 hatched. 
 
 GEN. SYNGNATHUS. 
 
 LITTLE-PIPE FISH, Syngnathus Typhle. As 
 we have in no instance seen two of these fishes 
 
128 PLECTOGNATHI. 
 
 together it is inferred that they are solitary in their 
 habits, somewhat like the sturgeon beino- in 
 
 o o 
 
 some respects sturgeons in miniature. 
 
 THE PIPE FISH. 
 
 The tube of the mouth is long and slender, at 
 the extremity of which, is the minute opening of 
 the mouth. Eighteen plates enter into the com- 
 position of a hexagonal body, a little larger than a 
 goose-quill, and thirty six in the tail, which is 
 square, but quite flexible. 
 
 Their ordinary length is from six to ten inches. 
 Among the rocks at Nahant, after a storm, at 
 Cohasset, and at Boston light-house, all our 
 specimens have been procured. For preserva- 
 tion, the best mode is to dry them, as they loose 
 nothing by it, if brushed over by a varnish, in 
 which there is a mixture of aides, to prevent the 
 depredations of insects. 
 
MALACOPTERYGII. 129 
 
 ORDER VI. MALACOPTERYGII 
 ABDOMINALES. 
 
 All the fishes of this order possess bony skele- 
 tons ; the jaws are in one piece, and the branchiae 
 pectinated. .All the rays of the fins are soft, except 
 in some instances, the first of the dorsal or pec- 
 torals, and the ventrals are posterior to the abdo- 
 men. 
 
 The order includes nearly all the fresh water 
 fishes, as well as those which migrate periodically 
 from the ocean to the rivers. It may be said, 
 with propriety, that most of the edible fishes also 
 belong to this order. It is divided into five 
 natural families. 
 
 FRESH WATER FISHES. 
 
 Thus far we have been considering the fishes-, 
 which are either entirely confined to the ocean, 
 or are only occasional visitants of the fresh water. 
 But in the river, there is a race which could not 
 subsist in the compound element where the great- 
 est proportion of all the varieties of aquatic animals 
 known to naturalists, have their residence. 
 
 After the most careful examination of the ana- 
 tomical structure of this class, there is noth- 
 9 
 
130 FRESH WATER FISHES. 
 
 ing discoverable in their external configuration, nor 
 in the internal organization of the viscera, which 
 can explain why it is necessary to reside in the 
 one place or the other, or what obliges them 
 to alternate from the salt to the fresh water. 
 
 Physiology, as yet, has thrown no light on this 
 subject, which is only another evidence of the lim- 
 ited knowledge we possess of the wonderful ope- 
 ration of the laws that govern animal life. The 
 rationale of the effect of the two kinds of water, 
 must be sought for in the influence exerted by 
 certain salts, in solution, on the atmospheric air 
 with which they are commingled. 
 
 In the commencement of this essay, the fact has 
 been adverted to, that fishes do not breathe either 
 water or air, exclusively, but a mixture of both. 
 
 By the examination of a map of the United 
 States, or Massachsuetts in particular, it will be ob- 
 served that the origin of the water-courses in the 
 country, are such, that by passing over different 
 soils, in which various ores and other mineral pro- 
 ductions are directly exposed to the action of the 
 stream, they become impregnated or altered in 
 quality, according to the distance they run to- 
 wards the sea. 
 
 Particular families are fitted by the All- Wise 
 Creator, to exist in particular regions, and at par- 
 ticular localities ; and they are endowed with a 
 
FRESH WATER FISHES. 131 
 
 kind of vitality to resist the noxious qualities of 
 the fluid in which they swim, that would be fatal 
 to others. This curious arrangement in the plan 
 of creation is most admirable, contributing to 
 the universal diffusion of animals over the whole 
 globe. 
 
 There is not a spot of land on earth, nor a pool 
 on the face of it, that is not teeming with its count- 
 less millions of organized beings, possessing all the 
 necessary apparatus for supplying their physical 
 wants, and for propagating their species. But the 
 boundaries by which the animal creation is re- 
 strained, are not so arbitrary that no deviations are 
 allowable : the fish, or the quadruped, like 
 man, can change its residence, and by being 
 gradually climated, the function of the vital organs 
 become accommodated to the condition of a mod- 
 ified element. 
 
 Here then, we can find the origin of the crea- 
 tion of new genera ; in the meeting of strangers, 
 and in the aerial and aqueous influences effected 
 on the offspring. 
 
 We have long entertained the opinion, that the 
 sea is the natural habitation of all fishes. By 
 the wandering habits of some, the fleeing of 
 others from their enemies, and the operation 
 of physical causes, they became gradually dis- 
 persed in the tributary waters of the great reser- 
 voir of the world. 
 
132 FRESH WATER FISHES. 
 
 To the same causes are also to be attributed the 
 annihilation of species, now only found in a fossil 
 state. Even the hardest rocks present the most 
 perfect forms of extinct fishes under the name of 
 ichthyolites. Nor can it be doubted that chang- 
 es are continually going on in the constitution of 
 inorganic matter, which, while it blots wholly from 
 existence distinct tribes, will also eventuate in the 
 production of entirely new species. 
 
 To settle down in the iron-bound notion that 
 the laws of nature are thoroughly understood, and 
 that there cannot be anything new presented un- 
 der the sun, is to confess our perfect ignorance of 
 phenomena of the most astonishing character. Like 
 the inexhaustible capacity of the human mind for 
 knowledge, are the resources of nature, yet men 
 too often complain that all the avenues to the 
 study of Natural History have been travelled, all 
 countries surveyed, and all the animal creation 
 minutely pictured and anatomised, and that noth- 
 ing remains to excite them to study, or compen- 
 sate for the labor of investigation. 
 
 Alas ! this is only an excuse for indolence 
 and thus thousands live, only to occupy space, 
 without interesting others, or being enlightened 
 themselves, and die at last, as they lived, without 
 contributing one valuable idea to the storehouse of 
 useful knowledge. 
 
FRESH WATER FISHES. 
 
 If one new fact can be added to the common stock 
 of truth, it matters not whether it regards the one 
 kind of science or another : the accumulation, the 
 increase of the capital, is what concerns every indi- 
 vidual in the community. These remarks are made 
 with a view to exciting particular attention to the 
 study of the aquatic animals in the northern states. 
 Every man, whose eyes are constructed upon com- 
 mon principles, has discovered something in the 
 habits and character of the class of vertebrated an- 
 imals we are considering, which is of real conse- 
 quence, but unless more disposition is manifested 
 to concentrate observations, it will be a long while 
 before we shall have embodied, any correct views 
 of the reptiles or fishes of the New England 
 States. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, the first land settled 
 by our European ancestors, as profusely peopled 
 with these tribes as any section of the American 
 Continent, is the least known to men of sci- 
 ence. 
 
 FAMILY I. SALMONIDES. 
 
 In this family, the body has scales ; there 
 are two dorsal fins, but the second is flexible, in 
 consequence of being destitute of bony spines. 
 
134 SALMONIDES. 
 
 GEN. SALMO. 
 
 SALMON, Salmo Salar. The upper jaw is 
 larger than the lower, and in the males the under 
 jaw is curved upward. The back has a bluish 
 shade, the sides are silvery white below ; and 
 above the lateral line, are irregular, dark spots. 
 On the tongue, which is white and cartilaginous, 
 are teeth ; and the scales are striated. 
 
 So perfectly well known is the salmon, that it 
 is quite needless to enter into any further details 
 fhan those which relate to the salmon fishery, or 
 tend to illustrate tjie character of this highly valua- 
 ble tribe. 
 
 Probably the Connecticut has been more distin- 
 guished for this fish, than any other river in Mas- 
 sachusetts, but they are becoming more and more 
 scarce, from year to year. Locks, steamboats, 
 the common business of navigation, and above 
 all, increasing settlements, conspire to interrupt 
 the progress of the salmon towards the head 
 waters. 
 
 Still, however, they overcome great artificial ob- 
 stacles, such as dams, &,c. by their muscular dex- 
 terity, which would almost discourage the perse- 
 vering industry of man. 
 
 Formerly, in the month of April, they passed 
 up the Connecticut to its highest branches, leap- 
 
SALMO 135 
 
 ing cataracts, where the weight and velocity of the 
 water was to be overcome by the instantaneous 
 exertions of the muscles of the tail. They have 
 been sometimes seen to make several attempts, 
 before they succeeded in ascending the fall. 
 
 While running up rivers, they are fat and 
 delicious food, from May till the last of June; af- 
 ter that period, having deposited their spawn, 
 they return to the sea, le^an and emaciated.* 
 
 The St Lawrence has yielded immense supplies, 
 but they are decreasing, gradually, in a ratio cor- 
 responding with the increase of population. In 
 very hot weather, they are extremely annoyed, 
 while in salt water, by an insect, burrowing in the 
 skin, called the salmon-louse. 
 
 On old salmon they have been so numerous as 
 to kill them. The fact is well established, that sol- 
 itary salmon run up rivers, as the seine-men say, 
 
 * Wm. Ladd, Esq. of Minot, Me. addressed the author the 
 following note. 
 
 " Some years ago, Governor King, of Maine, showed me a 
 phial containing the roes which had been taken out of a salm- 
 on, caught at sea, late in the autumn. They were about as 
 large as peas. He informed me that a fisherman had brought 
 him the spawn to convince him that the salmon did not spawn 
 in our fresh water rivers, but followed the fishes that did, for 
 the sake of their spawn. The Governor, and all the rest of the 
 company, appeared to be convinced that the salmon do not 
 spawn until after they leave our rivers." 
 
136 SALMONIDES. 
 
 out of season ; that is, come back the last of Sep- 
 tember and October, and for the purpose, it is 
 thought, to rid themselves of their troublesome as- 
 sociates, which are known to die as soon as the 
 fish has been a few days in fresh water. 
 
 In tbe rivers of Kamschatka, they are numer- 
 ous beyond all example, even blocking up the 
 small rivulets into which they wedge themselves, 
 in trying to pass by the untold thousands on the 
 route. Such multitudes are thrown upon the 
 banks, by the pressure of the moving armies, and 
 left to die, that were it not for bears and dogs, 
 their bodies would create a pestilence. Such is 
 their antipathy to, or fear of everything red, that 
 before they can be caught successfully, in the 
 rivers of this country, the fishermen are said to di- 
 vest themselves of their red caps and shirts. 
 
 Captain Charles Kendall, a respectable and in- 
 telligent navigator of Boston, assured us that when 
 on the northwest coast of America, within a few 
 years, he stood in a small stream which carne leap- 
 ing down the crags of a mountain, in which these 
 delightful fishes were urging their way in such as- 
 tonishing crowds, with hardly water enough to 
 cover their backs, that he stood with an axe, and 
 killed hundreds of them as they passed between 
 his feet. 
 
 He saw birds of prey dive down from the long 
 
SAL MO. 137 
 
 branches of trees that waved over the waterfalls, 
 and pick out the eyes of several at a time, before 
 they flew back to their resting place. Jewett's 
 travels confirm his statement. 
 
 To those who are not particularly conversant 
 with the natural history of the northwest coast, as 
 given us by veritable travellers, the foregoing ac- 
 count may appear overcharged, but it is substanti- 
 ated by all the voyagers who have remained 
 there any length of time. 
 
 The salmon is found on the coasts of Europe, 
 from Spitzbergen, quite to Western France, says 
 a writer in the Conversations Lexicon, but is nev- 
 er seen in the Mediterranean. On the western 
 shores of the Atlantic, it is found from Greenland 
 to the Hudson, but is exceedingly rare in the lat- 
 ter river, and never penetrates farther south. 
 
 They also abound in Eastern Asia, where, as 
 well as in the United States, they grow to the 
 weight of ten or fifteen pounds, and often four 
 feet in length, in the clear, cold rivers of the 
 north. 
 
 As the ice melts away in the spring, they rush 
 to the rivers, from the ocean, and it is an undenia- 
 ble fact, confirmed by successful experiments, that 
 they visit as far as possible, the very streams in 
 which they were born. Usually, when undisturb- 
 ed, they swim slowly in immense bodies, near the 
 
188 SALMONIDES. 
 
 surface, yet they are so timid, that if suddenly 
 frightened by a great splashing in the water, the 
 whole column will turn directly back towards the 
 sea. 
 
 It has also been proved, by actual calculation, 
 that a salmon can scud at the surprising velocity 
 of thirty miles an hour. The young are about 
 twelve inches in length, when they visit the 
 sea for the first time. After the parent fish have 
 passed up the rivers, the spring following, the 
 young ones follow at a respectable distance, hav- 
 ing grown about six inches. 
 
 At the end of two years, they weigh five, six 
 and seven pounds ; and at the expiration of six 
 years they have attained their ordinary dimen- 
 sions. A few of these fishes are carried to Phila- 
 delphia, but the Boston and New York markets 
 are supplied, principally, by the packet-men from 
 the State of Maine. 
 
 The Salmon Fishery of Newburgh, on the river 
 Tay, in Scotland, once produced a net rental of 
 seven thousand pounds sterling per annum. Very 
 numerous small fisheries on the same river, belong- 
 ing to small proprietors, pay three hundred pounds 
 annually. 
 
 On the river Ness, in Scotland, the Salmon 
 Fishery has risen in value, in eleven years, from 
 two hundred to twelve hundred pounds a year. 
 
fl^LMO. 189 
 
 Salmon are known to change their haunts ; in 
 many rivers in which they were formerly so abun- 
 dant, that "farmer's servants stipulated to have 
 them only twice a iveek as food,' not one is now 
 to be found. 
 
 THE SALMON. 
 
 They were formerly abundant in the Thames, 
 and caught in great numbers, but since the in- 
 troduction of steam-boats on this river, they 
 are rarely to be found. 
 
 In some rivers of England and Wales, at the 
 season when the salmon and their fry return to 
 the sea, the quantity taken in one week has ex- 
 ceeded thousands in a day, and in some instances 
 in such quantities that they were given to the 
 swine. 
 
 At Leixlip, in Ireland, is a very high cataract, 
 called the Salmon-leap, from the number of 
 these fish which are to be seen leaping it, in 
 the season when they return up the river to 
 spawn. In fine weather, says a friend, " I have 
 
140 SALMON I^ES. 
 
 seen them springing up these falh by scores, and 
 rarely have seen one miss its aim." 
 
 The otter is a great destroyer of these fish, and 
 is a perfect epicure, after catching one, he only 
 bites out a piece between the head and the shoul- 
 ders, and leaves the remainder. " I have seen," 
 " says the same gentleman, " ten or twelve 
 dead salmon floating down the river Tay, in the 
 highlands of Scotland, in one morning, all of which 
 had been bitten in this way by the otter, and what 
 is very remarkable, these fish are always fat and 
 in prime condition. 
 
 " Many of the poor cotters residing near the 
 streams and rivers of the highlands of Scotland 
 and Wales, subsist, in a great measure, in the sea- 
 son, upon these fish, which they pick up early in 
 the morning, as they float down the stream from 
 the otters' haunts." 
 
 SALMON TROUT, Salmo Trutta. As we have 
 particularly devoted a considerable number of pa- 
 ges to the subject of angling, in which a reference 
 is made to all the varieties of the fresh and salt 
 water trout, known to the naturalist or the scien- 
 tific angler, in New England, it is our apology in 
 this place, for not being more minute and elabo- 
 rate in the following description. 
 
 Nothing, therefore can be more perplexing than 
 attempting a classification : they have one com- 
 
8ALMO. 141 
 
 mon origin, are all descendants of the same 
 parents, but by living in different places, the one is 
 large, another small, another spotted, and an- 
 other tinged with gold. 
 
 This fish has brown spots, some of which, on 
 the upper portions of the body, are surrounded by 
 a beautiful bright halo, of a semi-metallic lustre. 
 On the sides and abdomen, a silvery hue predomi- 
 nates. Even when cooked they may be known 
 from the exclusively fresh water trout, by the red- 
 ness of the flesh. 
 
 It is caught at the mouths of rivers and small 
 streams communicating with the ocean, but as it 
 cannot endure the extremely salt water, there are 
 few good localities for them on the line of this 
 state. The salmon trout has so much the appear- 
 ance of the salmon, and so much resembles it in 
 character, that the description which has been 
 given of one, very nearly describes the other. 
 
 Allusion is made to this fish in the Sal- 
 monia, as affording considerable sport, but; we 
 do not possess the faculty of interesting the mere 
 sportsman, an attempt at which, after a man so 
 eminently distinguished as the author, would be 
 downright absurdity. 
 
 COMMON TROUT. Salmo Fario. There is 
 not a river, nor running stream in the northern 
 
142 SALMONIDES. 
 
 states, which has not the common trout, as it is 
 called, by every body, and yet, on examination, 
 the external characteristics are as different as pos- 
 sible ; but the difference consists in the arrange- 
 ment of spots and color, rather than in the organ- 
 ization of the branchiae or disposition of the fins. If 
 we go to the lakes, still farther to the north, they 
 also have the common trout, which, compared with 
 the river trout, are codfish by the side of minnows. 
 This difference in complexion and size, is brought 
 about in the opinion of the learned author just quo- 
 ted, by the quality and quantity of food, the wa- 
 ter, &ic. ; these developments, whatever they 
 may be, " are transmitted to the offspring, and 
 produce varieties which retain their characters as 
 long as they are exposed to the same circumstan- 
 ces, and only slowly lose them." 
 
 FRESH WATER TROUT. 
 
 Plenty of good food gives a silvery color and 
 round form to fish, and the offspring retains these 
 characters. Feeding much on larvae, and on shell- 
 fish, thickens the stomach, and gives a brighter 
 
SAL MO. 
 
 yellow to the belly and fins, which become hered- 
 itary characters." 
 
 Like the adult children of one family, one is 
 tall, another is a dwarf, a third is fat, a fourth has a 
 dark complexion, a fifth has red hair, a sixth blue 
 eyes, the seventh excellent front teeth, the 
 eighth good grinders, but imperfect incissors, the 
 ninth is lean, and the tenth differs from all the rest 
 and yet they sprang from the same parents, 
 the same blood circulates in their veins, at one ta- 
 ble they subsist on the same food, and still no 
 two present the same external character, but why 
 they do not, is a mystery wholly beyond elucida- 
 tion ; such is precisely the case with the fresh wa- 
 ter or semi-marine trouts. 
 
 England is famous for its trout, and for the va- 
 riety too, but after all, we have in the United 
 States an equally imposing catalogue, under differ- 
 ent names. 
 
 But to the point ; the common trout of Mas-: 
 sachusetts is from eight to twelve inches long, 
 dotted on the back, with brownish spots, shaded 
 by a paler circle. On the gill covers is a broad 
 spot ; the under jaw is the longest ; the soft rayed 
 fins tinged with yellow, and on the sides of the 
 body are red spots. 
 
 HUNCHEN TROUT, Salmo Hucho. Resem- 
 
144 SALMONIDES. 
 
 bling very much the sea-trout, it is found, on care- 
 ful inspection, to be more slender, and to have a 
 greater number of red spots. The back is dusky ; 
 the ventral fin has a yellow tinge ; all the others 
 are of a palish purple. 
 
 The tail is forked, and the fish measures some- 
 times four feet, though, ordinarily, it is only about 
 two, and caught by the hook. This trout certain- 
 ly exists in the large rivers and ponds in the inte- 
 rior, but deteriorated in size. They are brought from 
 New Hampshire, in the winter, frozen for the mar- 
 kets ; and from the northern parts of Maine, where 
 specimens have been taken, large as any produced 
 in the great rivers of Europe. 
 
 We subjoin an extract from the Salrnonia, 
 touching the hunchen or huco trout, with the be- 
 lief that it will lead to further investigation. 
 
 " The hucho is the most predatory fish of the 
 salmo genus, and is made like an ill-made trout, 
 but longer and thicker. He has larger teeth, more 
 spines in the pectoral fins, a thicker skin, a silvery 
 belly, and dark spots only on the back and sides. 
 I have never seen any on the fins. The ratio of 
 his length to his girth, is as 8 to 18, or, in well-fed 
 fish, as 9 to 20 ; and a fish, eighteen inches long, 
 by eight in girth, weighed 16,215 grains. Anoth- 
 er, two feet long, and eleven inches in girth, and 
 three inches thick, weighed four pounds two oun- 
 
SAL MO. 145 
 
 ces and a quarter. Another twenty six inches 
 long, weighed five pounds and five ounces. 
 
 " Of the spines in the fins, the anal has nine, the 
 caudal twenty, the ventral nine, the dorsal twelve, 
 the pectoral seventeen : having numbered the 
 spines in many, I give this as correct. The fleshy 
 fin belonging to the genus is, I think, larger in 
 this species, than in any I have seen. 
 
 " Block, in his work on fishes, states that there 
 are black spots on all the fins, with the exception 
 of the anal, as a character of this fish : and Profes- 
 sor Wagner informs me he has seen huchos with 
 this peculiarity ; but, as 1 said before, I never saw 
 any fish with spotted fins, yet I have examined 
 those of the Danube, Save, Drave, Mur and Izar ; 
 perhaps this is peculiar to some stream in Bava- 
 ria, yet the huchos in the collection at Munich 
 have it not. The hucho is found in most rivers, 
 tributary to the Danube, in the Save and Lay- 
 bach rivers, always ; yet the general opinion is, 
 that they run from the Danube, twice a year, in 
 spring and autumn. 
 
 " I can answer for their migration in spring, hav- 
 ing caught several in April, in streams connected 
 with the Save and Laybach rivers, which had ev- 
 idently come from still, dead water, into the clear 
 running streams, for they had the winter leech, or 
 louse of the trout upon them; and 1 have seen 
 10 
 
146 SALMONIDES. 
 
 them of all sizes, in April, in the market, at Lay- 
 bach, from six inches, to two feet long ; but they 
 are much larger, and reach thirty or forty 
 pounds. 
 
 "It is the opinion of some naturalists, that it is 
 only a fresh water fish, yet this I doubt, because 
 it is never found beyond certain falls as in the 
 Traun, the Drave and the Save ; and there can be 
 no doubt it comes into these rivers from the Dan- 
 ube ; and probably, in its largest state, is a fish of 
 the Black Sea. 
 
 "Yet, it can winter in fresh water, and does not 
 seem, like the salmon, obliged to haunt the sea, 
 but falls back into the warmer waters of the great 
 rivers, from which it migrates in spring, to seek a 
 cooler temperature and to breed. The fishermen 
 at Gratz, say they spawn in the Mur, between 
 March and May. In those I have caught at Lay- 
 bach', which, however, were small ones, the ova 
 were not sufficiently developed to admit of their 
 spawning in spring." 
 
 We think there cannot remain a shadow of 
 doubt, after comparing these notes, with the great 
 trout of the cold ponds in Maine and New Hamp- 
 shire, as well as with the degenerated representa- 
 tive of the family in the rivers and ponds of Mas- 
 sachusetts, that they approximate the true hucho 
 of the Danube. It is very certain, too, that by be- 
 
OSMERUS. J47 
 
 ing kept entirely from the ocean, it improves both 
 in flavor and magnitude ; this, however, seconda- 
 rily, depends on the extent of the ponds. 
 
 We cannot but express our astonishment that 
 gentlemen owning estates on which there are fine 
 basins of water, do not stock them with trout, 
 which can be as easily done, as they can stock 
 their lands with cattle and horses, and they can be 
 as choice, too, in the quality; Surely, in this 
 country, it is yet an untried source of domestic 
 economy. 
 
 GEN. OSMERUS. 
 
 SMELT, Osmerus Eperlanus, called also Spar- 
 ling. Were not every body familiar with this 
 beautiful little fish, it would be worth while to 
 dwell on its character and biography, more particu- 
 larly than will be attempted. Under the microscope, 
 the skin is so exceedingly delicate, that the circu- 
 lation of the blood may be seen, coursing its way, 
 through the cutaneous vessels. 
 
 There have been writers who consider the 
 smelt as the fry of the sea-trout, and others, the 
 young of some other fish of greater size ; but after 
 all, the smelt very certainly remains the same from 
 year to year. The smelt of Massachusetts resem- 
 bles that of Europe, but still, there is a variation 
 in the number of rays in the fins. 
 
148 SALMONIDE3. 
 
 At the south, there is a variety, called menidea, 
 which has twentyfour rays in the anal fin. In the 
 month of March and April they cast their spawn, 
 after which they seem to stretch out into the 
 ocean, till the approach of autumn, when the har- 
 bors swarm with them. They pass into rivers and 
 creeks, but the borders of the salt water is their 
 peculiar residence, and where they are caught 
 through the winter, or indeed, in all inlets, where 
 the sea-water sets at high tide, in immense quanti- 
 ties.* 
 
 An attempt has been made to climate the smelts 
 in a fresh water pond, but they have soon degene- 
 rated, becoming at first emaciated, and disappear- 
 ed, by degrees, till they probably all died. 
 
 FAMILY II. 
 
 One of the distinguishing characters of this fam- 
 ily is, that they are destitute of an adipose fin ; the 
 upper jaw is formed in the middle by intermaxilla- 
 ries, without pedicles. The body is scaly and 
 they have besides, the air-bladder and caecums ; the 
 branchial arteries are furnished on the side next to 
 
 * We are inclined to the opinion that smells shed their scales 
 annually, in the month of March. 
 
CLUPEA. 149 
 
 the mouth, with comb-like teeth ; on the under 
 edge of the body the scales form a serrated 
 ridge. 
 
 COMMON HERRING, Clupea Harengus. Head 
 and mouth compressed, the latter, rough, with- 
 in ; jaws short and unequal ; the upper one 
 having serrated mystaces, short tongue, quite rough : 
 inverted teeth, eyes round, gills setaceous ; gill 
 covers sometimes of three, and sometimes four 
 plates ; gill membrane eight rays ; body some- 
 what compressed, and covered with small sized 
 scales ; ventral fins commonly with nine rays ; the 
 tail forked. 
 
 The name herring, is derived from the Ger- 
 man word heer and army, in reference to the mi- 
 gration of herring, in such astonishing numbers, 
 as to excite the wonder of both ancient and mod- 
 ern naturalists. 
 
 In the United States, herring are taken in large 
 quantities, but the kind peculiar to Massachusetts 
 particularly, seems to be the clupea harengus, 
 (pseudo), though most of the varieties found in 
 Europe, are also recognised on the atlantic shore 
 of North America. 
 
 The common edible herring of this state, haren 
 gus, is of an ash color, approximating a green- 
 ish blue : the belly and sides have a silvery hue ; 
 
150 SALMONIDES. 
 
 under jaw a trifle the longest ; head quite small. 
 When cured, they are unfortunately considered 
 inferior to the European. But this is a "mistake, 
 founded on prejudice. 
 
 The herring of this country, carefully preserv- 
 ed, is no wise inferior to those of other countries. 
 They are caught in variously constructed nets, in 
 most of the rivers and fresh water streams, which 
 are so connected with the sea that the tide wa- 
 ter sets several miles up their channels. 
 
 This tribe of fishes, so far as regards number, 
 if we credit the assertions of writers, very much 
 exceeds all others put together. In the northern 
 seas, inaccessible to many other beings, they have 
 an oceanic metropolis of their own, where they 
 multiply beyond all human computation.* 
 
 Nature seerns to have created them expressly 
 to become the food of the many monsters of the 
 deep ; as bread is the staff of life for man, so are 
 herring the food on which the unnumbered crea- 
 tures of the sea mainly depend. It has been com- 
 puted, that if a single herring were permitted to 
 
 * Pennant's idea of the migration of herring, to the Polar 
 Sea, is generally questioned by writers since his day ; but 
 circumstances to which it is unnecessary to allude here, in 
 conjunction with the testimony of navigators, in our humble 
 opinion, amply sustain his assertions. 
 
CLUPEA. 151 
 
 multiply in its characteristic manner, together with 
 its offspring, for twenty years, their united bodies 
 would ten times exceed the bulk of our globe ! ' 
 
 Although this may be considered a wild calcu- 
 lation, resting, however, on the authority of a for- 
 eign calculator, there is probably a nearer approx- 
 imation to truth, than we are ready, at first view, 
 to admit. 
 
 Herring are certainly anadromous, though their 
 migrations may have been over-rated. Their 
 taking, it is said, the regular circuit of the sea, gives 
 additional interest to their history. One immense 
 army leaves the polar regions, in the spring, equal- 
 ling in extent the whole surface of Great Britain. 
 
 As they advance, squadrons begin to separate 
 from the main body ; these average from four to 
 six miles in breadth, and in length, cannot be 
 measured by the eye. An astonishing representa- 
 tion arrives at the Shetland Islands, in June. By 
 September, England, Ireland and Scotland, are 
 surrounded by them. From these parts, the forces 
 move southwest, cross the atlantic, and make 
 their appearance on the coast of Georgia, about 
 the last of January ; detachments then begin to 
 move eastward, till, ultimately, the whole North 
 American seaboard is lined with them. 
 
 When the length of sea-coast bordering the Unit- 
 ed States is recollected, about three thousand 
 
152 SALMONIDES. 
 
 miles ; and it is also considered that millions 
 and millions are annually taken by the fishermen ; 
 and in connexion with these facts, it is admit- 
 ted that thousands are swallowed at a mouthful by 
 whales, several species of which follow the 
 herring in all its migrations, to destroy it ; the 
 havoc made on their phalanxes by other fishes 
 and marine monsters, and yet their numbers 
 appearing undiminished ; with all these facts, 
 can any man in his senses, doubt for a moment, 
 the relations of naturalists. 
 
 In direct opposition to the foregoing remarks, 
 the migratory character of the herring is ques- 
 tioned by some very late writers, who suppose it 
 remains through the winter at no great distance 
 from the shore, or plunges into the deepest parts 
 of the ocean, or burrows in the mud, to rise at the 
 spawning season. All this appears both unphilo- 
 sophic and irrational. 
 
 In the first place, herring are rarely caught at 
 sea, unless a shoal, pursued by a whale, drives 
 them out of their course. Moreover, it has been 
 asserted, that wherever found, they invariably 
 keep at a certain distance from the sun. 
 
 Secondly, they have not the organization for 
 living in mud or filth of any kind. Thirdly, they 
 are physically prevented from sinking into very 
 deep water, by the structure and development of 
 
CLUPEA. 153 
 
 the air-bladder. Their very form, viz. sharp 
 body, flat head, broad fins, and large air-sack, 
 shows most clearly that they were designed to run 
 near the surface, and to be always in mo- 
 tion. 
 
 We have therefore, much more confidence in 
 the relations of the old writers, on this subject, 
 than in modern upstart theorists. 
 
 Herring are supposed to feed on sea-worms, 
 and the young fry of such fishes as come in their 
 way. When taken from the water, they die in- 
 stantly, hence the vulgar proverb " dead as a 
 herring." 
 
 The herring fishery, as a source of industry and 
 wealth, has long since, in various kingdoms of Eu- 
 rope, been considered of national importance. 
 From the last of June till late in November, they 
 contain roe ; but after that period, begin to deposit 
 their spawn, and are then considered less whole- 
 some, and less valuable. 
 
 This fish, variously prepared, has been esteem- 
 ed, as an article of food, from the remotest anti- 
 quity. Holland, particularly, was the country in 
 which they most excelled in this fishery. Many 
 years since, it was supposed that rising of 150,000 
 persons, were devoted solely to the trade of tak- 
 ing and curing of herring. 
 
 One Guillaume Beuchel, a native of Brabant, in 
 
154 SALMONIDES. 
 
 the fourteenth century, discovered a mode of pick- 
 ling them, which was considered so remarkable, 
 and of so much importance, that the Emperor 
 Charles V., one hundred and fifty years after- 
 wards, honored his grave with his royal person, 
 and ate pickled herring on the green grass that 
 waved above his bones ! 
 
 Some idea may be formed of this branch of in- 
 dustry, abroad, by the following relations, viz. 
 Yarmouth, in England, is the herring mart of 
 Great Britain, at which place, upwards of sixty 
 thousand barrels are annually caught and cured. * 
 
 We are credibly informed, that eighty years ago, 
 four hundred thousand barrels were annually ex- 
 ported from different parts of Norway. Sweden 
 exports the oil of herring, to the quantity of 
 sixty or seventy thousand barrels yearly. This 
 fishery has been often called the Dutch Gold 
 
 *By the corporation charter of the city of Norwich, Eng- 
 land, the Mayor has to present to the King annually a herring 
 pie. This custom is necessarily practised up to the present 
 day. The pie has a standing crust, modeled in exact repre- 
 sentation of Norwich Castle, and filled with herring. 
 
 The origin of this clause in the charter, arose from 
 the fact, that the city, many centuries ago, now many miles 
 inland, was the port to which the fishermen brought their her- 
 ring, caught on the coast, but in consequence of the sea reced- 
 ing and new land forming, Yarmouth has grown into existence, 
 and now become the port to which the fish are brought and 
 cured, and Norwich has become an inland city. 
 
CLUPEA. 155 
 
 Mine, in allusion to the riches that nation has 
 drawn from it. 
 
 The law has been so well observed, as it re- 
 spects the curing and packing, in that country, 
 that their reputation has given them almost the 
 complete control of foreign markets. 
 
 The late Dr Mease, of Philadelphia, consider- 
 ed the subject of the herring fishery of such na- 
 tional interest, many years since, that he abridged 
 a pamphlet written by the Earl of Dundonald on 
 the subject, with a hope of awakening the people 
 of the United States to a realizing sense of the in-? 
 exhaustible source of wealth the ocean presented 
 in the herring fishery. 
 
 The Dutch law obliges the fishermen to sepa- 
 rate the herring caught in one night, from those 
 taken in another. None are allowed to be ship- 
 ped after the 15th of July. No herring are to 
 be sold on any consideration, till they have re- 
 mained ten days in pickle : and the law also 
 compels the fishermen to complete the curing pro- 
 cess, within three weeks after they arrive in port, 
 and lastly, to repack them. Salted in barrels 
 four barrels of salt are to be put to every twelve of 
 fish. The law even says they shall be packed alter- 
 nately, lengthivise and crosswise ; and lastly, no 
 salt but such as actually comes from St Ubes, shall 
 be used. 
 
156 SALMONIDES. 
 
 The laws both in England and Scotland, as they 
 regard the packing and sale, are exceedingly 
 strict, and even vexatious.* Massachusetts has 
 enacted many laws, from time to time, on the 
 same account ; but the Legislature has been par- 
 ticularly distinguished, in imitation of the moth- 
 er country, for enactments for the preservation 
 of species, as though the race were in danger 
 of being exterminated, unless immediately pro- 
 tected by the conservatory powers of the General 
 Court. 
 
 In Portugal, in order to encourage the rearing 
 of cattle, the law forbids the killing of calves or 
 the sale of veal ; and further declares that 
 eating eggs, is really detrimental to the raising of 
 poultry ! With a degree of wisdom, worthy of 
 Portugal, the English Parliament ordains that a 
 ship of war shall cruise among the fishermen 
 on the coast of Scotland, to preserve the breed of 
 herring ! The duty of the officers is specially to 
 inspect the nets, and to seize such as have meshes 
 less than one inch square, the object of the law 
 being intended to allow the little young ones to 
 make their escape ! In the " Philosophical Trans- 
 actions" for 1767, it is clearly stated, that the 
 average number of eggs in a herring, is 36,969. 
 
 * Appetits are half-cured herrings, prepared in France. 
 They are alsocalled bouffees, or swelled herrings. 
 
CLUPEA. 157 
 
 It is needless to advert to the many laws enact- 
 ed by the Legislature of this Commonwealth, for 
 the protection of the alewives in Taunton Great 
 'River ; as well as other species of edible fish, pecu- 
 liar to the rivers directly communicating with the 
 sea-board. 
 
 Such laws have never been, nor can they be, of 
 the least possible advantage ; the combined forces 
 of the United States, in battle array, could not les- 
 sen their apparent numbers, and it would be ut- 
 terly impossible to exterminate the species. 
 
 Therefore, all such protecting laws are perfect- 
 ly useless, unphilosophical, and at variance with 
 that grand scheme of nature which provides for 
 the necessities of all organized beings, and sustains 
 the existence of their species, under all changes, 
 incidents and circumstances.* 
 
 Such portions of the fishery laws as immediately 
 affect the process of curing, and punishes frauds 
 in the weight and sale, are both reasonable and 
 righteous. 
 
 Dams, break-waters, &ic. across rivers, are the 
 results of civilization, and fishes may forsake the 
 streams where they once instinctively deposited 
 their roes : but their loss is trifling, at any par- 
 ticular locality, when compared with the advanta- 
 
 * Du Cange mentions aquatia, the right of fishing three 
 days in the year, in the middle ages. 
 
158 SALMONIDES. 
 
 ges arising from the improvements of their solita 
 ry haunts. As animals recede before the inroads 
 of civil life, so do the fishes, and no human laws 
 can restrain them. 
 
 MENHADEN, BONY-FISH, HARD-HEAD, MARS- 
 BANKER, or PAUHAGEN, Clupea Menhaden. 
 All these mean the same fish. Perhaps the best 
 history of the menhaden, is that by Latrobe, in 
 the fifth volume of the Philadelphia Transactions. 
 The great whale, Balaena Mysticetus make them 
 a favorite food, 
 
 THE MENHADEN, 
 
 Dr Mitchell was informed by whalemen, that 
 when this monster gets into a shoal of menhaden, 
 his under jaw being spread, he gathers in several 
 hogsheads 'at a mouthful, which can only enter the 
 small swallow of the whale, one by one. In the 
 various bays and inlets of Massachusetts, such vast 
 shoals of the menhaden are taken, that besides be- 
 ing smoked for food, far greater numbers are dis- 
 tributed over the fields for manure. 
 
CLUPEA. 159 
 
 From July to the last of August, the borders 
 of the sea swarm with them. Lynn Bay, partic- 
 ularly, is said to be a favorite place of their resort. 
 
 The usual length of the menhaden, is from ten 
 to fourteen inches ; gill cover large ; one black- 
 ish spot on the neck, quite near the operculum ; 
 tail forked ; belly serrated ; back arched ; mouth 
 and tongue destitute of teeth ; color dusky, hav- 
 ing a slight shade of green ; gill membrane eight 
 rayed.* 
 
 As before remarked, the menhaden, amongst 
 the older class of fishermen, towards New Hamp- 
 
 * On a fine sunny sabbath, in 1831, a servant picked up a 
 very large pauhagan, in a gravel walk, at the top of a hill, 
 near the author's house, which was actively thrashing about 
 the small stones with its tail. He brought it into the kitchen 
 but in the course of his own examination, however, before 
 he arrived-, it appeared to be dead. It was severely wounded 
 in the side, as though it had been stabbed through and through 
 with a bodkin. Being put in a pan of water, to be washed, 
 it so happened that our attention was called another way, 
 for an hour or two, but to the great surprise of the house, the 
 fish was swimming about as well as the dimensions of the ves- 
 sel would allow. The same fish is now in our collection. In 
 the course of an hour, the servant discovered that a fi-h-hawk 
 was perched on a signal staff over the very spot where he 
 picked it up, with another in its talons. This explained the 
 mystery of its visit on dry land. Probably the hawk inadver- 
 tently dropped it, only a few moments after it was caught. 
 They are commonly used for bait in the inshore cod-fishery 
 and not for food, when fresh. 
 
160 SALMONIDES. 
 
 shire and Maine, bears the Indian name ofPauha- 
 gen, which it has been suggested in the notes upon 
 " gadus tom-codus" is the aboriginal appellation. 
 Yet the New York icthyologist expressly says that 
 menhaden is the name by which the aborigines 
 called " him." Notwithstanding this declaration, 
 we have good reasons for supposing that menhaden 
 is a corruption of pauhagen. However, the ori- 
 gin of the name is of little consequence, and there- 
 fore, we resign the field to those who may have 
 more leisure for the investigation. 
 
 SHAD, Clupea Alosa. This has a sloping 
 head ; body tapering towards the tail ; under jaw 
 longer than its fellow ; teeth small and sharp ; dor- 
 sal fin nearly in the centre, the middle rays the 
 longest ; pectoral and ventral fins quite small ; ab- 
 dornen sharp and serrated ; tail forked ; back a 
 dusky blue ; has a line of dark spots on each 
 side ; varying from four to ten. Another, called 
 the American shad, clupen capadissima, is without 
 spots ; has large scales ; snout not cloven. 
 
 The shad is a valuable fish, always commanding 
 a ready market in New England. It bears so much 
 resemblance, in general conformation, to the her- 
 ring, as to be called by the fishermen the mother 
 of herring. They are taken in surprising quanti- 
 ties, in most of the rivers visited by the herring. 
 
CLUPEA. 161 
 
 Though strongly resembling that fish in outward 
 appearance, it grows very much larger, being 
 generally more than a foot in length, but flat 
 and broad. On the northwest coast of America 
 they are inconceivably numerous. 
 
 The average weight is from five to eight pounds, 
 in the true fishing season. From the last of April 
 to the early part of July, they are ascending the 
 rivers for the purpose of depositing their spawn. 
 Among epicures the roes are considered a deli- 
 cacy, far superior to the fish itself. The price 
 they sometimes bear in the market, before they 
 begin to run, is truly enormous. 
 
 This fish, as well as many others of the family 
 to which it belongs, is organized for breathing 
 either fresh or salt water, though it seems it 
 cannot propagate if confined exclusively to either. 
 In most of the rivers visited by the herring, the 
 shad is successfully taken, in large nets, supported 
 on the surface by a series of buoys. 
 
 The shad fishery of the Connecticut river, has 
 been a source of great wealth and prosperity to 
 the proprietors on its banks, from Saybrook far 
 into the interior* of Massachusetts. Many years 
 since two hundred and ninetysix seines were 
 counted, between Saybrook and Hartford; it is 
 probable there were a number farther up. 
 
 One man remarked that he once caught thir- 
 11 
 
162 SALMONIDES. 
 
 tysix barrels of shad, at his locality, at one haul. 
 Some idea may be formed, from these statements, 
 of the incredible number which were annually ta- 
 ken in the Connecticut in former times. All the 
 smaller rivers have their quota, in the fishing sea- 
 son. 
 
 The Merrimac, Medford, Connecticut, Nepon- 
 set, &c., are amongst the principal rivers in Mas- 
 sachusetts, in which this fish was taken in such 
 quantities as to make the fishery a decidedly pecu- 
 niary object. 
 
 ALEWIFE, Clupea Vernalis. This fish seems 
 to hold a place between the shad and herring, 
 having the general characteristics of both. Its 
 habits bear a striking similarity to those two fish- 
 es, inasmuch as it ascends rivers to deposit its 
 spawn, and retires again to the ocean. 
 
 Although caught in vast abundance at many 
 places in the Commonwealth, Taunton river has 
 been the most distinguished for the alewife fishery. 
 Judge Davis informs us, in an obliging note, that 
 the "alewife," or, as our law r s very carefully ex- 
 press it "fish called the alewife" is doubtless 
 of the genus clupea. 
 
 In the list of New England fishes, in the third 
 volume of Dr Belknap's History of New Hamp- 
 shire, it is denominated clupea serrata. In the 
 
 
 
CLUPEA. 163 
 
 preparation of that list, the late Rev. Dr Cutler 
 was consulted, and we believe Professor Peck, al- 
 so. The specific names of three of the genus 
 
 THE ALEW1FZ. 
 
 clupea, are inserted in a different character from 
 those, whose specific names had been previously 
 established : Serrata is one of the new names. 
 The common name is so universal, and of such 
 long standing, that the usual adjunct, "so catted" 
 may well be omitted. " It is derived, probably, 
 from Alosa, the specific name of its congener, the 
 shad." 
 
 " I have been led to think that the term ale- 
 wife, applied to this fish, was framed by our an- 
 cestors, having reference to the shad ; espe- 
 cially as the Plymouth Pilgrims had heard of it 
 in Holland, and by the old English term, oldiuife. 
 It is, I believe, a fish peculiar to our country : the 
 streams in and about Plymouth, are full of them, 
 in their season." 
 
 There is no inlet -of fresh water, to the sea, vis- 
 
164 SALMONIDES. 
 
 ited by the shad and herring, that is not also the re- 
 sort of the alewife. Vast quantities are pickled, 
 smoked, Stc.both for home and foreign consump- 
 tion. 
 
 It has been suggested, that alewife is derived 
 from the " Indian word aloof signifying a bony 
 fish. 
 
 BRET, or BRIT, Clupea Minima. Probably 
 this is the fish mentioned by Dr Belknap. It is 
 very small and delicate, seldom exceeding more 
 than one inch and a half, having a black back, and 
 silvery scales on the sides. The median line is 
 straight, and near the spine. The pectoral fins 
 are large, made up of ten rays, flexible, like a 
 brush, and near the gills. Ventral fins three 
 two posterior to the vent, and a single one near the 
 tail. 
 
 There is but one dorsal fin, directly opposite 
 the posterior ventral: the caudal, contains from 
 fourteen to eighteen soft rays ; gill cover in one 
 broad plate, having a line that, at first sight, ap- 
 pears to divide it into two pieces. 
 
 The eye is full, and the under jaw a little the 
 longest. Although this appears like a fish in min- 
 iature, it is very beautiful. Prepared as the an- 
 chovies are, there is every reason to suppose they 
 would be equally prized for the table. Shoals 
 
ESOX. 165 
 
 of them are driven about by the mackerel in July 
 
 and August. 
 
 FAMILY III. ESOCES. 
 
 GEN. ESOX. 
 
 COMMON PIKE, Pickerel, Esox Lucius.* 
 With a few exceptions the body has an olive 
 shade, considerably dark on the back ; but the 
 sides, in particular positions, show waving lines, 
 delicately mottled with dark spots. The under 
 jaw is a trifle the longest. All the intermaxillary 
 bones, palate and tongue, are studded with minute 
 teeth ; some of them, however, bordering the 
 edges, are considerably developed. 
 
 THE PIKE. 
 
 It has but one dorsal fin, directly opposite the 
 anal, and both have thirteen rays. In this 
 country, as in Europe, it varies from six inches 
 
 * In England young pike are called Pickers, when half 
 grown Jack, and at full growth, Pike. 
 
166 ESOCES. 
 
 to several feet in length, and is taken in the rivers, 
 lakes, &c, throughout the United States. In Mas- 
 sachusetts it rarely exceeds two feet. 
 
 Their digestive machinery is quite curious- 
 ly constructed. When young, in England, meas- 
 uring about one foot, they are called Jacks. When 
 of this size they are splendidly shaded with 
 green and yellow spots ; as they grow older, how- 
 ever, the brilliancy of the coloring is lost, and 
 they even have a dingy hue and in extreme 
 age, become of a metallic complexion. Young 
 water-fowls, frogs, and indeed every living creature 
 which they can master, they never hesitate to 
 seize upon. 
 
 They are usually caught with a bait made of a 
 small fish. The flesh is white and nutritious, and 
 on the whole, it is one of the best table fishes in 
 New-England, but only a comparatively small 
 number find their way to the Boston market. In 
 the western part of the state they occasionally at- 
 tain the length of two feet and a half. 
 
 Dr Williams, author of the History of Vermont, 
 informs us that the pike in that state bears the 
 name of muschilongtz. Lake Champlain abounds 
 with them, of immense size and length. The 
 Doctor says they are easily speared, a common 
 mode of taking them all over New England. 
 
ESOX. 167 
 
 From the lakes, specimens are produced, weigh- 
 ing forty pounds and six feet long. 
 
 The pike of this country does not differ, essen- 
 tially, from the pike of Europe. If there is any 
 difference, it is solely referable to the color, 
 which we have remarked, varies with the age, 
 and probably too, with the quality of the water in 
 which they reside. 
 
 This fish, when well grown, seems to delight 
 in clear water, near some stone or root, where it will 
 remain hours together, if not frightened; in this 
 situation, it is a common sport to shoot them with 
 a rifle. 
 
 In illustration of their voracious character, we 
 have selected the following facts from different 
 authors. 
 
 In Germany, a mule, in the act of drinking, at 
 a river, was seized by a huge pike, which fastened 
 on its nose, and nearly succeeded in drowning the 
 poor beast. Though the mule, by struggling, aid- 
 ed by the driver, got its nose out of the water, the 
 pike -kept its hold and was drawn on shore and 
 killed. A little girl, not many years since, in dip- 
 ping water from a pond, was attacked by one of 
 these violent creatures, which dreadfully lacera- 
 ted her arm. 
 
 They not only become extremely despotic in 
 
168 ESOCES. 
 
 ponds, destroying all other fishes, frogs, &c. but 
 under circumstances of hunger, swallow each oth- 
 er. Pennant mentions an instance of one that was 
 actually choked to death, in trying to swallow one 
 of its own species. 
 
 This is an unnatural trait of character, it being 
 an exceedingly rare occurrence that any family of 
 animals feed upon its kindred. Male crocodiles 
 destroy the young ones when they are first hatch- 
 ed, and so do sharks and swine, but such an 
 act seems to depend upon constitutional cir- 
 cumstances which we are unable to explain. 
 Even water rats, are driven away from the pike 
 waters. 
 
 According to Block, it increases more rapidly 
 than any other fish with which we are acquaint- 
 ed. In the first year, it grows, in Europe, from 
 eight to ten inches ; in the second, from twelve 
 to fourteen ; and the third year, to eighteen or 
 twenty. . 
 
 It is inferred that they are very aged, when 
 they arrive at the amazing length of six feet, a 
 circumstance by no means uncommon, in the 
 northern lakes, in England, Germany and Po- 
 land. 
 
 Rzaczynshi mentions a pike that was ninety 
 years of age ; and Gesner relates, that one was 
 taken near Hailbrun, in Suabia, in 1479, with a 
 
ESOX. 169 
 
 broken ring attached to it, importing that it was 
 placed in the lake in 1230 giving it the wonder- 
 ful longevity of two hundred and fortynine years. 
 The very ring is still kept at Manheim. 
 
 Many years since an old pike siezed the head 
 of a swan, in Lord Gower's canal, and gorged so 
 much of it, that both the fish and the majestic bird 
 were killed. Combats have been witnessed be- 
 tween two of them. 
 
 In a well stocked pond on a gentleman's estate, 
 in England, one single pike, in about one year, 
 became sole lord of the water, having completely 
 devoured every fish. 
 
 The pike-ponds of Poland have been sources 
 of immense profit, in former times, to the proprie- 
 tors, and might be so in the vicinity of any of our 
 large towns. One acre of poor land, turned into 
 a pond, and stocked with pickerel, would yield 
 more income to the owner, than the produce of 
 six acres of cultivated land. 
 
 We entertain the hope that some attention will 
 be paid to this sure source of domestic economy, 
 by the Horticultural Society of Boston, who by 
 offering premiums, might bring this delightful fish 
 in considerable plenty, into our markets. 
 
 There have been several laws enacted, from 
 time to time, by the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
 for protecting pickerel, and specifying the time 
 
170 ESOCES. 
 
 when it may legally be fished for. Nothing can 
 be more absurd than the whole course of legisla- 
 tion on this subject. Look at the statute book, 
 and the reader will find as many unphilosophical 
 and absurd restrictions, on man's natural propen- 
 sity for angling, as ever were printed ; and man- 
 ifestly at variance with the design of our Creator. 
 No other confirmation of this remark is necessary, 
 beside the total disregard in which the edicts are 
 held by all classes of citizens. 
 
 The money which has been actually expended 
 in legislating on the " Alewives in Taunton Great 
 River" would have constructed a monument of 
 their bones, as high as the incipient granite me- 
 mento on Bunker Hill, which would have been 
 more marvellous, and decidedly of as much utility 
 as anything the operation of the laws have effect- 
 ed for the Taunton Great River alewives. 
 
 The fisheries in China are free to all ; there are 
 no- restrictions on any of the great rivers, lakes or 
 canals. The subject of the protection of the fish- 
 eries is not once mentioned in the Leu-lee, but 
 the heavy duties on salt, renders the use of salt 
 fish, in China, an article of food almost unknown : 
 beside nets, the line, and spear, the ingenious peo- 
 ple of that country have a peculiar method offish- 
 ing with the Cormorant, pelicanus piscator, which 
 extends all over the empire. The bird is taught 
 
ESOX 171 
 
 while young, to dive for the fish, which it would 
 greedily swallow, were it not for a metallic ring 
 slipped over the neck, which holds the fish in the 
 throat, so that the man in the boat, pulls it out and 
 suffers the bird to dive again.* 
 
 The cormorant will catch bushels a day, in this 
 manner, being taught to swim towards its master, 
 to deliver the burden. In other parts, it is a very 
 common practice, to take fish by torch light, as is 
 practised in spearing eels, suckers, &tc. in the in- 
 terior of New England. But they have one more 
 curious and successful mode, which does not seem 
 to have been copied anywhere, which is this : a 
 white painted board, highly varnished, is fixed 
 along the outside edge of the boat, with another 
 inside, so that both are like the roof of a house. 
 In moon-light, the board reflects the rays into 
 the water, in such a manner, as to induce the fish 
 to spring toward it, supposing it a sheet of moving 
 water, and thus they fairly leap over the ridgepole 
 into the boat. 
 
 The boldness and voracity of the pike are so 
 extraordinary, that it may with propriety be term- 
 
 * Oviedo Gomaro, as well as other writers, have testified to 
 the fact, that the Indians of the Antilles, had the art of taming 
 a species of sea-fish, and employed them in pursuing others. 
 Its size was small, and in their dialect, called guaican, and by 
 the Spaniards, reverso. Mr Clinton says Oviedo explains the 
 manner in which they conducted the process. 
 
172 ESOCES. 
 
 ed the river shark. Instances have been known of 
 its seizing the hands of people who attempted to 
 grasp them while in the water ; of their devour- 
 ing fish whose size was nearly equal to their own ; 
 and shortly after yielding to the temptation of 
 the angler ; and that, even while their intestines 
 were lacerated and corroded by hooks and wires, 
 which they had previously broken and swal- 
 lowed. 
 
 A single large pike has sometimes depopulated, 
 in a very brief space, a well stocked pond, where 
 it was permitted to commit its ravages with im- 
 punity ; and not confining its attacks to the in- 
 habitants of its native element, has drawn ducks, 
 and other water-fowls under, which had incautious- 
 ly ventured within reach. 
 
 This fish is no less remarkable for its tenacity 
 of life, after being removed from the water, than its 
 vigor while in it snapping at objects presented 
 to it for a long time after it is caught, with as 
 much eagerness as if it were still at liberty. 
 
 A gentleman was once angling for pike, and 
 succeeded in taking a very large one, at which 
 time he was encountered by a shepherd and his 
 dog ; he made the man a present of the fish, and 
 while engaged in clearing his tackle, he saw the 
 dog, who had for some time been expressing his 
 satisfaction by the most unequivocal signs, seat 
 
ESOX. 173 
 
 himself unsuspectingly with his tail at a tempting 
 proximity to the jaws of the pike, which suddenly 
 caught at it. 
 
 It would be impossible to express the terror of 
 the dog, on finding such an appendage thus 
 en-tailed upon him he ran in every direction to 
 free himself, but in vain, and at last plunged into 
 the stream as a last resource, but this was equal- 
 ly fruitless. The hair had become so entangled in 
 the fish's teeth, that it could not release its hold ; 
 accordingly, he struggled over to the opposite side, 
 now above, and now below the surface. 
 
 Having landed, the dog made for his master's 
 cottage with all haste, where he was at length 
 freed from his unwilling persecutor ; yet, notwith- 
 standing the fatigue the latter had endured, he ac- 
 tually seized and sunk its teeth into a stick which 
 was used to force open its jaws. 
 
 The pike lives to a great age, and attains an 
 uncommon size, if unmolested. One of the largest 
 probably ever taken, was found on drawing a pool 
 near Newport, England, that had not been fished 
 in for many years ; its weight was over one hun- 
 dred and seventy pounds. Another was taken in 
 Lough-Carrib, Ireland, weighing over seventy 
 pounds. In Persia, they attain a greater size 
 than in any other country. 
 
174 ESOCES. 
 
 Pike spawn in March or April. During the 
 height of the season their colors are extremely 
 brilliant, being green diversified with bright yellow- 
 spots ; at the close of the season the green fades 
 to a greyish hue ; and the yellow spots become 
 faint and indistinct. In the sultry hours of sum- 
 mer they are frequently to be seen dormant near 
 the surface ; in which situation they are some- 
 times taken by means of a noose of wire fastened 
 to a pole, ten or twelve feet long ; the wire is 
 slowly passed over the head and branchial fins, 
 when the fish is landed by a sudden, strongjerk. 
 
 The pike is partial to still, shaded water, where 
 it is not liable to be disturbed, and thrives better 
 in still water than running streams. Towards 
 winter it retires under banks which are over- 
 shadowed by bushes, stumps of trees, old roots, 
 and other objects which afford shelter and a bask- 
 ing place. 
 
 Its appearance in ponds where none were 
 ever placed, has been thought by some extraordi- 
 nary ; but we may easily account foe. this, by well 
 known data respecting the generation of fishes. In 
 these cases it is probable the ova were swal- 
 lowed by some aquatic fowl, and subsequently 
 ejected into those ponds, as plants are known 
 to have been produced, from a similar dissemina- 
 tion. 
 
ESOX. 175 
 
 A gentleman in the north of England, who was 
 as enthusiastic in regard to the " gentle craft," as 
 old Izaak Walton himself; on reading an account 
 of some species of sea-birds being trained to bring 
 home to their masters the fish caught during the 
 day, was struck with the idea of trying a similar 
 plan with the domestic water-fowl. 
 
 Having a considerable sheet of water near his 
 residence, he procured a large goose, and having 
 attached a line about three fathoms in length, with 
 a hook suitably baited, to one of its legs ; he placed 
 it in the water, to swim round at its pleasure, 
 while he remained on the bank anxiously watch- 
 ing the success of his experiment. 
 
 After half an hour or more of expectation, he 
 was gratified by hearing a loud cry from his feath- 
 ered assistant, which in great alarm at the part it 
 was so suddenly made to perform, was wheeling, 
 diving, and screaming at a ludicrous rate ; now 
 making an involuntary sub-marine excursion, and 
 anon striving in vain to abandon the regions of wa- 
 ter for those of air. 
 
 The contest between the fish and its captor, 
 lasted a considerable time, the latter using every 
 exertion to gain the shore, and the former mani- 
 festing an invincible repugnance to accompany him. 
 The issue seemed long doubtful, but finally, after 
 a severe struggle, during which every inch of 
 
176 ESOCES. 
 
 ground, (or rather water,) was bravely lost and 
 won, victory declared in favor of the goose, who 
 triumphantly landed with an uncommon large pike 
 in his train. 
 
 After this, the gentleman was in the habit of 
 taking his basket and book, and reclining on the 
 bank, amused himself with reading, while he sent 
 his novel purveyor upon the lake to catch, or be 
 caught, as might happen. 
 
 The goose, after a capture, apprised him by its 
 cries, and made straight for the bank, where he 
 stood ready to assist in securing it. In this curious 
 manner, he seldom failed of replenishing his bas- 
 ket and enjoying additional sport, with far less 
 trouble than required by the usual method. 
 
 GEN. BELONE. 
 
 SEA-PIKE, Esox B clone. This is known by 
 the name of spit-fish, and gar-fish, but in New 
 England, particularly, as the bill-fish, in allusion to 
 its long snout. 
 
 Occasionally, sea-pike have been found on the 
 beaches two feet and a half in length. The un- 
 der jaw is the longest by about half an inch, and 
 both are bordered by a. single row of sharp, nee- 
 dle-like teeth. On the back are two dorsal fins, 
 with a furcated tail ; the genera color is a bright 
 green, except the fins, which are tinged with a faint 
 
BELONE. 177 
 
 red. Specimens are frequently brought from the 
 West Indies, called the Barracauda pike, having 
 all the external appearances of the one living on 
 this coast, with this difference, that it varies 
 
 THE SKA PIKE. 
 
 from five to eight feet in length and the bones, 
 in preparing it for a natural skeleton, be- 
 come green. There is another, spoken of by 
 Base, esox viridis, but it is not the Barracauda, 
 nor the bill-fish of Massachusetts, though the 
 bones of the latter become greenish on exposure 
 to the sun. 
 
 The head of a young sea-pike from Trinidad, 
 presented the writer by a seaman, the jaws of 
 which are seven inches from the tip to the articu- 
 lation, had a body six feet long. Though vora- 
 cious and active, it is much esteemed by some for 
 food. The sea-pike, however, may be consider- 
 ed scarce in these waters. 
 
 We are assured by foreign writers, many of 
 12 
 
178 ESOCES. 
 
 whom have figured them, that the becuna, and 
 aureo-viriJis, are natives of this country. 
 
 GEN. MESOGASTER. 
 
 FLYING-FISH, Exocetus Mesogaster. The 
 body has a bright, silvery, metallic lustre ; the pec- 
 toral fins, or wings, are narrower and larger than 
 those of the Mediterranean. In the middle of the 
 abdomen are the ventral fins. 
 
 In length, they vary from three to eight inches, 
 but are rarely seen, except in the heat of sum- 
 mer. We have various specimens, which flew on 
 board a vessel about six hours sail from land, on 
 the coast of Massachusetts. 
 
 THE FLYING FISH. 
 
 Such is the length and fan-like breadth of the 
 pectoral fins, that the fishes of this genus have the 
 power of rising out of the water, and flying seve- 
 ral hundred feet in a right line. This, however, 
 it is supposed, they seldom attempt, unless to es- 
 
CYPRIN ID^E. 179 
 
 cape from a pursuing enemy. Within the tropics 
 they are numerous ; on this coast inward-bound 
 vessels frequently find them on deck in the night. 
 Sea-birds prey upon the flying fish, and the dolphin, 
 it is reported, when it rises from its natural 
 element, to escape the jaws of the pursuing adver- 
 sary, keeps onward, well knowing that it will 
 soon strike the water again. This is the hirando 
 of the ancients. 
 
 FAMILY IV. CYPRINID7E. 
 
 The family of carps, is distinguished by not pos- 
 sessing an adipose fin ; by a small mouth and 
 weak jaws, destitute of teeth. The pharyngeal 
 bones perform the office of teeth. The branchial 
 rays are few ; the body scaly ; the intestines 
 short, and without caecums. They have" a swim- 
 ming bladder divided into two sacks, somewhat 
 like an hour-glass, and live in fresh water, being 
 harmless, inoffensive, and quiet inhabitants. 
 
 In the United States we have not yet discover- 
 ed the true carp of Europe, which is so extensive- 
 ly bred in pleasure grounds. Usually it grows to 
 twelve and eighteen inches, but in the stagnant 
 waters of Persia still larger. It is generally sup- 
 posed to have been carried to England about 
 1514. The quantity of roes extruded by the fe- 
 
180 CYPRINID^E. 
 
 male, far exceeds the weight of her body. It is 
 also believed that they may live to more than two 
 hundred years. 
 
 Though denominated the ivise, on account 
 of its sagacity, yet in the spawning season it will 
 allow the angler to tickle its sides, and is thus 
 easily captured by hand. The sale of carp has 
 constituted a part of the revenues of the nobility 
 and gentry in Prussia, Pomerania, Brandenburg, 
 Saxony, Bohemia, Mechlenburg and Holstein, 
 in all of which places, the rearing of this fish is re- 
 garded with peculiar interest. We do not know 
 why carp may not be introduced and naturalized 
 here, and become as great a source of profit. 
 
 There are basins of water in every direction, in 
 the immediate vicinity of Boston, of no kind of 
 use whatever, at present, that might become 
 most valuable appendages to an estate, by stock- 
 ing them with pickerel or carp. 
 
 GEN. CTPRINUS. 
 
 GOLDEN CARP, Cyprinus Auratus. The 
 gold fish was introduced into this country, many 
 years since, from England, especially for orna- 
 ment. It is a native of China, in the province of 
 Chekyang ; and persons of distinction, all over 
 the Celestial Empire, rear them in vases, some of 
 which are very costly. 
 
CYPRINUS. 181 
 
 The gold-fish has become climated in the north 
 ern states, and may be found in various places in 
 Massachusetts.* There is a pond in Brookline, 
 in which beautiful specimens may be seen, cours- 
 ing along the margin. 
 
 As it is customary in towns to keep gold-fish in 
 glass vessels, as parlor ornaments, it may be use- 
 ful to remark, that the water should be changed 
 daily, without failure. If tar, or the staves of tar- 
 barrels are burned in the room, it is very danger- 
 ous to the fish ; the lighting of a brimstone match 
 is also very liable to kill them. 
 
 The best kind of food, extensively prepared in 
 Canton, and sold in the shops, is a mixture of flour 
 paste, mixed with the yolks of hard boiled eggs. 
 
 * In Venezuela, there is a curiously formed little fish, call- 
 ed carribi, extremely annoying to bathers. These are never 
 more than three or four inches in length, and are shaped like 
 a gold-fish, which they also resemble in the brilliant orange 
 hue of their scales. Although they are so small, their ex- 
 ceeding voracity, and the incalculable numbers in which 
 they swarm, render them very dangerous. They are, indeed, 
 to the. full as much dreaded, if not more so, by a Banero, than 
 the cayman. Their mouth is very large in proportion to 
 their size, and opens much in the same manner as a bullet- 
 mould. It is furnished with broad sharp teeth, like those of a 
 shark in miniature ; so that wherever they bite, they take 
 away a piece of flesh. When once either man or beast is at- 
 tacked by them, they will strip the limb of flesh in a surpris- 
 ingly short time ; for the taste of the blood spreading in the 
 water collects them in myriads. Campaigns and Cruises in 
 Venezuela. 
 
182 CYPRINID^E. 
 
 The Chinese Jugglers teach them to rise and 
 fall in the water, at their bidding. 
 
 The silver-fish, or silver-carp, is found in the 
 same waters with the red ; indeed, in stocking 
 the pond with the true gold-fish, in the course of a 
 few generations silver-colored individuals make 
 their appearance. To what circumstance this is 
 owing we are not able to explain . 
 
 SHINER, Cyprinus Crysolencas. Among the 
 fresh water fishes, this is one of the smallest. 
 Though we have seen individuals two inches in 
 length, they are oftener less than one. They are 
 a beautifully proportioned, shining little fish 
 the prey of their larger neighbors, and the sport of 
 school-boys, who angle for them with a crooked 
 pin. 
 
 MINOW, Cyprinus Atronasus. This is an- 
 other of the lilliputian fishes, scarcely exceeding an 
 inch in length. It may be seen in shoals in all 
 the little brooks over New England. 
 
 CHUB, Cyprinus Ottongus [Philadelphia, 
 ofBelknap.] In the clear rivers and rivulets in 
 the western sections of Massachusetts, this beauti- 
 ful fish is quite common. It is taken with a hook 
 baited with the angle-worm. In winter, it may be 
 
COBITIS. 183 
 
 caught through the ice, by baiting with cheese and 
 Venice turpentine. 
 
 The head is large, the back of a dusky green, 
 the sides silvery, the abdomen white, the pectoral 
 fins yellowish, and the ventrals and anals tinged 
 with red. This fish seems to be very timid, and 
 the angler therefore, in fixing himself in a good po- 
 sition, over some deep hole, where the chub con- 
 ceals itself under the projecting long roots of trees, 
 is obliged to move very cautiously, or he will fright- 
 en it away. For the table, the chub would be 
 considered very excellent, were it not for the mil- 
 lions of little bones. They are frequently eight 
 and ten inches long. 
 
 GEN. COBITIS. 
 
 SUCKER, CyprinusTeres. [Catastomus]. From 
 the earliest period of boyhood, we have been fa- 
 miliar with the fresh water sucker, a lazy, still fish 
 of a dingy color, with mouth very like that of the 
 lamprey eel, being constituted of a semi-cartilagi- 
 nous ring, at the extremity of a short elastic sack, 
 as it were, under the jaws ; it appears, on close 
 examination, as though the skin from the tip of 
 the snout, was drawn down under the tip of the 
 under jaw, and a hoop set in the thus elongated 
 tube. 
 
 It basks in the hot sun, fastened by the mouth 
 
184 < CYPRIN1D.E. 
 
 to a stone or root, along a muddy bottom, heading 
 towards the stream. Is this not similar to the 
 loche of Europe ? Where it is not often disturb- 
 ed it attains the length of a foot and a half, 
 weighing one or two pounds. It is a favorite sport 
 of country lads to follow a rivulet and spear them 
 by torch-light. As food, they are not very much 
 prized. 
 
 Mr Bruce, the keeper of the Boston light-house, 
 has politely forwarded a strange fish which he 
 found in a lobster pot, that was unknown to him 
 or any of the fishermen in his service, which has 
 a mouth precisely like the fish above described ; 
 but the body, instead of being round, is quite thin 
 and wide, back of the gills. The color is silvery, 
 mottled with dark waving lines. It is in length 
 about ten inches, and appropriately denomina- 
 ted the sea-sucker. 
 
 GEN. ABRAMIS. 
 
 BREAM, Abramis Chrysoptera. Commonly 
 the bream in this part of the country is small, not 
 exceeding seven or eight inches. The body is 
 slender, sides silvery, the abdomen tinged with 
 red ; and the anal fin has fortyone rays. 
 
LEUCISCUS. 185 
 
 GEN. LEUCISCUS. 
 
 ROACH, Leudscus Rutilus. This fish inhab- 
 its the larger class of rivers, and is very excellent 
 for the table. The body seems to be compressed ; 
 the scales are of considerable size, the fins 
 tinged with red ; the dorsal opposite the ventrals, 
 and the tail slightly forked. Occasionally they 
 weigh a pound. 
 
 DACE, or DARE, Leudscus Vulgaris. This 
 little fish is known wherever the others are. Elev- 
 en rays are found in the anal fin, and ten in the 
 dorsal ; the length is from six to eight inches. 
 
 These are the usual kinds of fish taken in the 
 rivers in the interior of New Hampshire, Vermont, 
 and Massachusetts, this side' of Connecticut river. 
 Prof. Hitchcock, of Arnherst College, has polite- 
 ly forwarded to us, specimens of the ivhite and red 
 dace, which appear to be very common in that 
 vicinity. 
 
 We have not been able to procure any that ex- 
 ceed eight inches. Small as they are, they are 
 exceedingly delicate and well tasted. We enter- 
 tain the hope of having an opportunity of investi- 
 gating the fresh water fishes of the interior, in a 
 more particular essay, hereafter. 
 
 BLEAK, Leudscus Alburnus. This, too, is 
 
186 SI LURID J3. 
 
 a small fish, rarely exceeding six inches. The 
 eyes are large with a blood-red spot on the lower 
 side ; the body is broad and flat ; the color of the 
 back is an olive green ; fins pale ; the lower jaw a 
 little longer than the upper. In the anal fin are 
 twenty one rays. 
 
 SHORT-CHUB, Leuciscus Cephalus. In the 
 western and northwestern part of the state the chub 
 is quite common. The body is plump and silvery 
 with a tinge of blue ; the head is chubby, and the 
 snout rounded ; the scales pretty large and angular ; 
 fins a kind of iron rust color, the tail slightly blue ; 
 the anal fin has fourteen rays. 
 
 FAMILY V. SILURIDJE. 
 
 In this family there is a want of scales, the 
 body being covered with a leathery skin which se- 
 cretes an unctuous slime. The swimming bladder 
 is Attached to a particular bony contrivance, quite 
 curious in its functions. There are cirri, or long 
 feelers as they are termed by anglers, on the 
 margin of the lips ; and there is one ray like a 
 thorn on the anterior edge of the pectoral fins. 
 
 This family is widely spread in the rivers 
 of America. Pout, horn-pout, bull-head, si- 
 lurusfelio, &c., are the vulgar names by whic 
 
SILURUS. 187 
 
 the individuals of the genus silurus are known in 
 New England. In the great western rivers the 
 cat-fish, often eight feet in length, is nothing more 
 nor less than a mammoth horn-pout. Writers 
 speak of them as the largest fresh water fishes of 
 Europe. They are slow, sluggish, and seem to 
 have a predilection for dark, muddy waters, in 
 which vermin abound. 
 
 Few exceed a foot in length, in the northern 
 states ; oftener they are much short of that. In 
 bays where, by the rise of rivers, they get intro- 
 duced, they breed very fast, and bushels of them 
 are sometimes raked out of very small pools. 
 
 They are exceedingly tenacious of life ; their 
 vitality is so low, and their constitution so pecu- 
 liar, that they may be partially frozen without de- 
 struction. The past winter the writer, by acci- 
 dent, left two pouts in a small tin pail, in an upper 
 apartment of the City Hall, in the month of De- 
 cember, during a severely cold night ; and in the 
 morning they were found frozen closely in the 
 ice.- 
 
 After being exposed to the warmth of a 
 stove with reference to emptying the vessel, to 
 our utter amazement the fishes revived, and are 
 now the tenants of a cistern in Battery March 
 Street. 
 
 It was suggested by Bloch that the loche, 
 placed in a vessel of water, would be a very good 
 
188 SILURID^E. 
 
 barometer, as it becomes uneasy when stormy 
 weather approaches, putting its lips above the 
 surface, as though gasping for air. We are in 
 doubt, whether the pout should be placed in the 
 genus cobitis, or in the place now assigned. At 
 all events, the same uneasiness may be observed 
 in the pout, on the approach of a change of 
 weather. 
 
 GEN. SILURUS. 
 
 At the moment of writing this article, Saturday 
 evening, February 22d, we have before us, in a 
 tumbler of water, a little fish of the genus silurus, 
 only an inch and a half in length, taken this morn- 
 ing from the nose of an aqueduct pump, in Blos- 
 som Street ; it must, therefore, have come from 
 Jamaica Pond, in Roxbury, about six miles through 
 the logs. 
 
 The mouth is somewhat like the broad jaws of 
 the frog ; the eye is large and bright, the body 
 thick, through the pectoral fins ; the abdomen 
 whitish ; the back and sides a dark olive, and from 
 the lips eight cirri, or feelers shoot out ; four un- 
 der the mouth, two over the rim of the upper lip, 
 and one at each angle of the mouth, larger and 
 longer than the others. With these it is enabled 
 to catch small fishes that dart towards them, mis- 
 taking them for worms, as the pout lies quietly 
 eyeing its game. 
 
S1LURUS. 189 
 
 In this respect its habits bear a striking resem- 
 blance to the sturgeon. There are two species in 
 this vicinity ; the one having but one dorsal fin and 
 the other an adipose, or second high feathery dor- 
 sal, quite near the tail. The one before us has 
 this second soft fin and two more cirri ; the other 
 has but six of those appendages. 
 
 THE HORN POUT. 
 
 These fishes are not much admired for the ta- 
 ble ; still they are very tolerable food. Some- 
 times they are sought particularly for the sick, it 
 being supposed the flesh is remarkably easy of di- 
 gestion. In taking them from the hook, which they 
 very readily seize with almost any kind of bait, 
 there is danger of being wounded by the pectoral 
 thorn, which is kept at a right angle with the bo- 
 dy, as a weapon of defence. 
 
 The truly enormous size to which they attain 
 in the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, may well excite 
 the astonishment of travellers. Dr Joshua B. 
 Flint, of Boston, an accurate naturalist, remarked 
 
190 GADITES. 
 
 to us, that during his passage up the Mississippi 
 he had seen them six, seven and eight feet in 
 length. The farther south we examine the rivers, 
 the larger they appear to grow. 
 
 ORDER VII. MALACOPTERYGII 
 SUBRACHIATI. 
 
 FAMILY I. GADITES. 
 
 IN this family, the ventral fins are fixed under the 
 throat, and considerably pointed ; the body is cov- 
 ered with soft scales, the head, however, being 
 without them ; all the fins are soft ; teeth in many 
 unequal rows, like a rasp, and the branchial 
 openings have seven rays. Usually, all the fam- 
 ily have two, and sometimes three dorsal fins, and 
 a distinct caudal. The air-bladder is large. 
 
 GEN. MORRHUA, 
 
 COMMON COD, Gadus Morrhua. In the gill 
 membrane are seven flexible rays ; the head tol- 
 erably smooth ; body covered with loose scales ; 
 generally, in all the species found at the north ; 
 ventral fins very soft and slender. 
 
 We consider it unnecessary to enter into a mi- 
 
MORRHUA. 191 
 
 nute description of a fish so universally known as 
 the most valuable production of the sea to man. 
 The cod abounds on the whole coast of Massachu- 
 setts, but flourishes in the greatest vigor and abun- 
 dance still further north. 
 
 Indeed, the cod-fishery, as adverted to in the 
 preliminary essay on the importance of the fishe- 
 ries, in the commencement of this volume, has be- 
 come a business of national importance not only to 
 this, but in fact to many other countries, contrib- 
 uting alike to the support and prosperity of mil- 
 lions of people. Several towns in Massachusetts 
 are wholly indebted to this interesting branch of 
 industry for their wealth and increasing commer- 
 cial importance. 
 
 The cod is gregarious, going in immense armies 
 from place to place, but remaining certain parts 
 of the season at particular localities, which afford 
 its appropriate food in greatest abundance ; sea 
 worms, small muscles and marine plants, are com- 
 mon on clear, sandy or rocky bottoms, and there 
 the cod is caught. 
 
 It is wonderfully prolific ; Leuwenhoek announ- 
 ced the discovery of nine millions of eggs in a sin- 
 gle cod ! thirtysix thousand have been counted in 
 modern times. A French writer, in commenting 
 on this curious provision for maintaining the exist- 
 ence of the species, says that we have the assur- 
 
192 GADITES. 
 
 ance of an inexhaustible supply of wholesome food, 
 secured to all succeeding generations. 
 
 The inshore cod, as on the great banks, are 
 caught with a line, in two, six and eight fathoms 
 of water, where the tide ebbs and flows with con- 
 siderable force, over rocky soundings. Pleasure 
 boats are often successful in hauling one or two 
 hundred in a day, weighing from one to fifteen 
 pounds. Those huge specimens seen occasionally 
 in the stalls, are procured farther out at sea. 
 
 Those boats which supply the market, summer 
 and winter, go about six miles, where, after hav- 
 ing procured a quantity, they run up in the night 
 to deliver them fresh the next morning to their 
 regular customers. Many have their smacks so 
 constructed that the fish are kept alive in the hold 
 till the hour of sale. This is certainly much bet- 
 ter than the old mode of keeping them till the next 
 day, as they have a tendency to become putrid 
 much sooner than the flesh of land animals. 
 
 The New York market is decidedly superior to 
 Boston in this respect, viz : the fish are actual- 
 ly swimming in the car when sold. 
 
 In the spring the cod seems uncommonly vora- 
 cious ; for however unsuccessful it may have been 
 in snatching the bait from the hook, and notwith- 
 standing the mouth may have been severely lace- 
 rated, it seizes with avidity the very next it dis- 
 
MORRHUA. 193 
 
 covers. Wounds heal in a few days, so that 
 however badly the skin is torn, the gelatine of the 
 blood is poured in so copiously as to close the 
 breach much sooner than the healing process is 
 completed in warm-blooded animals. 
 
 Two or three years since the keeper of Rains- 
 ford island caught a cod which had suspended to 
 about a yard of line, a lead weight of several 
 pounds, the other end being secured to a hook 
 which was deeply imbedded in the bones and in- 
 teguments of the upper jaw. How long the poor 
 fish had been dragging about the inconvenient bur- 
 den, it was difficult to decide. 
 
 The best bait for pleasure-party cod-fishing, is 
 the common mud clam ; by some, however, the 
 menhaden is thought preferable. Many kinds offish 
 may be successfully caught by the flesh of their 
 own species, but this is not the case with the cod. 
 That the odor of some kinds of bait is particularly 
 agreeable is well established, but the smell of pu r 
 trid matter, to this fish is so offensive, that instead 
 of playing about the hook they generally at once 
 go beyond its influence. We extract the follow- 
 ing remarks upon this species of fish from the Con- 
 versations Lexicon. 
 
 " Cod (gadus, L., Block); a genus of fishes be- 
 longing to the order jugular es (soft-finned, sub- 
 brachial, of Cuvier), distinguished by the following 
 13 
 
194 GADITES. 
 
 characters : a smooth, oblong or fusiform body, 
 covered with small, soft, duciduous scales ; ven- 
 trals attached beneath the throat, covered by thick 
 skin, and drawn out to a point; head scaleless ; 
 eyes lateral ; opercle not dentated ; jaws and an- 
 terior part of the vomer furnished with several 
 ranges of moderate-sized, unequal, pointed teeth, 
 forming a card or rasp-like surface ; the gills are 
 large, seven-rayed, and opening laterally ; a small 
 beard at the tip of the lower jaw ; almost all the 
 species have two or three dorsal fins, one or two 
 anal, and one distinct caudal fin ; the stomach is 
 sacciform and powerful, the co3ca very numerous, 
 and the intestines of considerable length ; they 
 have a large, strong swimming-bladder, frequently 
 dentated or lobed at its borders. 
 
 " The most interesting of all the species is the 
 common or bank cod (Cr. morrhua, L.). Regard- 
 ed as a supply of food, a source of national indus- 
 try and commercial wealth, or as a wonder of na- 
 ture in its continuance and multiplication, this fish 
 may justly challenge the admiration of every intel- 
 ligent observer. Though found in considerable 
 numbers on the coasts of other northern regions, 
 an extent of about four hundred and fifty miles of 
 ocean, laving the chill and rugged shores of New- 
 foundland, is the favorite annual resort of count- 
 less multitudes of cod, which visit the submarine 
 
MORRHUA. 195 
 
 mountain known as the Grand Banks, to feed upon 
 the crustaceous and molluscous animals abun- 
 dant in such situations. Hither, also, fleets of fish- 
 ermen regularly adventure, sure of winning a rich 
 freight in return for their toils and exposure, and 
 of conveying plenty and profit to their homes and 
 employers. 
 
 " Myriads of cod are thus yearly destroyed by 
 human diligence; myriads of millions, in the egg 
 state, are prevented from coming into existence, 
 not only by the fishermen, who take the parents 
 before they have spawned, but by hosts of raven- 
 ous fishes, and an immense concourse of other ani- 
 mals, which attend upon their migrations to feed 
 upon their spawn : yet, in despite of the unceasing 
 activity of all these destructive causes, year after 
 year finds the abundance still undiminished, inex- 
 haustible by human skill and avidity, irrepressible 
 by the combined voracity of all the tribes of ocean. 
 This, however, is by no means the sum of destruc^ 
 tion to which the species is liable. After the 
 spawn is hatched, while the fry are too young and 
 feeble to save themselves by flight or resistance, 
 they are pursued and devoured in shoals by numer- 
 ous greedy tyrants of the deep, and, still worse, by 
 their own gluttonous progenitors, clearly showing 
 that without some extraordinary exertion of crea- 
 tive energy, the existence of the species could not 
 have been protracted beyond a few years. 
 
196 GADITES. 
 
 " Such, however, is the fecundity with which 
 the All-wise has endowed this race, that if but one 
 female annually escaped, and her eggs were safely 
 hatched, the species would be effectually preserv- 
 ed. This is not so surprising when we recollect 
 that the ovaries of each female contain not fewer 
 than 9,344,000 eggs, as has been ascertained by 
 careful and repeated observation. Few members 
 of the animal creation contribute a greater mass of 
 subsistence to the human race ; still fewer are 
 more universally serviceable than the cod-fish, of 
 which every part is applied to some useful pur- 
 pose. 
 
 " When fresh, its beautifully white, firm and 
 flaky muscles furnish our tables with one of the 
 most delicious dainties ; salted, dried, or otherwise 
 conserved for future use, it affords a substantial 
 and wholesome article of diet, for which a substi- 
 tute could not readily be found. The tongue, 
 which is always separated from the head when 
 the fish is first caught, even epicures consider a 
 delicacy; and tongues, salted or pickled along 
 with the swimming-bladders, which are highly nu- 
 tritious, being almost entirely pure gelatine, are 
 held in much estimation by house-keepers, under 
 the title of tongues and sounds. 
 
 " The sound or swimming bladder of codfish, if 
 rightlj prepared, supplies an isinglass equal to the 
 
MORRHUA. 197 
 
 best Russian, and applicable to all the uses for 
 which the imported is employed. The liver of 
 the cod, when fresh, is eaten by many with satis- 
 faction, but it is more generally reserved by fish- 
 ermen, for the sake of the large quantity of fine 
 limpid oil which it contains. This is extracted by 
 heat and pressure, and forms the well known cod- 
 liver oil of commerce, which, in many respects, 
 and for most uses, is superior to the commonly- 
 used fish-oil. The heads of cod-fish, after the 
 tongues are cut out, and the gills are saved for bait, 
 are thrown overboard, on account of want of room $ 
 and because salting would not preserve them to 
 any advantage. Yet the head, being almost -en- 
 tirely composed of gelatine, is, when fresh, the 
 richest, and perhaps the most nutritive part of the 
 fish. The fishermen, it is true, make use of it for 
 their own nourishment, but the great mass is 
 thrown into the sea a circumstance we can 
 scarce reflect upon without regret, when we re- 
 member how many poor, in various charitable in- 
 stitutions, and through the country generally, might 
 be luxuriously fed with this waste. If vessels 
 were provided with the requisite implements and 
 fuel, these heads would furnish a large amount of 
 strong and valuable fish-glue or isinglass, that 
 would well repay the trouble and expense of its 
 preparation. 
 
198 GADITES. 
 
 " The intestines of the cod-fish also yield a tri- 
 bute to the table ; the French fishermen, especial- 
 ly, prepare from them a dish somewhat similar, 
 and not far inferior to the sounds. Finally, the 
 ovaries or roes of the females are separated from 
 their membranes, and the eggs, nicely pickled, 
 afford an agreeable and gustful relish, far more 
 delicate and inviting to the palate than the cele- 
 brated Russian caviare." 
 
 The Barnstable Journal gives a statement of 
 the cod-fishery in that district in the year 1831, 
 from which it appears that licenses were granted 
 to one hundred and eightyeight vessels, averaging 
 58 to 100 tons each. These vessels were manned 
 by about fifteen hundred men and boys, averaging 
 eight persons to each. The gross proceeds from 
 the fishery is estimated at $319,060; averaging 
 about $12,000 a share to those employed, after 
 deducting the proportion to the owners of the ves- 
 sels and incidental expenses. 
 
 ROCK-COD, Gadus Rupestris, is a beautiful 
 hard fish, taken near projecting rocks and hard 
 bottoms, but differs in no respect, whatever from 
 the common cod, except in color, and that is pro- 
 bably purely accidental, varying according to its 
 food or locality. When the rock-cod is first drawn 
 from the water, it has a bronze hue, but assumes 
 
BROSMUS. 199 
 
 the color of tarnished brass, after having been in 
 the air a little time ; finally, when fairly dead, the 
 skin has an iron rust complexion. The fins, too, 
 when first drawn up, are tinged with a lively red, 
 as though injected with arterial blood. 
 
 As it respects its quality, as an article of food, it 
 is in high estimation, but after all, the superiority 
 over the grey cod, is merely imaginary. We con- 
 sider it the same fish. 
 
 SHOAL-COD, Gadus Arenosus. This is no- 
 thing more than the common cod, notwithstanding 
 it is thought to have a browner color and less dis- 
 tinct spots. 
 
 GEN. BROSMUS. 
 
 Cus K,T ORSK, Brosmus Vulgaris. After 
 much trouble in procuring proper representatives 
 of this genu s, we have come to the conclusion that 
 it is not well enough known in this section of the 
 country, to be sufficiently prized. It is the fish 
 occasionally seen suspended in the stalls of the 
 Quincy market, under the name of CusJc. 
 
 The essential external characteristics are a gray- 
 ish color, mottled with brown spots, in warm sea- 
 sons, but nearly black in winter ; a lateral line, 
 both broad and spotted, a cirrus on the chin, 
 and upper jaw longer than the under, with thick 
 
200 GADITES. 
 
 gelatinous lips ; the dorsal and anal fins extending 
 almost to the tail, which terminates in a rounded 
 form. In fact, it resembles the common cod, with 
 its caudal extremity sharpened into the form of a 
 lancet. 
 
 Some are exhibited three feet long, weighing 
 from eight to ten pounds, but they are not pur- 
 chased eagerly, and the reason is, no one seems 
 to know their real value. This is the dorsch of 
 Germany ; the torsk of Sweden ; the sma-torst of 
 Denmark, and the tare-tosk of Lapland, in each 
 country, taking the first place among dishes at all 
 fashionable tables. 
 
 It is the richest fish ever brought into the Bos- 
 ton market, and yet they lie on the dealer's hands 
 till almost spoiled, before they are sold. For boil- 
 ing it has not its equal ; the head, particularly, is 
 so purely a tremulous jelly, that for the debilitated 
 stomach, no food can be more grateful or more 
 appropriate. 
 
 We indulge the hope that gentlemen who take 
 an interest in encouraging the best market in New 
 England, will no longer neglect fostering the cusk 
 fishery. 
 
 GEN. MERLUCCIUS. 
 
 HAKE, Gadus Merluccius. The first dorsal 
 fin has nine rays ; the second thirtyeight ; the pec 
 
MERLUCCIUS 201 
 
 toral fifteen, ventral eight ; anal thirty six, and cau- 
 dal eighteen. On the whole, the hake is a well- 
 proportioned and handsome fish, from one to two 
 feet long, though as an article of food, undervalued 
 in this country, notwithstanding the encomiums 
 bestowed upon it in Europe. 
 
 It is taken in baiting other fish, particularly the 
 mackerel, which the hake pursues from one point 
 of compass to another, followed by a variety of 
 smaller fry in its track, that feed on the mangled 
 remains of the mackerel, which are floating in the 
 train. 
 
 Hake are not taken in any quantity in Massachu- 
 setts, though exceedingly common. The coast 
 .of France is the most distinguished hake fishery 
 in the known world. A writer of that country re- 
 marks, that since the great naval engagements be- 
 tween the English and French fleets, in 1759, 
 the hake, which before visited the sea, on the 
 shores of Bellisle, now remain through the whole 
 year ; and he supposes they were first attracted to 
 the -present haking-ground, by the multitude of 
 dead bodies which were sunk there after that 
 awfully bloody action, 
 
 When very hungry, the hake exhibits consid- 
 erable voracity, and does not hesitate to seize a 
 crab, which, in self-defence, sometimes fixes its 
 shears in the retractile lips of the enemy, who 
 
GADITES. 
 
 whirls it through the water with surprising veloci- 
 ty, till it is finally obliged to let go its hold. 
 
 Its teeth are small, sharp, and curved inwardly, 
 giving it a decidedly mechanical advantage over 
 many osseous fishes of its own size. Specimens of 
 the hake have been exhibited abroad, measuring 
 several feet. The largest caught here seldom ex- 
 ceed two feet. They are denominated, when pre- 
 pared for market, poor-Johns. The best hake 
 are taken off Cape Cod, and sold under the name 
 of stock-fish.* 
 
 HADDOCK, Morrhua JEglefinus. In Cath- 
 olic countries, there is a strange notion entertained 
 that this is the fish, out of whose mouth St Peter 
 took the tribute money. Two dark spots behind 
 the gills, continued to the countless generations of 
 haddock, indicate the impression of the Apos- 
 tle's thumb and finger. 
 
 Its upper jaw is the longest ; the tail is forked, 
 and the mouth small, compared with the magni- 
 tude of the fish ; the eyes are large, with a black 
 pupil ; general color of the body a pale gray, 
 
 * Though the Church of England, gives no particular di- 
 rections concerning fasts, Parliament has pursued a very 
 strange course, by prohibiting meat on fast days, which is 
 for the purpose of encouraging the fisheries and naviga- 
 tion. 
 
MERLANGUS. 203 
 
 tinged with brown towards the back ; there is a 
 silvery hue on the abdomen ; the medial or late- 
 ral line, in this case, quite near the back, and 
 very dark ; three fins on the back ; the first 
 having fourteen, the second twentysix, and third 
 eighteen rays. The first two anal fins have 
 twentytwo, the second twenty, and the tail about 
 forty rays. 
 
 The haddock is an every-day fish of the mar- 
 ket, easily taken, with the line, almost any time 
 of year, but in the winter season bears the best 
 price, being considered superior for boiling ; the 
 flesh is compact, and of excellent flavor. 
 
 GEN. MERLANGUS. 
 
 WHITING, Merlangus Vulgaris. After con- 
 siderable inquiry, we are fully satisfied that the 
 true whiting of the books, as described in Dono- 
 van, exists on our shores, but is rather smaller than 
 the English whiting, which is greatly esteemed in 
 England. This circumstance may be explained 
 by recollecting that the temperature of the water 
 is probably colder here, than in the latitudes in 
 which they are more numerous, and more perfect- 
 ly developed. 
 
 There are three dorsal fins, the first having 
 fifteen rays, the second twenty, and the third 
 
204 GADITES 
 
 twenty one ; the pectoral fins have seventeen, but 
 the ventral only six. 
 
 The whiting is a small neat fish, only measuring 
 from six to twelve inches, depending, in this par- 
 ticular, on its age ; of a whitish dun color, some- 
 what approaching the complexion of the pollock. 
 They are taken sparingly in the autumn, in most 
 of the bays at the north of Cape Cod. At the 
 Cape, particularly, we are informed, the whiting is 
 caught in considerable plenty. In England, the 
 whiting fishery is one of manifest importance, pro- 
 tected by special acts of parliament. 
 
 When dried, they are called, in the shops, 
 spauldings. One before us, taken near Scituate, 
 measures eighteen inches in length. 
 
 POLLOCK, Merlangus Pollachius This is 
 an elegant little fish, when in good condi- 
 tion and well grown. Good specimens some- 
 times measure from ten to fourteen inches. 
 The head is narrow; the eyes are large and full ; 
 the color approaching an olive on the back, but 
 silvery white on the sides and abdomen ; the 
 fins are smoky ; the tail slightly forked ; the un- 
 der jaw somewhat the longest. As an article of 
 food, they do not rank remarkably high. 
 
 TOM-COD, Gadus Taucaud. We are fully 
 
MERLANGUS. 205 
 
 aware of the objections that will probably be made 
 against the following remarks on this perplexing 
 variety of the cod, so far as it respects the 
 place assigned it in the classification. 
 
 Very erroneously, the torn-cod has been suppo- 
 sed to be peculiar to this section of the United 
 States, and a stranger, therefore, to other seas. 
 After a careful examination of the plates and de- 
 scriptions of foreign writers, together with the live 
 fish before us at the moment of making these ob- 
 servations, it is apparent that the torn-cod is well 
 known in some parts of Europe. 
 
 From a note in a French work on icthyology, it 
 is pretty evident that by tacaud, is indicated the 
 fish known to us by the appellation of torn-cod, 
 though the writer was probably wholly in- 
 debted to some American for the description 
 of it. 
 
 The Hon. John Davis, a gentleman ably quali- 
 fied to examine and determine correctly, informs 
 us that torn-cod is probably a corruption of tau- 
 caud, and if this is the fish indicated by Cuvier, 
 then " Gadus Taucaud" would seem preferable 
 to the name which has been given it by Dr Mitch- 
 ell, of New^ York, gadu tomcodus ! Judge Da- 
 vis says the doctor's scientific name generally ex- 
 cites a smile, when pronounced, but in defence, he 
 can plead, if necessary, the Felis catus, and mus- 
 rattus of Linnaeus ! 
 
206 GAD1TES. 
 
 Judging, however, from analogy, we are deci- 
 dedly of the opinion that torn-cod is a corruption 
 of an Indian name, tacaud, plenty fish, and we are 
 confirmed in this theory, from a belief that this 
 fish was undoubtedly very familiar to the aborigi- 
 nes of this section of the country, and therefore 
 known to our ancestors only by its Indian name, 
 which in process of time degenerated from tacaud 
 into torn-cod ; or in other words underwent a cor- 
 ruption, which finally settled into torn-cod, a 
 very natural sort of vulgarism with men who were 
 never ambitious to be particularly exact in the 
 pronunciation of Indian terms. 
 
 In support of this view of the subject, respect- 
 ing the origin of the present appellation, there are 
 several edible fishes which still retain their Indian 
 names, and which bear a striking relation to ta- 
 caud, viz : sca-paug, shortened by the fisher- 
 men into scup ; tataug, the tautog ; and lastly, 
 pdu-haug, also murdered by piscatory vandals, till 
 in these times, the fish assumes the formidable 
 cognomen of pau-ha-gen, and finally, becoming 
 still more improved, it turns out to be the menha- 
 den, the latest coined word of their vocabulary. 
 
 The torn-cod may be recognised by three dor- 
 sal fins, two anal, three abdominal, and two pecto- 
 ral. The abdominal are small and slender, being 
 before the pectoral, as it respects the head ; un- 
 
MERLANGUS. 207 
 
 der the tip of the underlip is one short stump-like 
 cirrus. The caudal fin is broad and rounded at 
 the extremity. Teeth fine, both in the throat and 
 jaws ; white, small and plump tongue ; the lateral 
 line waving upward. Its color varies at differ- 
 ent seasons of the year, from a rich orange to a 
 light greenish yellow, shaded by a dark brown on 
 the back, and gradually becoming a light yellow 
 between the vent and gills. It varies in length, 
 from six inches to fifteen, and weighs from 
 a quarter to nearly two pounds, depending, of 
 course, on the age, sex and season. In the 
 north of Europe, admitting this to be the fish, 
 which cannot at present be doubted, they have 
 been occasionally known to exceed eight pounds. 
 The spawning season appears to be iu February, 
 in this climate ; about the last of May they begin 
 to take the hook. From that period till the last of 
 October, they are in the greatest perfection, and 
 in the greatest abundance also. 
 
 Although Dr Mitchell furnishes a catalogue of 
 six varieties of the torn-cod, (" gadus tomcodus ; 
 G. tomcodus fuscus ; G. tomcodus luteus ; G. tom- 
 codus luteo-pallidus ; G. tomcodus pluinosus ; and 
 G. tomcodus mixtus,) we are fully convinced, after 
 a series of critical observations, that these are all 
 imaginary distinctions. . 
 
 In Massachusetts, the first species is only famil- 
 
208 GADITES. 
 
 iarly known. The variations of color and size 
 depends on the age of the individual, and the qual- 
 ity imparted to the water by the character of the 
 bottom on which they feed. 
 
 Frost fish, Gadus Luscus, of New Hampshire, 
 and the G. tomcodus pluinosus of New York, present 
 no external characteristic differences. In fact, these 
 too, we conceive are imaginary varieties, assuming 
 perhaps, a more chubby appearance, and a darker 
 skin in the winter than in the summer. They are de- 
 nominated frost-fish, simply because they are taken 
 in scoop-nets through the ice, in places only where 
 the tide rises very high ; hence, the farther we 
 go to the northeast, the more common the fish. 
 At Eastport they are very plenty in the heart of 
 winter, the very time when few or none are 
 seen in our harbors in this region.* 
 
 The following are the characteristic differences 
 of the supposed varieties. 
 
 Brown Tom-Cod, Tomcodus Fuscus, mot- 
 tled with brown olive on the back and sides. 
 
 * A gentleman of observation remarks, that although the 
 torn-cod is scarce in the harbors in the winter, they may be 
 taken plentifully in the ponds and basins of streams, in Med- 
 ford and other neighboring towns, which have a communica- 
 tion with the tide water. He further observes, that in the 
 winter it is a charming exercise to searcli for them through 
 the transparent ice. When the fish is at rest, the ice directly 
 over it is struck with an axe, which brings it up instanter. A 
 hole is then made and the fish collected in baskets. 
 
RAN1CEPS. 209 
 
 Yellow Tom-Cod, Tomcodus Luteus hav- 
 ing the sides yellowish, as well as the margin of 
 the abdomen. 
 
 Yellow-white Tom-Cod, Tomcodus Luteo- 
 Pallidus a mixture of white and yellow, with 
 shades also of brown and olive. 
 
 Frost-Fish, Tomcodus, Pruinosus so called 
 because more abundant inshore at the setting in of 
 frosts in November, but it is only then seeking a 
 retreat in bays, &cc., for the coming winter. 
 
 Mixed Tom-Cod, Tomcodus Mixtus. This 
 too is altogether an imaginary variety age, sex, 
 and the season, are constantly modifying the ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 GEN. RANICEPS. 
 
 BLENNY, Blennius Vimparus, [Raniceps 
 Trifurcatus, Cuv.] If the specimen before us, the 
 true viviparous blenny, is not an eel, it is very 
 certain that it does not belong to the gadus family ^ 
 where, in this dilemma, we have unluckily placed 
 it. Linna3us has a distinct genus, blennius, but 
 the individual now being described, a well marked 
 representative of the family, as they are found in 
 this state, does not precisely accord with the de- 
 scriptions of the blenny by English writers. 
 
 On looking over that splendid series of German 
 lithographic plates of fishes, by Dr Strach, 1828, 
 14 
 
210 GADITES. 
 
 an exact figure even to the coloring, was noticed, 
 which truly exhibits the blenny of the harbors of 
 Massachusetts, and must, therefore, we strongly 
 suspect, have been drawn from the American 
 blenny. 
 
 Its length is from one to two feet ; the head is 
 thick and broad, projecting teeth, white, retractile 
 lips, and a second row of fine, sharp, small teeth 
 or holders, on the margins of the jaws just within 
 the first arch. The second dorsal fin reaches near- 
 ly to the tail ; the ventral fins are rather slender, 
 trifurcate, with a lateral line tuberculated above 
 the pectoral fins. 
 
 THE BLENNY. 
 
 The shape of the blenny is lanceolate, from the 
 pectoral fins to the tail, which ends in a point or 
 soft brush of flexible caudal rays. The dorsal, 
 anal and caudal fins are all united into one, ex- 
 cepting at one place near the tail, encircling 
 the back and belly, with this one exception, and 
 terminating at the vent. 
 
 The pectoral -fins have seventeen rays. Its 
 
RANICEPS. 211 
 
 color is smoky, spotted with faint yellow dots, be- 
 side broad cloudy spots extending from the sides 
 quite into the dorsal fins. With the fishermen 
 north of the Cape, this is called the mutton-fsh. 
 In Germany the same fish is called mother of eels. 
 Though snake-like and disgusting to the eye, it is 
 said to be excellent eating. 
 
 No doubt, varieties of the blenny may yet b# 
 found on this sea-board, of which we have at pres- 
 ent no particular knowledge. We cannot always 
 rely upon the descriptions of the fishermen, who 
 in their anxiety to preserve the specimens designa- 
 ted on the catalogues they are furnished with by 
 us, are too apt to imagine that they unfortunately 
 lost the very fish that was most wanted. " The 
 very one, in fact, mentioned on the list." The 
 bay of New York furnishes two varieties of the 
 blenny unknown in Massachusetts, viz : Blen- 
 nius Pholis, and B. Ciliatus. 
 
 Raniceps Blennioides. We have been present- 
 ed with a cream-colored fish truly disgusting in 
 appearance, which appears, with the exception of 
 the color, to be the blenny in miniature. To 
 some boys who accidentally captured it in the 
 outer basin of Boston harbor at low tide, it seemed 
 to be known as the garter-fish, rather from its 
 
 
212 PLEURONECTES: 
 
 color, it is conjectured, than from its supposed re- 
 semblance to a garter. It is twelve inches long. 
 
 FAMILY II. PLEURONECTES. 
 
 No family of aquatic beings is characterized by 
 so many strange circumstances. The eyes are 
 both on one side, but so arranged as to look up- 
 ward at an angle of about eighty degrees. The 
 side on which the eyes are fixed is always colored, 
 but the opposite one is quite light or whitish. In 
 fact, their anatomy demonstrates the greatest want 
 of symmetry. Writers remark, among other things, 
 that the two sides of the mouth are unequal, and 
 it is very rare to find the pectoral fins resembling 
 each other. In the branchial membrane are five 
 rays ; the body seems to be compressed, as though 
 pressed between two stones ; the dorsal fin en- 
 circles the fish like a ribbon, so that the back is on 
 one side ! The venter, or inside cavity, is quite 
 small, but prolonged into a canal in the side of the 
 tail : there is no air-bladder ; and the skull is the 
 oddest of all crania, in consequence of the arrange- 
 ment for accommodating both eyes on one side. 
 
 Notwithstanding the confused manner in which 
 the skeleton is apparently put together, distorted 
 and twisted into the queerest form, there is only 
 
 
PLATESSA. 213 
 
 about the ordinary number of bones, entering into 
 the composition of other fishes. Sometimes we 
 find one with the eyes reversed.* 
 
 The flat fish of this family appear to be univer- 
 sally spread over the globe, in all seas and in all 
 climates, affording an excellent, nutritious and 
 wholesome food. Linnaeus gathered the whole 
 family into one genus, but the celebrated Cuvier 
 subdivided it into several sub-genera. 
 
 GEN. PLATESSA. 
 
 FLOUNDER, Platessa Vulgaris. Being with- 
 out the swimming-bladder, they naturally keep 
 near the bottom. Indeed, organized as they obvi- 
 
 *At St Petersburg, it was formerly customary for the bish- 
 ops to bless the fishes annually, and in France it was onee 
 gravely told, that when a certain St Christopher blessed the 
 inhabitants of the deep, the fishes came round the holy man 
 to listen, but the flounder, in derision, made wry faces ; upon 
 which the speaker feeling highly insulted, condemned the 
 whole race thereafter to be screwed into their present distort- 
 ed condition. 
 
 In Constantinople, says Mr Goodell, a missionary, now re- 
 siding in that celebrated city, is a Greek Church, or the ruins 
 of one, called the fish- church. It is outside the Siliviia gate, 
 where the Turks entered on taking Constantinople. At that 
 moment, some priests were frying fish for dinner, which 
 were so frightened, when the priests were killed, that they 
 jumped out of the pan, " not into the fire," but into a pond 
 under the present ruins, where, if common report be true, 
 they are still seen swimming about completely cooked on one 
 side. 
 
214 PLEURONECTES. 
 
 ously are, for looking upward, rather than down- 
 ward, their food as well as the objects they are to 
 avoid, are to be sought for above. They bear a 
 strong resemblance to the flat fishes that swim on 
 one edge, as it were, but the flounder has not the 
 power of maintaining that position. Almost the 
 entire circumference of the body is fringed with a 
 stiff, prickly rayed fin, which, when expanded, 
 gives the flounder a waving, easy movement in the 
 water. It is quite rapid in its movements, but 
 prefers to remain on the surface of the mud, into 
 which it nestles for concealment, in case of fright. 
 Under favorable circumstances, they grow T to a 
 great size. As an article of food they do not ap- 
 pear to be sufficiently prized. 
 
 THE FLOUNDER. 
 
 The flounder is generally known, and its- 
 character well understood. The eyes are some- 
 times on the left side, but not often. It is one of 
 the most common fish in Massachusetts Bay, vary- 
 
HYPOGLOSSUS. 215 
 
 ing in size from the palm of the hand to fifteen 
 inches in length by ten in breadth. The floun- 
 der delights in the soft mud about docks, the 
 mouths of rivers, and salt marshes, where it is ta- 
 ken about seven months in the year. In warm 
 weather the flesh is soft, and much less palatable 
 than in the spring or autumn. Its food appears 
 to be marine insects, the spawn of other fishes, 
 and small muscles. About the Boston light-house, 
 at low tide, flounders are taken by spears, of all 
 sizes, for baiting lobster-pots. 
 
 GEN. HYPOGLOSSUS, 
 
 HOLIBUT, Hypoglossus Vulgaris. In this 
 genus, the holibut is the most conspicuous. It is 
 a voracious fish, pursuing crabs, small lobsters, &ic. 
 but feeds principally, it is supposed, on shell-fish, 
 
 THE HOLIBUT. 
 
 which are so common on soundings, as the coast 
 of New England is approached. In the vicinity 
 
216 PLEURONECTES. 
 
 of Cape Cod, the largest brought to market are 
 successfully taken with the line. They are some- 
 times really enormous in size, weighing five hun- 
 dred pounds. 
 
 PLAISE, Platessa Vulgaris. The plaise, 
 much resembling the flounder, is not recognised, 
 generally, as a different fish. It may be known 
 
 TAE PLAISE. 
 
 by small yellowish spots dotted over the back. 
 This fish is uncommonly thin and broad, and has 
 small tubercles, six in number, near the left eye. 
 
 On the authority of Mr Simon E. Green, an ic- 
 thyologist, we are inclined to suppose a fish called 
 the pearl, of Boston, which he assures us he has 
 inspected, and compared with a plate, is that 
 which is named the American turbot, or plaise. 
 Having, however, never seen the pearl, we are 
 unable to decide how much they differ from the 
 European. A gentleman whose observations are 
 
HYPOGLOSSUS. 217 
 
 to be credited, assures us that he cannot per- 
 ceive the least possible difference between the 
 turbot of this country and that taken on the Brit- 
 ish shores ; and the testimony of an intelligent 
 fisherman, residing on Lovell's Island, fully cor- 
 roborates the statement of the gentleman refer- 
 red to. 
 
 William Ladd, Esq. of Maine, the distinguish- 
 ed advocate of the Peace society, informed us that 
 when the English fleet visited Boston, and held 
 possession of the town, in the year 1775-6, the 
 officers were bountifully supplied with turbot, 
 which were caught in the neighborhood of the 
 outer harbor. He further remarked, that about all 
 they did, while here, was to eat them ! 
 
 Mr Parker, the conductor of the Marine Tele- 
 graph, mentioned, in the course of conversation, 
 that many years ago, Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin 
 brought out to this country a traul net, such as are 
 used on the coast of Holland for taking sole for the 
 London markets, with which he succeeded in 
 capturing that delightful fish, in Ipswich Bay, 
 which was not before supposed to exist here. Be- 
 ing a flat fish, destitute of an air-bladder, they 
 swim close to the bottom, and rarely bite at the 
 hook. Another gentleman, however, thinks this 
 is a mistake for he assures us that a traul net 
 was dragged by the frigate Constitution, along a 
 
218 PLEURONECTES. 
 
 considerable extent of our coast, without bringing 
 up a single turbot or sole. Still, although there is 
 something contradictory in these statements, we 
 are fully inclined to believe that both of them are 
 in our harbors. 
 
 GEN. SOLEA. 
 
 SOLE, Solea Vulgaris, is thought to be an 
 inhabitant of our harbors, bordering on the deep 
 water, nearly two feet in length. Its scales are 
 rough and small, and are covered with spines. 
 The habits of the sole are much like the flounder. 
 The mouth is on the side opposite to the eyes, 
 and the jaws are without teeth on the side on 
 which the organs of vision are placed. 
 
 GEN. RHOMBUS. 
 
 TURBOT, Rhombus Maximus. Probably this 
 is the most valuable of the flat-fish, being of a 
 firmer texture, and growing much larger than 
 either of the others, with the exception of the hol- 
 ibut. Sometimes it weighs thirty pounds, though, 
 in this region the coldness of the water, it may 
 be supposed, would keep it below size. It may 
 be known from the flounder by having its eyes on 
 the opposite side ; by its brownish or dirty shade 
 of yellow ; rough, tuberculous skin, mottled with 
 dark spots. In England the turbot sustains the 
 
CYCLOPTERUS. 2J9 
 
 first place on the table. The turbot fishery is 
 exceedingly profitable in that country, but at- 
 tended with heavy expenses. Sometimes the 
 line is a mile in length, from which short lines 
 drop into the water, supported by buoys. When 
 the fishermen perceive that a sufficient number of 
 fish are fast, to compensate for drawing the warp, 
 the two extremities of the rope are carried by 
 strongly rowed boats to the shore, where, inch by 
 inch, the multitude are brought to land. This fish 
 is taken occasionally on the holibut fishing-ground, 
 near the Cape. 
 
 FAMILY III. DISCOBOLI. 
 
 GEN. CYCLOPTERUS. 
 
 LUMP-FISH, Cyclopterus Lumpus. A mark- 
 ed character of the fishes of this genus, is the ar- 
 rangement of the ventral fins, the rays of which 
 surrounding the pelvis and connected by a curious 
 membrane, form an oval and concave organ, by 
 which they are able to fix themselves firmly when- 
 ever they choose. 
 
 Mr Pennant relates that, " on throwing one into 
 a pail of water, it adhered so firmly to the bottom, 
 that on taking the fish by the tail the whole was 
 lifted, though it contained some gallons." 
 
220 DISCOBOLI. 
 
 When the ocean becomes severely turbulent, it 
 is supposed they fasten on stones, to keep from 
 being driven suddenly on the rocky shores, which 
 they seem fond of frequenting. We have found 
 them on Long Island, - in Boston harbor, after a 
 long continued northeast storm, weighing about six 
 pounds. It is barely possible that the anchor on 
 which they fixed for security, was torn from the 
 bottom, and both washed on the beach together. 
 
 The sucking surface acts upon the same princi- 
 ple of that upon the head of the remora, though 
 differently constructed, both being air-pumps. 
 Frogs adhere to trees by fleshy pads on their toes, 
 which are very similar to the lump-sucker's oval 
 cushion ; and either of them will sometimes allow 7 
 the body to be drawn in halves, before they 
 let go their hold. 
 
 THE LUMP FISH. 
 
 Lump-fish and lump-sucker, are names indiffer- 
 ently applied to the same fish. From the middle 
 of June till September, they are often drawn up 
 in fishing for cod and haddock. Being short and 
 
ECHENEIS. 221 
 
 thick, and of a bluish purple color, together with 
 rigid fins, they are rather uncouth in appearance. 
 Some attain the length of a foot and a half, but we 
 have not been fortunate in procuring a specimen 
 of more than twelve inches long. The head is ob- 
 tuse ; the tongue short ; teeth small and sharp ; 
 the gill membrane has four rays ; the operculum 
 is constituted of one piece only ; the body thick 
 and totally destitute of scales ; the ventral fins 
 united. On the sides are dark, prominent spots, 
 but bordering on the abdomen they become lighter ; 
 the belly is of a bright red, in midsummer ; pec- 
 toral fins orange, shaded with a redish tinge, and 
 the eyes are sparkling red. 
 
 We are assured they are a very tolerable 
 article of food, but of the truth of the remark, we 
 have had no experience. 
 
 SMALL-LuMr-SucKER, Cydopterus Minutus. 
 In one bottle we have several specimens of this 
 little fish, not exceeding three quarters of an inch 
 in length. They have the same holding appara- 
 tus in a miniature form, and may be known from 
 the young of the Zimpws, by two white tubercles 
 on the sides. 
 
 GEN. ECHENEIS. 
 
 SUCKING-FISH, Echeneis Remora. Two 
 species of the remora are occasionally taken on 
 
222 DISCOBOLI. 
 
 this coast, but in no other way than on the bodies 
 of sharks or the bottoms of vessels. The one un- 
 der consideration usually measures from four to 
 twelve inches, and is of a leaden color ; the body 
 is long and slender, covered by minute scales, and 
 on the back is one dorsal fin without spines. On 
 the top of the head is an oval spot which looks, at 
 first view, as though a slice of the cranium had 
 been cut off nearly on a level with the eyes. This 
 oval place is termed a disk, constituted of two 
 rows of transverse plates like the bars of a gridiron. 
 Perhaps to compare the bars with a Venetian 
 window blind, will convey a better idea of the ap- 
 pearance than anything else. Each plate stands at 
 
 THE SUCKING FISH. 
 
 about the same angle as the slats of the blind, and 
 there is a space between every two of them. If the 
 edges were turned towards the snout, they would 
 be thrown up, and thus retard the motion of the 
 fish ; but by being directed backward, the greater 
 the velocity the closer do the edges of the plates 
 fold down over the spaces. 
 
 There are eighteen in this species, nine in each 
 
ECHENEIS. 223 
 
 row. It is no uncommon circumstance to find 
 them adhering to vessels, and to sharks, for which 
 latter they seem to have a predilection. This disk 
 is upon the principle of an air-pump, precisely in 
 office like the adhering surface on the breast of 
 the lump-fish. 
 
 All the fins of the remora are small, so that it 
 cannot swim with much speed, but it makes up 
 the defect by fastening itself to any other fish it 
 chooses, out of the reach of its jaws, and thus, 
 without effort, glides through the ocean with prodi- 
 gious velocity, increasing or diminishing the rate, 
 it is supposed, according to its own particular fan- 
 cy, by the irritation it causes with the disk. 
 
 The ancients entertained a notion that this fish 
 had the power of arresting the motion of a vessel 
 at sea. The poets propagated the error, which 
 still has believers among the vulgar. 
 
 " The sucking-fish, beneath, with secret chains, 
 Clings to the keel, the swiftest ship detains; ' 
 And though the canvass bellie with the blast, 
 ' ^^ And boisterous winds bend down the cracking mast, 
 The bark stands firmly rooted in the sea." 
 
 Aristotle's admiration was excited by the or- 
 ganization of the remora, nearly two thousand 
 years ago. The fate of the famous battle of Ac- 
 tium was imagined to have been decided in favor 
 of Augustus, in consequence of the powerful 
 
224 DISCOBOLI. 
 
 agency of a sucking-fish, that stopped Anthony's 
 ship. 
 
 Wherever sharks exist, there the remora may 
 be expected ; when once fastened on, they seem 
 unwilling to let go their hold, and like the old man 
 of the sea, on the shoulders of Sindbad the sailor, 
 they ride their enemies till they die. 
 
 We are inclined to the opinion that most of the 
 specimens procured in this latitude have been voy- 
 agers from the neighborhood of the tropics. 
 
 INDIAN REMORA, Echeneis Naucrates. We 
 have a specimen of this species over two feet 
 long, the proportions of which are truly elegant. 
 The color has a greenish tint, but the sucking 
 surface in shape precisely like the last described, 
 has twentyfour plates. 
 
 With this, the natives of Cuba formerly carried 
 on a very singular sort of angling, which was in 
 the- following manner. A strong, small twine was 
 made fast round the tail of the fish, which, by the 
 way, was kept in a vat, and carried in a vessel of 
 water, wherever its services were required, and 
 then thrown overboard. It ran instinctively to- 
 ward the first fish which the length .of line would 
 permit it to reach, and instantly made itself 
 fast. The moment the fisherman felt that such 
 was the case, he gently drew in the line, drawing 
 
ECHENEIS. 225 
 
 both near the surface. He then carefully reached 
 his hands under the water, and thrust a finger un- 
 der the edge of the disk, which at once broke 
 the connexion. When he had secured the game 
 he then permitted the remora to run again, and in 
 that simple, though ingenious manner, it was the 
 most successful mode of fishing of which there is 
 any account, unless it be the cormorant fishing of 
 China, alluded to in another part of this volume.* 
 Interesting remarks on the remora will be found 
 in Capt. Couthuoy's letter to the author, under the 
 article mackerel. 
 
 *Sir George Staunton, when the embassy was pro- 
 ceeding on the great southern branch of the canal in China, 
 saw the Chinese fishing on a large scale, on a lake, with the 
 cormorant. There were thousands of small boats and rafts 
 built expressly for this species of fishing. On board of each 
 were ten or a dozen of those birds, which, at a given signal 
 from the owner, plunged into the water, and it much aston- 
 ished Sir George to see the enormous size of the fish which 
 they returned with in their bill. At that place, they were 
 so well trained, that it did not appear necessary to place a ring 
 on the neck to keep them from swallowing the prey. The 
 master occasionally gave them a portion, by way of encour- 
 agement. 
 
 15 
 
226 APODES. 
 
 ORDER VIII. MALACOPTERYGII 
 APODES. 
 
 IN this order, we are presented with a family 
 distinguished by their long, serpent-like bodies ; 
 a thick, remarkably tough skin, and though it is 
 generally conceded that they have swimming- 
 bladders, they are either too small to be of much 
 service, or answer some other purpose in their 
 economy, as nearly all of them prefer concealment 
 on a muddy bottom, rather than clear water. 
 The spine usually contains one hundred and six- 
 teen vertebrae, so slightly attached that they are 
 exceedingly flexible. Lastly, most of the fishes 
 of the auguilliform structure are viviparous. Gen- 
 erally the head is smooth ; the eyes defended by 
 the skin, (conjunctiva,) as in serpents ; the body 
 nearly round and slippery, in consequence of a 
 slimy excretion ; in the gill membrane are com- 
 monly ten rays ; the branchial openings are near 
 the head, and usually close to the pectoral fins; 
 the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins are united into one 
 like a border. The color seems to vary accord- 
 ing to the character of the water they inhabit. 
 
 GE. AUGUILLA. 
 
 The COMMON EEL, Auguilla Vulgaris. 
 
AUGUILLA. 227 
 
 The eel is most certainly the intermediate link be- 
 tween serpents and fishes, possessing not only a sim- 
 ilar form to the first, but many of their peculiar 
 traits of character. Eels can live alternately in fresh 
 or salt water, or abandon both, with impunity, and 
 subsist for a short time on land. They leave their 
 aquatic hiding-places, in warm summer evenings, 
 having the power of closing up their gills, to crawl 
 over marshes in search of snails, and putrid animal 
 remains, evidently exhibiting an exquisite sense 
 of smell. 
 
 Oppian, who flourished many centuries ago, was 
 familiar with the habits of the eel, which are ad- 
 verted to in the Halieuticon, in the following lines. 
 
 " Thus the mailed tortoise, and the wandering eel, 
 Oft to the neighboring beach will silent steal." 
 
 Dr Hancock, a distinguished icthyologist, says 
 of the Doras Costatd, or Hassar, " This species 
 is one of those fishes which possess the singular 
 property of deserting the water and travelling over 
 land. In those terrestrial excursions, large droves 
 of the species are frequently met with during very 
 dry seasons, for it is only at such periods that 
 they are compelled to this dangerous march, which 
 exposes them as a prey to so many and such 
 various enemies. 
 
 When the water is leaving the pools in which 
 they commonly reside, the yarrows, (a spe- 
 
228 A P ODES. 
 
 cies of Esox Lin.) as well as the second species of 
 hassar, to which I shall presently refer, bury 
 themselves in the mud, while all the other fishes 
 perish for want of the natural element, or are pick- 
 ed up by rapacious birds, &tc. The flat headed 
 hassars, on the contrary, simultaneously quit the 
 place and march over land in search of water, trav- 
 elling for a whole night, as is asserted by the Indians, 
 in search of their object. I have ascertained, by 
 trial, that they will live many hours out of water, 
 even when exposed to the sun's rays. 
 
 " Their motion over land is described to be 
 somewhat like that of the two-footed lizard. They 
 project themselves forward on their bony arm, by 
 the elastic spring of the tail exerted side wise. 
 Their progress is nearly as fast as a man will lei- 
 surely walk. The strong scuta, or bands, which 
 envelope their body, must greatly facilitate their 
 march, in the manner of plates under the belly of. 
 serpents, which are raised and depressed by a vol- 
 untary power, in some measure performing the of- 
 fice of feet. It is said that the other species, the 
 round head, has not been known to attempt such 
 excursions, although it is capable of living a long 
 time out of its element ; but as I before observed, 
 it buries itself in the mud in the manner of the 
 yarrows, when the water is drying up. 
 
 " The Indians say that these fishes carry water 
 
AUGUILLA. 229 
 
 with them for a supply on their journey. There 
 appears to be some truth in this statement ; for I 
 have observed that the bodies of the hassars do 
 not get dry like those of other fishes when taken 
 out of the water ; and if the moisture be absorbed, 
 or they are wiped dry with a cloth, they have such 
 a power of secretion, that they become instantly 
 moist again. Indeed it is scarcely possible to dry 
 the surface while the fish is living. * 
 
 " On inspecting an old journal which was kept 
 during a tour to the Parmia, in 1810, I find that 
 another species of these mailed fish inhabit the 
 rapids of the Essequibo (interior of Guiana) one 
 of which was caught by the Indians while employ- 
 ed in hauling our canoes over the falls of that 
 river, and attracted my attention by its curious 
 structure and vivid coloring. It is remarked in 
 the note alluded to, that this fish is not only fur- 
 nished with the common appendages for swim- 
 ming, but also with four strong bony supports, ope 
 attached to each of the pectoral and belly fins, 
 (i. e. constituting the first ray of each) by which 
 the animal creeps on the bottom of the river, and 
 perhaps where there is little or no water also, be- 
 ing, as it seems, partly amphibious ; for although 
 it had received a severe wound on the head, it did 
 not expire till it had been many hours out of the 
 water. It has no proper teeth, but short, flexible, 
 
230 APODES. 
 
 curved spines (or set<z) on the lips ; one row on 
 the upper, and two on the under lip, (the up- 
 per jaw short and moveable.) The pectoral fin 
 has six radii, besides the leg, if I may so term it, 
 or ambulatory spine. The head and the whole 
 body, except the thorax, are guarded by a coat of 
 mail, consisting of strong bony plates, supporting 
 four longitudinal rows of curved spines on each 
 side ; color of the body bright reddish yellow, ele- 
 gantly* variegated with black spots ; the fin red at 
 the extremities. It grows to about a foot in 
 length. 
 
 THE COMMON EEL. 
 
 Eels, when kept in fresh water ponds, grow very 
 large, and are very voracious ; they are known to 
 swallow frogs and lizards whole, which have been 
 found in opening large ones. A gentleman at 
 Twickenam, England, had a large pond, on which 
 he bred a number of ducks and geese. He was 
 much astonished by the disappearance of large 
 
AUGUILLA. 231 
 
 i 
 
 numbers of goslings and ducklings, as soon as they 
 took to the water. Having occasion, about this 
 time, to draw his pond, he found a number of 
 eels, and on opening them, the undigested remains 
 of many of the lost birds were found. Eels have 
 been caught in fresh water ponds, weighing 
 eighteen and twenty pounds. 
 
 They are supposed to be more universally spread 
 over the globe than any other tribe of animals, with 
 the exception of man. It is said that none are 
 seen above the Falls of Niagara, or in Lake Erie. 
 Some one supposes that all the eels in the inte<- 
 rior visit the sea, annually, and then return from 
 their pilgrimage to the old spot ; and it is more- 
 over asserted, but certainly on doubtful authority, 
 that if an eel remain habitually in fresh water, it 
 becomes barren. We do not credit a word of 
 this ; there is some want of accuracy in the exam- 
 ination. 
 
 Though they have been repeatedly seen fifty 
 and sixty feet high on the rocks of the cataract, 
 wending their way up, they never yet succeeded 
 in the enterprise. Mr Clinton supposes the rea- 
 son why eels do not exist in Lake Erie, if any 
 were left there on the subsiding of the waters of 
 the flood, is because their communication was cut 
 off from the ocean, and in illustration of his theo- 
 ry, relates that the Passaic river is formed by the 
 
232 APODES, 
 
 union of three considerable streams, Rockaway, 
 Long-Pond, and Ramapough creeks, until a 
 canal, some years ago, was cut around the great 
 falls at Peterson, no eel was ever seen in the wa- 
 ters above. Since that work was completed, the 
 water abounds with them, distinguished for size 
 and quality. He further remarks, that in the 
 spring, elvers or young eels are seen in immense 
 numbers, ascending these streams. 
 
 Eels, in olden times, were believed to be either 
 hermaphrodites, impregnating themselves, or else 
 they sprung spontaneously from the mud, by solar 
 influence. Oppian describes the generation thus : 
 
 *' Not thus conchs, eels and polypi embrace, 
 Nor purple lampreys rear their embryo race, 
 In selfish coils, hermaphrodite they sit, 
 And their own power, the vital spume emit, 
 Which, gradual dropp'd on sands or slimy mud, 
 A silver offering renders to the flood." 
 
 Mr Jesse says that he has been informed, upon 
 the authority of a nobleman, that if an eel is found 
 on land, its head is invariably turned towards the 
 sea, for which it is always observed to make in the 
 most direct line possible. If this information is 
 correct, and there seems to be no reason to doubt 
 it, it shows that the eel, like the swallow, is pos- 
 sessed of a strong migratory instinct. 
 
 We can ourselves partly confirm this statement, 
 
AUGUILLA. 233 
 
 for we have seen an eel more than twenty yards 
 from a river, making its way to it like a snake 
 through the grass of a moist meadow ; and what 
 is perhaps more uncommon, we have watched an 
 eel rising repeatedly to the surface of a stream to 
 bite off and feed upon the duck-weed floating at 
 the top. 
 
 An amazing number of eels are bred in the two 
 large ponds in Richmond Park, which is suffi- 
 ciently evident from the very great quantity of 
 young ones which migrate from those ponds every 
 year. We are assured that at nearly the same 
 day, in the month of May, vast numbers of young 
 eels, about two inches in length, contrived to get 
 through the pen-stock of the upper pond, and 
 then through the channel which led into the low- 
 er pond, from whence they got through another 
 pen-stock into a water course, which led them 
 eventually into the river Thames. They migra- 
 ted in one connected shoal, and in such prodigious 
 numbers, that no guess could be given as to their 
 probable amount. 
 
 An annual migration of young eels also takes 
 place in the river Thames in the month of May ; 
 and they have generally made their appearance 
 at Kingston, in their way upwards, about the sec- 
 ond week in that month, and accident has so de- 
 termined it, that for several years together it was 
 
234 APODES. 
 
 remarked that the tenth of May was the day 
 of what the fishermen call eel fair ; but they 
 have been more irregular in their proceedings since 
 the interruption of the lock at Teddington. These 
 young eels are about two inches in length, and 
 they make their approach in one regular and un- 
 deviating column of about five inches in breadth, 
 and as thick together as it is possible for them to 
 be. As the procession generally lasts two or 
 three days, and as they appear to move at the rate 
 of nearly two miles and a half an hour, some idea 
 may be formed of their enormous number. The 
 line of march is almost universally confined to one 
 bank of the river, and not on both sides at the 
 same time ; but, from some instinctive or capri- 
 cious impulse, they will cross the river, and 
 change the side without any apparent reason for 
 doing so. 
 
 When the column arrives at the entrance of a 
 tributary stream which empties itself into the riv- 
 er, a certain portion of the column will continue 
 to progress up the tributary stream, and the main 
 phalanx either cross the river to the opposite bank, 
 or will, after a stiff struggle to oppose the force of 
 the tributary branch in its emptying process, cross 
 the mouth of this estuary, and regain its original 
 line of march on the same side of the river. In 
 consequence of the young eels dispersing them- 
 
AUGUILLA. 235 
 
 selves from time to time, as occasion offers, in the 
 manner above described, the shoal must impercep- 
 tibly lessen until the whole have disposed of them- 
 selves in different places. 
 
 I have not yet been able to ascertain at what 
 distance from Kingston the shoal has been seen. 
 The locks at Hampton, Sunbury, &c., must, how- 
 ever, retard their progress upwards. These young 
 eels are easily taken : and persons who want to 
 stock their ponds with them have only to lower a 
 bucket into the midst of the shoal, which many 
 persons do, who reside in the neighborhood of the 
 river, and a sufficient number is immediately taken 
 to answer their purpose. 
 
 There is no doubt but that many of these little 
 animals perish during their progress; but the 
 numbers which are annually taken in our rivers 
 show that a sufficient quantity escape to stock 
 them abundantly. * * * The most speedy meth- 
 ed of killing an eel is by putting it into tepid 
 water. 
 
 On the marshy borders of the ocean, and at the 
 entrance of large, shallow bays, and the mouths of 
 rivers, where there is a deep soft mud, eels abound 
 beyond all human calculation. 
 
 Three varieties of the eel, only, are familiarly 
 known in Massachusetts ; yet it is very probable 
 several others exist, of which we have, at present, 
 
236 APO'DES. 
 
 no knowledge. The mud-eel is exceedingly com- 
 mon. Perhaps there is no one fish, the genera- 
 tive process of which has given naturalists more 
 vexation than this ; hence the old and vulgar no- 
 tion that there was no distinction of sex, and that 
 they originated spontaneously from the mud. Let 
 it be understood, however, that modern persever- 
 ance has settled the question, as the males can 
 readily be distinguished from the females. They 
 are viviparous, and are impregnated as all carti- 
 laginous fishes are. * 
 
 That the eel is wonderfully tenacious of life, 
 has become a proverb, live as long as an eel. 
 Hours after being deprived of the skin, as may be 
 daily noticed in the market, they continue to ex- 
 hibit violent and rapid contortions. 
 
 In the year 1803, the water from an overflown 
 quick-silver mine, at Idua, in Austria, having been 
 
 * Male crabs may be distinguished from the females by the 
 organization of the flap or apron, on the breast of both, and 
 yet this has been a long disputed point, like the quarrel about 
 the sex of eels. That on the female is large, loose, broad and 
 easily opened when the animal is alive. On the male, it is 
 smaller, firmer, and less easily opened ; under it are two 
 thread-like organs, but in the female there are two orifices, 
 tipped with cartilaginous rings. En Vunion sexuelle, IKS ft- 
 melles conchies sur leurs dos r6coivent ces excroissances fili- 
 formes dans les deux ouvertures ou 'vulva. This is the only 
 example within our knowledge, of a double piocreative appa- 
 ratus. 
 
AUGUILLA. 237 
 
 pumped out and carried into the river Idua, that 
 river became so impregnated with vitriolic acid, 
 mercury, and iron ochre, that all the fish were de- 
 stroyed, save the eels, which were found uninjured, 
 and seemed to bid defiance to every thing but ac- 
 tual roasting or boiling. 
 
 So well known is the eel, that it is unnecessary 
 to give a more minute account of its external ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 A gentleman of veracity, residing on Cape Cod, 
 informs us that in the spring an eel makes it ap- 
 pearance in that section of the country, which 
 from its peculiar locality is called the sand-eel. 
 This fish is found at different places in the sand, at 
 a distance from the water. Probably, from his 
 remarks, this fish resembles, both in conformation 
 and habits, the hassar. He has not been success- 
 ful in obtaining a specimen, as at the time of wri- 
 ting, they were not to be found. It is also very 
 possible it may be the ammodytes tobianus, or 
 sand lance, of Europe. 
 
 Aqueducts, which have their origin in still wa- 
 ter, as ponds, for example, should be carefully 
 guarded by metallic strainers, otherwise eels will 
 course through the pipes to the other extremity. 
 They seern to have a predilection for such hid- 
 ing places, but as they cannot turn round in the 
 log, nor make their exit the other way, vast ex- 
 
238 APODES. 
 
 pense may be incurred in searching for the ob 
 struction, the eel sliding along, from point to 
 point, as the workmen proceed. Such is their 
 tenacity of life, that they could live years togeth- 
 er, in this way, therefore there is no hope that 
 death and dissolution of the body, will speedily 
 remedy the evil. A few years since, in taking up 
 a joint of the aqueduct in Boston, which conducts 
 the water from Jamaica Pond, in Roxbury, an 
 eel nearly two feet in length was taken from the 
 log, that quite filled its calibre. 
 
 Prof. Hitchcock has furnished us with a speci- 
 men of the silver-eel, so called, in the vicinity of 
 Amherst College, which, though a little smaller 
 than the common mud-eel, precisely resembles it, 
 and therefore we are inclined to the opinion that 
 the shining color on the sides, which has given it 
 the name, is an accidental circumstance. 
 
 In the salt ponds of Martha's Vineyard, where 
 the tide water flows in, an eel is taken, called the 
 meshaiv-eel which has been supposed to be pecu- 
 liar to that region. David Eckley, Esq. of Boston, 
 who has a better and more practical knowledge of 
 scientific angling, than any gentleman in the cir- 
 cle of our acquaintance, has given it as his opinion 
 that this is a new species. Not having it in our 
 power to procure a specimen, at this particular 
 juncture. when the compositor is constantly re- 
 
AUGUILLA. 239 
 
 quiring manuscript, we hope to collect the facts for 
 a future period. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Montreal, in Canada, 
 the eel fishery is conducted on an immense scale ; 
 thousands upon thousands may be seen in the pens 
 on the banks of the river, writhing and twisting 
 like so many anacondas, waiting their turn to 
 be slaughtered. They are packed in barrels, well 
 salted ; and great quantities are also smoked, &c. 
 not only for home consumption, but for exporta- 
 tion. This part of the trade is the most intolera- 
 bly disgusting process a person of any sensibility 
 can witness. The St Lawrence eel is the conger, 
 some of which are several feet in length, and near- 
 ly as large as a man's arm. 
 
 The Conversations Lexicon says, that there are 
 numerous instances on record of eels having 
 attacked and overpowered boys in the water. 
 In their native element, they can certainly exert 
 prodigious strength. An oil is tried out of them, 
 which burns as well as the best whale oil. 
 
 A vulgar notion exists in this country, very gen- 
 erally, that the skins, tied round the body of an 
 individual, are powerful anti-spasmodics. Indeed, 
 it is quite common to see persons bathing, with 
 one of them twisted round the leg to keep off the 
 cramp. 
 
 Eels are the boa-constrictors of the ocean, 
 
240 APODE9. 
 
 oftentimes overpowering their prey by suddenly 
 coiling round the bodies of fishes, whose bones and 
 flesh are bruised instantly into jelly. 
 
 On the whole, we view the eel in the light of 
 a water-serpent, being the connecting link be- 
 tween purely aquatic and amphibious reptiles. 
 That the flesh is nutritious cannot be denied, and 
 so is the rattle-snake, and eaten too, by the abo- 
 rigines with as good a relish as the epicurian 
 swallows his potted eels. Though we are unwill- 
 ing to eat them ourselves, simply from the influence 
 of unpleasant associations, yet, as the toper said 
 of the flies, when he put them back into the tum- 
 bler, though we don't like to swallow them, we do 
 not know but others may.* 
 
 After the formation of ice ; in the autumn, eels 
 bury themselves two and three feet deep in the 
 mud, where they remain in a partially torpid state 
 till the returning warmth of spring ; they are so 
 easily affected by cold that individuals rarely leave 
 their quarters, unless forced to by the fishermen. 
 At the commencement of winter, multitudes of 
 
 * " Up jumped the Bacchanalian crew, on this, 
 Taking it very much amiss, 
 
 Swearing, and in the attitude to smite 
 * Lord,' cries the man, with gravely lifted eyes, 
 
 '^Though I dont like to swallow flies, 
 / did not know but others might.' " 
 
 Peter Pindar. 
 
ANGUILLA. 241 
 
 people may be seen spearing eels through holes cut 
 in the ice. The occasional appearance of them 
 in pools, and inland basins, is referable to their 
 migratory propensity, which satisfactorily explains 
 what the farmers have sometimes considered 
 a phenomenon. We are assured that in ex- 
 tremely cold weather, they exhibit an electrical 
 property. 
 
 It has been affirmed that the gastric juice of 
 several fishing birds has no solvent power on the 
 living eel, when swallowed ; and it has moreover 
 been asserted, on good authority, that it has been 
 seen to make its escape uninjured, from the her- 
 on, after having been swallowed. Admitting this 
 to be true, it will account, to some extent, for the 
 universal distribution of this species of eel, not 
 only over the New England States, but over the 
 interior of this vast country. That birds convey 
 the spawn of fishes, as they carry the seeds of 
 plants, over the whole continent, is as certain as 
 any fact in the range of natural history. 
 
 In the bay of New York, this eel has been 
 known to weigh twelve pounds. The largest on 
 record in this country, was caught in a bay of 
 Long Island, and weighed sixteen and a half 
 pounds. In Boston harbor they rarely exceed 
 five pounds, though specimens are occasionally 
 exhibited, a yard in length. 
 16 
 
242 A P o D E s , 
 
 Eel fisheries are conducted on a surprising scale 
 in some parts of Europe. In the Baltic, such vast 
 numbers are taken, that they are salted for expor- 
 tation. Two thousand have been caught in Jut- 
 land at one sweep of the net. Sixty thousand 
 are said to have been collected from the Garonne, 
 with one net, in a single day. With us, they are 
 usually taken with a spear, or in an eel-pot, con- 
 structed something like a rat-trap. Being well 
 baited with garbage, the eel squeezes through 
 the door, but cannot return again* In this man- 
 ner, bushels may be secured in a night. 
 
 It is not uncommon to have them take the hook, 
 though few are thus caught. Usually, they are 
 sold in the market, and neighboring towns, fresh, 
 for immediate consumption. 
 
 While in a state of infancy, the dog-fish de- 
 stroys immense numbers ; even the skate, which 
 is truly voracious, seems to form an alliance with 
 the dull, anchorite lobster, for the mutual purpose 
 of destroying the young fry of their worst enemy. 
 This strongly borders on a spirit of revenge. As 
 soon as the eel is fully grown, it seems to search 
 instinctively and unremittingly for young skates, 
 often not larger than a cent, and very gelatinous. 
 The lobster, however, even in adult age, is par- 
 ticularly unfortunate once a year, when its shell 
 comes off, in being exposed to the irresistible at- 
 tacks of the eel's teeth. 
 
CONGER. 243 
 
 When the lobster has the premonition that this 
 process of shedding his coat of mail is about 
 to take place, he endeavors to conceal himself in 
 the dark recesses of the rocks, beyond the discov- 
 ery of those who, like the ass in the fable, take 
 pleasure in kicking the dead lion. Thousands upon 
 thousands, however, are torn to pieces during the 
 few days that they are without a shell. In about 
 seven days another one is elaborated, and he again 
 sallies forth in the majesty of his strength, putting 
 to flight, by his very appearance, the rabble mob 
 that sought his life. 
 
 GEN. CONGER. 
 
 CONGER EEL, Murana Conger. Only occa- 
 sionally found in the harbors, though the mackerel 
 fishermen get them in deep water. One specimen 
 only has been obtained by the writer, and that 
 was unfortunately lost, by breaking the glass which 
 contained it. Though pronounced fine eating, its 
 color and shape are certainly forbidding. Some 
 have been scooped up, weighing a hundred weight. 
 The color is a yellowish white, mottled with dirty 
 spots. The mouth and throat large, the neck 
 thick, but soon becomes slender and snake-like. 
 Teeth in both jaws. In the united dorsal, caudal 
 and anal fin, there are said to be one hundred 
 and thirtynine rays. 
 
244 APODES. 
 
 The specimen of which we are speaking was 
 only about eighteen inches long, taken in the sea- 
 grass, and very spiteful and active. Its lips were 
 thick, and somewhat cartilaginous. On the whole, 
 it resembled the blenny. Sir Humphrey Davy 
 speaks of having seen the conger ten feet long. 
 
 Conger eels are occasionally obtained by the 
 fishermen, six and seven feet in length, as large 
 as a man's arm. However, on the coast of Mas- 
 sachusetts, such specimens are not so frequent as 
 farther south. 
 
 A bill was reported in the Massachusetts Legis- 
 lature, on Wednesday, March 13th, 1833, (we 
 have been particular as to the exact period, be- 
 cause it may hereafter be celebrated as an aera in 
 legislation) " to preserve the eel-fishery at Mus- 
 keeket Island, in Nantucket." Surely, this must 
 be considered the ne plus ultra of parliamentary 
 wisdom, enacting laws to prevent the extermin- 
 ation of a fish, infinitely more numerous than any 
 other species, and which it would be utterly im- 
 possible to exterminate. 
 
 The City of Boston, with this precedent, 
 ought at once to pass an ordinance in behalf, and 
 for the preservation of the cod on the banks of 
 Newfoundland, and another, forbidding all good 
 and orderly disposed people from supping on fe- 
 male lobsters, lest it should ultimately diminish 
 
CONGER. 245 
 
 the number required in the literary emporium, by 
 destroying the genuine breeders of this princi- 
 pal ingredient of a salad. But here follow 
 some of the cogent reasons for this enlightened 
 effort, which is destined to become so renowned in 
 the subsequent history of our ancient Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 It was stated, we understand, in the House, that 
 fishermen from Cape Cod went over and caught 
 a great many barrels of these fish for exporta- 
 tion. Mr Cole, a representative from O , 
 
 Barnstable county, remarked, says a gentleman 
 present, that some ten or fifteen years since, an 
 immense number of eels were caught in the coves 
 at Orleans, and that he has known a thousand 
 bushels to be taken, often, in a day. The practice 
 was, after the toil of acquiring, to score the skins 
 and hang the eels in the air till they were dried 
 hard ; then to take them down and split and salt 
 them ; after this, they were commonly roasterf 
 for family consumption, as occasion required. 
 
 Apprehension being entertained that these fish 
 would be annihilated, at that place, if such great 
 catches were allowed, an act was obtained to au- 
 thorize the selectmen of the town to regulate the 
 fishery, and now the permits range from three doz- 
 en to two bushels, for an individual, in a day, the 
 proper season. Some of the eels taken there, 
 
246 APODES, 
 
 measure two and a half inches in diameter. So 
 much for the notes of our obliging correspondent. 
 The witty editor of the Boston Evening Tran- 
 script, however, the day after the ever memora- 
 ble piscatorial triumph, goes on to say : " A bill 
 has passed the Senate, ' to preserve the Eel fishe- 
 r}^ at Muskeeket Island, within the town of Nan- 
 tucket.' We like this. We are glad the Mus- 
 IceeTcet interest is carefully looked after. Why 
 should not eels enjoy protection as well as ale- 
 wives and herrings ? There are some provisions 
 in the bill, which may be thought arbitrary, and 
 perhaps be resisted by the Muskeeket democrats, 
 if any of those odd fish are there resident. ( No 
 person shall take,' says the act, { from any creek, 
 cove or harbor, on the Island, more than three doz- 
 en eels at one time, without permit of the select- 
 men, under penalty of fifty cents for each and ev- 
 ery additional dozen so taken.' The Muskeekets 
 and their neighbors are a shrewd and slippery race, 
 and we venture to wager a skin, that no man, wo- 
 man or child will take less than three dozen and 
 eleven, provided they can catch so many. Be- 
 sides, as they may take as many eels as they can, 
 and skin and behead them as fast as they are 
 taken, a question might arise whether having only 
 the decapitated and skinless bodies in their pos- 
 session, the law would hold them guilty of hav- 
 
CONGER 247 
 
 ing entire fishes, contrary to the statute. This 
 may be a painful subject of consideration for the 
 whole Court." 
 
 Mr Ruggles, of Barre, was one of those inde- 
 pendent legislators, who conceived that there were 
 too many ornithological and icthyological laws al- 
 ready passed. When the bill to restrain the tak- 
 ing of eels at Nantucket was under consideration 
 in the House of Representatives, he concluded a 
 speech, touching the momentous subject, with the 
 following original doggerel : 
 
 '< Mankind have grown BO wise of late, 
 And rule so strict their wishes, 
 That legislators, short of work, 
 Make laws for birds and fishes." 
 
 The poor pickerel, alewives, and Taunton her- 
 ring, have undoubtedly felt a deep solicitude and 
 sympathy for the long neglected eels, on which 
 such a vast population have been feeding since the 
 landing of the pilgrims, but thanks to a humane 
 General Court, viri graves et docti, of sad 
 and "learned men, those unfeeling Cape Coders 
 are now restrained by the majesty of the law, to 
 three dozen in a day ; enough, in all conscience, 
 for a common man ; yes, the appetites of those 
 monsters will now be regulated by the conserva- 
 tory regulations of the conscript fathers of the 
 town, the selectmen ! 
 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the happy eels cannot 
 be made thoroughly acquainted with the delight- 
 ful intelligence, which gives them the privilege of 
 multiplying ad libitum, some convenient months 
 in the year, perhaps the exact time when the 
 honorable gentleman who originated the brilliant 
 project, (probably un connoisseur en anguittes,) is 
 from home, engaged in manufacturing statutes. 
 There is nothing in this intellectual age, (amicus 
 curia, the delighted eels may exclaim,) like hav- 
 ing a friend at Court. 
 
 ORDER IX. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
 
 IN this order are included several distinct fami- 
 lies, the first of which, Tanioides, have long, thin 
 bodies, with a dorsal fin the entire length ; but at 
 present are not known to exist on this coast. 
 
 In the second, Gobioides, the fishes are distin- 
 guished by slender, flexible dorsal spines ; an in- 
 testinal canal of uniform calibre, and totally desti- 
 tute of swimming bladders. The characteristics 
 of each will be noticed as we progress. 
 
ANARCHICAS. 249 
 
 FAMILY II. GOBIOIDES. 
 
 GEN. ANARCHICAS. 
 
 WOLF-FISH, or SEA-WOLF Anarchicas Lu- 
 pus. In character, the wolf-fish is a voracious 
 shark, being violent, and in proportion to its size, 
 exceedingly powerful and quarrelsome. The av- 
 erage length is three feet, though there is not a 
 season passing by, that individuals are not discov- 
 ered over four feet. The skin is smooth, glassy, 
 and of the color of sheet lead ; but further south, 
 the color is a light kind of gray, bordering upon a 
 yellowish hue under the abdomen. 
 
 In July and August, when the water is so warm 
 that they venture into the channels between the 
 islands, there is a clearer whiteness of the skin on 
 the belly than when drawn from deep water. Two 
 large pectoral fins, strongly marked, close to the 
 gills, and sharp, conical front teeth, projecting 
 beyond the lips, will first attract the notice of the 
 observer. 
 
 Within the first, is a second row of still smaller 
 teeth, but they are rather irregularly placed, mak- 
 ing about eighteen in the upper, and two thirds as 
 many in the under jaw. 
 
 By another prominent appendage, the wolf-fish 
 may be readily distinguished, viz ; an upright, 
 
250 GOBIOIDES, 
 
 broad, stiff and sharp dorsal fin, running the entire 
 length of the back ; and on the under side, the 
 anal fringe reaches to the tail. In the tail are 
 thirteen rays, and six in the branchial membrane. 
 Within the mouth, the roof is mottled with dark, 
 ferruginous patches ; and the palate bones, far- 
 ther inward towards the margin of the sesophagus, 
 are set with molar blocks, approximating, some- 
 what, in configuration and structure, double teeth. 
 With these the sea-wolf crushes clams, crabs, oys- 
 ters, lobsters, and the bones of other fishes. These 
 palatine enamelled blocks are sometimes found in 
 a fossil state, and are called toad-stones, or bufo* 
 nites. 
 
 THE SEA WOLF. 
 
 Usually., the wolf-fish is found in deep water, 
 from a quarter to ten miles from the shore, princi- 
 pally on the feeding ground of the cod. When 
 brought on deck, they erect the spines of all their 
 fins, thrash violently with the tail, and bite what- 
 ever may be within their reach. Even in the wa- 
 
ANARCHICAS. 251 
 
 ter they will snap most spitefully at an anchor, 
 which they are passing, and when enraged, they 
 manifest their ferocious disposition by repeat- 
 ed attacks on a chain cable. We have uni- 
 formly remarked that the fishermen call this the 
 cat-Jlsh, at the north, and even in this section of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 No use seems to be made of them, notwith- 
 standing that vast numbers are taken. Even in 
 baiting lobsters, which are so voracious that they 
 feed upon almost any animal substance with 
 which the trap may be loaded, this fish does not 
 seem to be used. Yet it is reputed to be very 
 good food. The Greenlanders eat it fresh, and 
 also prepare it by drying ; smoked, they have 
 the flavor of salmon. 
 
 When the population of the country is about 
 ten times its present amount, a vast number of an- 
 imals, now ^discarded from the catalogue of edibles, 
 will necessarily be considered in the light of lux- 
 uries and indispensable necessaries. The skate 
 is rejected here, altogether, on account of its hid- 
 eous form, but in foreign countries it is regarded 
 as a wholesome dish. 
 
 In the Levant, the cuttle fish, (squid,) is an 
 article of extensive trade, variously prepared ; and 
 yet it is a horrible object, when fully grown, ex- 
 tending its flexible, worm-like arms in all direc- 
 
252 GOBIOIDES. 
 
 tions, to grasp everything within its reach. In 
 the marsh ponds before alluded to, in speaking of 
 the neshaw-eel, at Martha's Vineyard, it is said 
 there are an abundance of oysters, but of a quality 
 that totally forbids their use. Necessity will pro- 
 bably hereafter compel people to eat them, and it 
 is worth the while to institute some experi- 
 ments with reference to that object. Were they 
 transplanted to the mouths of rivers, and suffered 
 to remain one or two seasons, it is altogether pro- 
 bable that they would increase in size, and become 
 so totally changed in quality, as to be tender, 
 nutritious and perfectly wholesome. 
 
 All the sources of profit and economy arising 
 from the fisheries, are not yet developed, in this 
 country, nor will they be, till absolute necessity 
 obliges individuals to investigate these rich and 
 unexplored resources of our country. From the 
 squid, cartloads of which may be raked up in a 
 day, at some particular places, the -Chinese pro- 
 cure the material for manufacturing india ink ; and 
 the Sicilians, from the same liquor, prepare a rich 
 valuable kind of soup. 
 
 When this creature is closely pursued, and there 
 is no other way of escape, it spirts this black fluid 
 into the water, which in a moment is so generally 
 diffused, as to resemble a dark cloud, through 
 which the pursuer cannot see, and thus the cuttle- 
 
ANARCHICAS. 
 
 fish makes its escape. From the gall of several 
 voracious families, a valuable water color might 
 be prepared, in quantity equal to the requirements 
 of the paper stainers. Isinglass, which is nothing 
 more than the swimming bladder of the sturgeon, 
 might be easily made from the cod, haddock 
 and whiting, to answer the demands of the mar- 
 ket. 
 
 Even the stomachs, well washed, and neatly 
 dried, are no way inferior. And finally, the of- 
 fals, as well as all the varieties of un-edible tribes, 
 spread over barren land, either sandy, or cold, on 
 account of their excessive humidity, are more ben- 
 eficial, used as manure, than any other substance. 
 The oily matter unites the particles of sand, and 
 constitutes a kind of flooring to build vegetation 
 upon ; and in the other case, the heat evolved in 
 the course of rapid decomposition, promotes the 
 growth of whatever may be rooted in the soil. 
 
 FAMILY III. LABROIDES. 
 
 An oblong body, covered with scales, is a type 
 of this family ; there is a single dorsal fin, consid- 
 erably wide on some individuals, maintained in an 
 erect position, by strong, bony spines ; the lips are 
 
254 LABROIDES. 
 
 fleshy, and the pharynx, set with either broad or 
 sharp teeth. 
 
 GEN. TAUTOGA. 
 
 TAUTOG, Labrus Tautoga. Within the re- 
 collection of gentlemen now living, the tautog was 
 unknown in the harbor of Boston. A subscrip- 
 tion was successfully undertaken for bringing 
 several of them alive in cars, from Newport, 
 Rhode Island, which were supposed the first of 
 the species which had ever been to the eastward 
 of the Cape. 
 
 It is very certain that the water in Boston har- 
 bor is altogether too salt for a variety of fishes, 
 which are known to be very common on the south 
 side of the Cape, in Long Island sound, and the 
 waters contiguous to New York. The greatest 
 variety is invariably found, where the largest 
 bodies of fresh water are emptied into the sea. 
 The mingling of the river and the ocean modifies 
 the qualities of both, so that it is found, on careful 
 observation, to be particularly favorable to the ex- 
 istence of classes that could not long endure the 
 constitutional effects of either alone. Oysters are 
 to be ranked among the orders that require a mix- 
 ture of these two kinds of water. 
 
 No fact is better established than this, that 
 oysters do not propagate on a major part of the 
 
TAUTOGA. 255 
 
 coast of Massachusetts, though when brought 
 from New Jersey, and thrown into the mud of the 
 bays, they increase in size remarkably fast. In 
 some rivers, a few miles from the ocean, the Med- 
 ford, for example, in the neighborhood of Boston, 
 oysters once abounded in considerable plenty, but 
 circumstances have finally conspired to reduce 
 them so much, that they are at present hardly con- 
 sidered to exist there at all. The tautog is one of 
 the fish constituted for that mixture of salt and fresh 
 water, and hence it will never flourish, where there 
 are so few rivers as in the neighborhood of Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 Tautogs are highly prized, but the Boston mar- 
 ket, allowed to be the first in New England, is but 
 poorly supplied with them ; whenever they are for 
 sale, it seems to be the result of accident, as no 
 particular effort is made to search for them exclu- 
 sively. 
 
 Before us lies a specimen, weighing seven 
 pounds, washed on shore after a severe storrri. 
 Tautog, is a Mohegatt Indian word, meaning black, 
 and it is familiarly called Hack-fish, and black- 
 bass. Several species are known in the southern 
 market, viz : L. T. fusca, L. T. rubens, and L. 
 T. alia. 
 
 To a lover of good fish, the exhibition of the 
 tautog, as we have observed them in the New 
 
256 LABROIDES. 
 
 York market, swimming at the moment of sale, 
 must be particularly interesting. 
 
 As it respects color, the tautog, though denom- 
 inated black, is in reality, a dusky, smoky brown, 
 only really black on the back. The lips, lower 
 jaw and abdomen, are of a dingy white.; the mouth 
 is small, and the lips thick, retractile, and expos- 
 ing the front teeth, which project from the upper 
 jaw; the two middle ones are large, but the re- 
 maining, as they run back, are graduated in size, 
 becoming quite small. The tongue is white, pret- 
 ty smooth, and closely embedded between the 
 
 THE TAUTOG. 
 
 bones of the jaw ; the tail is entire, the middle 
 ray being strong and stiff; gill cover smooth, with- 
 out scales, and not serrated on the margin. Deep 
 in the fauces is a cluster of broad teeth, for the 
 obvious purpose of crushing shells ; the back is 
 considerably arched, and the belly prominent. 
 There are in the dorsal fin seventeen naked 
 
T A U T O G A . 257 
 
 spines, projecting their points above the web, and 
 two spinous rays behind the vent. 
 
 Those who are best acquainted with the quali- 
 ties of the tautog, will acknowledge that it is far 
 from being handsomely formed. The projecting 
 teeth, the narrow head, rolling lips and dorsal 
 spears, are somewhat forbidding points ; but the 
 various ways in which the cook presents it, does 
 away the first unfavorable impressions. It has 
 long been esteemed a delicate, nutritious, finely 
 flavored food, superior to most of the edible species 
 in this section of the country. Baking and boil- 
 ing are said to be the preferable modes of cook- 
 ing it. 
 
 The tautog abounds in the vicinity of Long 
 Island, near New York, and probably rarely leaves 
 the salt water ; like the sturgeon, and other ana- 
 dromous fishes, it has not been detected in any of 
 the rivers emptying into Long Island sound. In 
 the vicinity of rocks, reefs jutting into the ocean, 
 and over rocky bottoms, are the localities where 
 the fishermen seek it. It is said, that in cars, the 
 tautog may be fattened, and much improved in 
 flavor. 
 
 After severe cold weather commences, it is a 
 curious fact in the history of this fish, that a mem- 
 brane forms over the vent, entirely closing it, and 
 food is no longer required, indeed they refuse 
 17 
 
258 LABROIDES. 
 
 it, till the returning warmth of spring. When the 
 dog-wood blossoms, (cor mis florida^) in April, it 
 is a sign that the tautog has a returning appetite ; 
 at least, this is the vulgar opinion. The New 
 York fishermen, says the late Dr Mitchell, are 
 governed in this respect by the chesnut leaves, 
 when there are no dog-wood bushes in their 
 neighborhoods. 
 
 " When chesnut leaves are as big as a thumb nail, 
 Then bite the black-fish without fail ; 
 But when the leaves are as long as a span, 
 Then catch black-fish if you can." 
 
 A thunder shower, accompanied with lightning, 
 is said invariably to disperse them from their ac- 
 customed places of resortj and a northeast wind is 
 a sure indication of poor success in the sport of 
 fishing for them. 
 
 In the New York market, we are informed that 
 several varieties are exhibited, viz : 
 
 The labrus tautoga fusca, having bands and 
 zones of a brown color ; labrus tautoga rubens, 
 with reddish hues, giving the fish a changeable 
 color ; and lastly, the labrus tautoga alia, mot- 
 tled and clouded. 
 
 We are fully of the opinion, from our own ex- 
 amination in the market at New York, where all 
 these varieties are sold, that the difference of com- 
 plexion is altogether an accidental affair, depend- 
 
CORICUS. 259 
 
 ing on the age, or influence which the water, at 
 particular localities, has on the skin, and that only 
 one species exists in this or that portion of the 
 country. 
 
 GEtf; CORICUS, CHOGSET. 
 
 BLUE PERCH, GUNNER, NIPPER, BERGALL, 
 BLUE-FISH, and CHOGSET, Labrus Coricus, 
 vel. Chogset. Since the commencement of this 
 little volume, no one species has given us more 
 trouble and perplexity in the classification than 
 this. It is admitted that it is wholly unknown in 
 Europe, at least so far as respects the color. 
 
 Chogset is an Indian name, Bergall is the New 
 York, Perch the Boston, and dinner, its univer- 
 sal cognomen the further we go to the east. 
 Sometimes it is ten inches in length, but usually 
 varies from three inches to eight. 
 
 On this coast, it may always be recognised by 
 its bluish color, approaching a dark green, varying 
 however, by the manner in which the scales re- 
 ceive the rays of light. When drawn from deep 
 water, the green evidently predominates. About 
 the wharves, they are not as large as on the cod 
 ground, weighing from three ounces, to about one 
 pound. The fish is probably better developed 
 here than at the south of the Cape, the water be- 
 ing both colder and salter, qualities which are con- 
 ducive to its growth. 
 
260 LABR01DES. 
 
 The mouth is small, lips readily turn back from 
 the teeth, which are sharp, small and rounded at 
 the base, being not far from sixteen in each jaw, 
 projecting at different angles. On the back is one 
 long, stiff rayed fin, which is erected or laid back 
 at the pleasure of the fish, often troublesome, on 
 that account, in disengaging it from the hook, as 
 the fingers are sometimes severely wounded by 
 the points of the spines, of which there are 
 eighteen. The lateral line is not always distinct; 
 gill cover in three pieces ; caudal fin nearly square 
 at the end, pectorals broad, strong, and armed 
 with naked spines ; and the skin covered with 
 small, hard scales. 
 
 This fish is one of the most common on the at- 
 lantic coast of New England, taken in all weather 
 and at all places, where the tide ebbs and flows 
 freely, from spring till autumn. 
 
 This fish is the vexation of anglers, being 
 always at hand to nibble the bait, and too ingenious 
 and active in picking the hook, to be caught, un- 
 less the apparatus is well prepared for it. A 
 small, twisted hook, well covered with the mus- 
 cular part of a clam, is the most successful bait, 
 and the fishermen should begin his operations on 
 the first of the flood. 
 
 Millions on millions are scooped up in nets, 
 very similar in construction to the metallic hoop- 
 
CO RIG US. 261 
 
 ed purses. Being lowere'd in a still cove, where 
 they are moving about in prodigious shoals, they 
 rush into the bag to snatch at the floating food ; 
 as the man raises it he shuts the clasps, and thus 
 draws a bushel into the boat at once. 
 
 To prepare these fish for- the table it is custom- 
 ary to strip the skin off entirely, leaving the flesh 
 white and delicate. For frying they are excellent. 
 Boys are everywhere seen at the docks and on 
 the bridges, about Boston, in the season, enjoying 
 the delightful sport of drawing up the never fail- 
 ing perch. One cause of this great plenty, we 
 apprehend, arises from the circumstance that 
 other fishes are unwilling to molest them, on ac- 
 count of the dangerous effects of the spines. 
 
 It is pretended that there is a remarkable varie- 
 ty of the blue-perch, having a reddish shade 
 all over the body. For ourselves, we do not 
 credit it ; there seems to be a strange ambition 
 influencing some of our naturalists, to discqver 
 new species, which never existed except in their 
 own distempered imaginations. To all appear- 
 ance, the perch or cunner is the tautog in minia- 
 ture, and if it were black it would be supposed 
 the young of that fish. 
 
 WEAK-FISH, SQUETEAGUE, or SQ.UETEE, 
 Labrus Squeteague. Unpoetical as the name is, 
 
262 LABROIDES, 
 
 the fish is much valued, though few seem to be ta- 
 ken to the north of Holmes' Hole. The teeth are 
 tolerably strong, the pharyngeal patches resem- 
 bling grinders ; the lips are thick and doubled ; 
 operculum without spines or scales ; mouth wide, 
 accompanied with fine labial teeth ; two dorsal fins, 
 in the first of which are eight rays ; sixteen in the 
 pectoral and seventeen in the caudal fin. The 
 lateral line is continued quite into the inter-spi- 
 nous web ; nostrils double, and the lowest jaw the 
 longest. Another name for the squeteague, is 
 " checout" of aboriginal origin. 
 
 We know of nothing particularly interesting in 
 the character of this fish. It appears by the ob- 
 servations of fishermen, that it never visits rivers, 
 but resembles in habits the tautog, being partial 
 to similar grounds. Vast quantities are carried to 
 the city of New York, where it is considered val- 
 uable, as a common small fish, though, like the 
 blue-perch or bergall, it is presented of all inter- 
 mediate sizes, from three inches to twelve. It 
 is taken both by lining and seining, and because 
 it makes such feeble exertion and resistance, in be- 
 ing drawn by a hook, it has received the appella- 
 tion of weak- fish. 
 
 SPOTTED-SQUETEE, Labrus Sque. Macu- 
 latus. This is nearly the same ; if there are oth- 
 
C R E N I L A B RU S . 263 
 
 er varieties we have not succeeded in procuring 
 them. The fins are somewhat brownish, and dark 
 spots are indistinctly seen on the sides. 
 
 GEN. CRENILA3RUS. 
 
 BLUE-BACK, Crenilabrus Merula. This ap- 
 pears to be the perca varia of Dr Mitchell, 
 which is an abundant and savory article at New 
 York, and usually caught at Sandy Hook. It is 
 only occasionally found in Massachusetts, under 
 the name of the blue-back, in reference, probably, 
 to its color. The length varies from ten inches 
 to sixteen, having large scales, and u ndivided cau- 
 dal fin. In the branchial membrane are eight 
 rays; pectoral fin eighteen, ventral six, dorsal 
 twentyone, anal eleven, and caudal seventeen rays. 
 
 A fish very similar, crenilabrus lapina, of the 
 Mediterranean, is spotted in three rows, on the 
 side, and at Sandy Hook, it is speckled with black 
 and white, from the head to the tail. A differ- 
 ence in the quality of the water, in this instance, 
 certainly gives the New Yorkers the advantage 
 over us, in possessing an excellent fish, which, 
 when it wanders into this vicinity, is not only 
 changed in color, but rendered impotent and bar- 
 
 o 
 
 ren. 
 
264 PERCOIDES. 
 
 FAMILY IV. PERCOIT>ES. 
 
 BY close examination, it will be observed that 
 the perches, says a writer to whom we are indebt- 
 ed for the discovery, have the dorsal and anal fin 
 slightly scaled, and supported, anteriorly, by sharp 
 spines, the foremost Being sohietimes follded back 
 and concealed in the scales and dorsal furrow. 
 The body is covered with scales, which are gene- 
 rally large in proportion to the magnitude of the 
 fish ; the intestines are large and provided with 
 coacums, but the swimming bladder is disconnect- 
 ed with the stomach by air ducts. The sparoi- 
 des have one dorsal fin running the entire length of 
 the back, but the perseques have two, or rather 
 there is a tolerably well marked division between 
 the spinous and adipose portions of the organ. 
 
 GEN. SCORPJENA. 
 
 MAJOR-DEVIL, YELLOW SCULPIN, Scorpa- 
 na Porous, [Lin. vel,flava.] Whether this out- 
 rageously ugly fish gets the name of major-devil 
 because it presents a more horrible aspect than 
 the cottus family, it is not important to inquire. 
 Linnaeus, in this genus, included fish with tuber- 
 culated or spinous heads, pendant cirri, and other 
 cranial accompaniments, conducing to a truly hor- 
 rible appearance. 
 
SCORP^ENA. 265 
 
 The specimen before us is not far from fifteen 
 inches long, thick through the head and shoul- 
 ders ; gills enormous, gape of the mouth wide, lips 
 tendon-like, fins broad and stiff, and the body of 
 a dirty yellowish complexion, having the appear- 
 ance of being partially coated with patches of 
 short moss. 
 
 Shaw gives a vivid description of the scorpaena 
 horrida, a native of the Indian Seas, which is so 
 absolutely forbidding, as to realize to the eye all 
 that the most vivid imagination considers horrible. 
 At times we are inclined to believe the one be- 
 fore us a variety of that, species. The margin of 
 the lips are fringed with scolloped, membranous 
 ribbons, hanging down and floating like oak-leaves, 
 so that it would seem difficult to swallow, with- 
 out drawing them into- the mouth. We cannot 
 explain their use, yet it is certain they subserve 
 some important purpose: The head is large, cov- 
 ered with tubercles,, broad bumps and depress^ 
 ions. 
 
 In the dorsal fin are twentynine rays ; the first 
 sixteen are stiff,, but the remainder are of the 
 character that would place the fish among the per- 
 seques. There are twenty rays in the caudal, fif* 
 teen in the anal, and three in the ventral fins ; the 
 gill membrane has seven rays. When the mouth is 
 open, and put upon the stretch, as noticeable when 
 
"266 PfiRCOIDES. 
 
 the scorpaena is first drawn from the water, the 
 top of the aesophagus may be distinctly observed ; 
 the gills are bloated, the fins spread, and the writh- 
 ing of its body, and snapping of its jaws, to- 
 gether with the singular appearance of its wrinkled, 
 loose skin, apparently much too large for the body, 
 actually shock the spectator. 
 
 There are infinitely more marvellous animal for- 
 mations in the ocean than on the land ; in some 
 instances the departure from the ordinary laws 
 of symmetry is exceedingly striking. In this 
 case, we involuntarily associate the idea of hor- 
 rible propensities^ and actually excite a tremor of 
 nervous disgust, by the mere power of imagina- 
 tion. 
 
 Scorpcena Scrofa, having cirri under the 
 eyes, and dangling from the lateral line, are some- 
 times taken in fishing in very deep water. All 
 the specimens we have seen prove conclusively 
 that they plough through the mud in search of 
 shells, cuttle-fish, sea-eggs, as they are called, and 
 the like kinds of food, and it is not improbable, 
 that the leaves which float about the body so con- 
 ceal it, that the appearance is that of a roll of 
 weeds, thus enabling the scorpaena more cer- 
 tainly and effectually to steal upon its prey. 
 
MUGIL 267 
 
 Scorpana Gibbosa, another, by no means a 
 distant relation of the family, with forked spines 
 and broad pectoral fins, is also taken under sim- 
 ilar circumstances. It would seem that they lurk 
 about the feeding places of other more active spe- 
 cies ; and it is quite probable, that they are suc- 
 cessful in seizing the cod, the gape of the mouth, 
 even in those often inches, being large enough to 
 receive the entire head of a good sized one. They 
 could not swallow a morsel so large, but by killing 
 the fish they might afterwards feed upon the car- 
 case leisurely, in the dark regions where they are 
 unquestionably organised to thrive. 
 
 <JEN. MUGIL; 
 
 From th-e following characteristics, the tribe of 
 mullets will be readily known, viz : " the head is 
 depressed, broad and scaly," says Stark. " The 
 ventral fins are under the abdomen, and there are 
 two short, distant dorsal fins, of which the first or 
 spinous, is further back than the ventrals, and the 
 second answers to the anaL; mouth with fleshy, 
 crenulated lips, lower jaw with a carination in the 
 middle, entering into a corresponding groove in 
 the upper ; no teeth ; branchial membrane with 
 three rays." 
 
 Besides having a rich grayish color, longitudi- 
 nally shaded by brownish parallel lines, the abdo- 
 
268 PERCOIDES. 
 
 men is silvery, and the fins are tipped with a live- 
 ly blue shade. Its figure is really elegant, there 
 being a peculiar plumpness, and at the same time 
 hardness, invariably indicating a delicate table fish. 
 We have not yet obtained a mullet in the waters 
 of Massachusetts, though we are assured one 
 species does exist. 
 
 In the Literary and Philosophical Society's 
 Transactions of New York, we find mention made 
 of the New York mullet, mugil albula, having 
 twelve or thirteen rows of scales on a side. Not- 
 withstanding the minute description there given, 
 we think that there must be some mistake, and 
 our private opinion is, that no other species than 
 the red mullet is a native fish ; yet we have been 
 particular in the scientific description, that it may 
 lead to further examination. 
 
 If mullets are ever detected on these shores, 
 they are to be sought for in rocky localities, where 
 the water is clear and pure. There are places 
 where all experience teaches that particular tribes 
 have a certain penchant, as the halibut for one, and 
 the perches for another. Let the depredations be 
 ever so flagrant on the colony's grounds, they are 
 rarely discouraged, but endeavor to maintain their 
 station by the mass of inhabitants, whose front is 
 presented to the persevering enemy. In this re- 
 
MUGIL. 269 
 
 spect, they resemble, in habits, the gregarious 
 wild cattle of South America. 
 
 Careful observation has confirmed the declara- 
 tion of the old settlers on the shores of Lake 
 Champlain, that one species of fishes is found on 
 one side of the lake, and never, under any circum- 
 stances., on the other. Dog-fish, and others of sim- 
 ilar properties, are the wolves of all inshore marine 
 fishes, forever prowling in the vicinity of such 
 piscatory settlements, stealing and mangling the 
 victims that accidentally fall in their way. At 
 times, those marauders get the ascendency, by the 
 destruction they make, but the moment the 
 citadel is taken, they forsake the premises, in 
 search of another to wage war upon. As the dog- 
 fish abounds at the north side of the Cape, it is 
 possible thay have broken up the settlements 
 which otherwise might be formed. 
 
 " Deep in the wave is a coral grove, 
 Where the purple mullet and gold-fish rove." 
 
 While contemplating the social character of cer- 
 tain families of the ocean, it has occurred to us, that 
 some of them may actually possess the elements, 
 if nothing more, of maternal solicitude for their 
 offspring. 
 
 Naturalists, with one single exception, which 
 will be presently considered, have not discovered 
 
270 PERCOIDES, 
 
 any degree of affection manifested by the female 
 fish for her young. One is warranted in suppos- 
 ing that the hassar, of which Dr Hancock gives a 
 glowing account in the 14th number of the Zoo- 
 logical Journal, belongs to an order vastly more 
 civilized than those on this side of the Atlantic. "It 
 is asserted by naturalists that no fishes are known 
 to take any care of their offspring ; both the species 
 of hassar, mentioned below, however, make a 
 regular nest, in which they lay their eggs in a flat- 
 tened cluster, and cover them over most carefully. 
 Their care does not end here. They remain by 
 the side of the nest till the spawn is hatched, with 
 as much solicitude as a hen guards her eggs ; 
 both the male and female hassar (a species of 
 Doras,) for they are monogamous, steadily watch- 
 ing the spawn, and courageously attacking the as- 
 sailant. Hence the negroes frequently take them 
 by putting their hands into the water close to the 
 nest ; on agitating which the male hassar springs 
 furiously at them, and is thus captured. The 
 round-head forms its nest of grass, the flat-head 
 of leaves. Both at certain seasons burrow in the 
 bank. They lay their eggs only in wet weather. 
 " I have been surprised to observe the sudden 
 appearance of numerous nests in a morning af- 
 ter rain occurs, the spot being indicated by a 
 bunch of froth, which appears on the surface of 
 
271 
 
 the water over the nest. Below this are the eggs, 
 placed on a bunch of fallen leaves or grass, if it be 
 the litteral species, which they cut and collect to- 
 gether. By what means this is effected, seems 
 rather mysterious, as the species are destitute of 
 cutting teeth. It may possibly be by the use of 
 their arms, which form the first ray of the pecto- 
 ral fins." 
 
 GEN. SARMULLUS. 
 
 RED MULLET, Mullus Barbatus. Red mul- 
 lets have appeared, within the last few years, in 
 the neighborhood of Boston, but not being at all 
 prized, a few only have been exhibited in the 
 market. 
 
 It has a sloping head, two cirri under the chin, 
 three rays in the branchial membrane, and two 
 dorsal fins ; the eyes of the variety of which we 
 are speaking, are wonderfully large, light colored 
 and watery, and out of all proportion to the 
 body, which averages fourteen inches in length. 
 
 'As the severity of winter increases, the surmul- 
 let seeks the shore ; it is in winter, therefore, and 
 only then, they are caught. It was one of the 
 luxuries in the most corrupt age of Rome, to have 
 these red fishes swimming in a vessel, under the 
 tables of the opulent, that guests might enjoy the 
 refined pleasure of seeing the color fade away, as 
 
272 PERCOIDES. 
 
 they slowly expired, when the water was drawn 
 off. 
 
 A gentleman of our acquaintance, who ventur- 
 ed to put the prejudices against the red devil at 
 defiance, and have it dressed for his tables, made 
 a bad report of its edible qualities. He says it was 
 both dry and tasteless, but there must have been 
 some failure, first in the culinary operation, and 
 secondly in the dressing. The exorbitant price 
 the surmullet once bore, and the value still 
 placed upon it by modern transatlantic gourmands, 
 induce us to believe that its qualities in this coun- 
 try are poorly understood. At Savannah, New 
 Orleans, and the Floridas, we are informed, it 
 is very common, but know nothing of the estima- 
 tion in which it is held. 
 
 GEN. PERCA. 
 
 The snout is destitute of scales ; the two dorsal 
 fins very nearly of equal length ; the gill-cov- 
 er spinous ; pre-opercula dentated, and ventral fins 
 on the thorax. 
 
 Perhaps there is not another fish, with the ex- 
 ception of the eel, so universally spread over the 
 globe, as the fresh water perch. It is delicate 
 food, and therefore exceedingly valued. From the 
 largest rivers, above the influence of tides, to the 
 smallest rills, which trickle down the sides of the 
 
PERCA. 273 
 
 lofty mountain, the perch is always to be found. 
 They swim swiftly, keeping near the surface, feed- 
 ing on flies and minute insects. In the lake of Ge- 
 neva a female was caught, from which 992,000 
 ova were taken. This fact shows very clearly 
 that it is marvellously prolific, yet not ten in a 
 hundred of the ova arrwe at maturity, being the 
 food of others. To the Greeks and Romans this 
 fish was perfectly familiar. 
 
 COMMON PERCH, -^- P erca Fluniatilis . A beau- 
 tiful fish, this, having an olive brown tinge, inter- 
 mingled with a golden hue, together with dark 
 bands, transversely coursing the sides. The first 
 dorsal fin is somewhat larger than the second, and 
 marked posteriorly by a particular dark spot. All 
 
 THE COMMON PERCH. 
 
 the fins are tinged with a lively red, when first 
 brought out of the water ; the same color is also 
 observed on the under edge of the gill membrane. 
 18 
 
274 PERCO1DES 
 
 SILVER PERCH, Bodianus Leucos. Hav- 
 ing white and glittering scales, an arched back and 
 prominent abdomen, even tail, a wedge-shaped 
 head, good sized mouth, smooth tongue, lateral 
 line partaking of the curve of the dorsum, yellow- 
 ish fins, with seventeen rays in the caudal, twelve 
 in the dorsal, six in the ventral, and fifteen in the 
 pectoral. This little fish varies from three to eight 
 inches in length, is found in New Hampshire, Ver- 
 mont, Maine, and, in fact, in all the rivers, brooks 
 and ponds in New England and New York, 
 
 RED PERCH, Bodianus Rufus. This is a 
 little larger than the silver perch, and though de- 
 nominated red, is really nearly black, after it 
 has done spawning, Operculum serrated, the tail 
 slightly forked, and the jaws and swallow set with 
 fine sharp teeth. Usually, the three first rays in 
 the anal fin are stiff, very common wherever 
 the others are found. 
 
 WHITE PERCH, Bodianus Pallidus. With 
 scales appearing like spots on the sides ; fins yel- 
 lowish, with the exception of the dorsal, which is 
 brown ; the tail is not forked ; the middle portion 
 of the gill cover rough and thorny ; the two dor- 
 sal fins coalesce. Six branchial rays, fourteen pec- 
 
PERCA. 275 
 
 toral, six ventral, nine dorsal, twelve anal, and 
 twentyfive caudal. 
 
 Pond-Perch, is another common name in the 
 country for the same fish ; we cannot discover 
 any kind of difference whatever. 
 
 YELLOW PERCH, Bodianus Flavescens. Un- 
 der favorable circumstances, for instance, in a deep, 
 large pond, shaded by a thrifty growth of brush- 
 wood on the margin, the yellow* perch attains a 
 large size, and becomes elegant in its proportions. 
 In the pectoral fins are fourteen, ventral five, anal 
 twelve, caudal eighteen or twenty, and dorsal 
 fourteen rays. 
 
 As long ago as in the year 1790, Dr Mitchell, 
 of New York, conveyed three dozen of yellow 
 perch in a churn, from Rockankama pond, in Suf- 
 folk, to Success pond, in Queens', a distance, of 
 forty miles, where they had never been seen, and 
 from that period to the present time, they have 
 continued to multiply and keep the water amply 
 stocked. In our humble view, the yellow fins of the 
 silver perch, entitle it to the name and rank of the 
 one before us, and further, we believe they are 
 one and the same thing, the trifling difference 
 of color depending on circumstances, repeatedly 
 adverted to in various other places. The love 
 and ambition of subdivision the longing to be 
 
276 PERCOIDES. 
 
 the creator of new genera and species, has iatrodu- 
 ced more confusion into works of natural history, 
 than can be expurgated in fifty years of common 
 sense to come. 
 
 The universal distribution of this family has led 
 to some curious hypotheses of the manner in which 
 the ova were dispersed. About fifty years ago, all 
 at once, perch were discovered in all the lakes in 
 Ireland, and in the Shannon. 
 
 Mr Clinton quotes the remark from Gmelin, 
 that ducks may swallow the eggs of fishes and 
 eject them again, unhurt, so that they will after- 
 wards come to maturity. Adanson, in Africa, ob- 
 served small fishes, in morasses formed by recent 
 rains, which were red, and lively. Whenever the 
 water was evaporated they died, and after a new 
 rain others appeared like them. Within six or 
 seven years, early walkers discovered on Boston 
 common, one morning, an immense number of live 
 fishes on the grass. In this case the wind had an 
 agency. 
 
 Dr Hosack, many years since, had an artificial 
 pond excavated in a botanic garden, which to 
 the utter surprise of everybody was speedily sup- 
 plied with little fish. All these instances of the 
 spontaneous birth offish are not so very miraculous 
 as would at first appear. Birds are the unques- 
 tionable agents in the transportation of the ova, 
 
PERCA. 277 
 
 either in their own bodies, or sometimes by actu- 
 ally carrying the body of a dead fish, filled with 
 ova. 
 
 Ponds may be successfully stocked by carrying 
 the eggs in water. The Chinese practise this 
 profitably. Fish may be - transported from coun- 
 try to country in a jar of" water, if careful to 
 change it occasionally on the voyage. An elec- 
 trical eel, which we have before noticed, in this 
 way was brought to Boston from South Ameri- 
 ca, alive. 
 
 The following^ fish belongs to the fourth divis- 
 ion of the family Percoides, distinguished by irreg- 
 ular teeth, a branchial membrane with seven rays, 
 operctila dentated, or set with some sort of spines, 
 and lastly, according to the system of classifica- 
 tion we are pursuing, should be grouped with the 
 Perseques. 
 
 STRIPED BASSE, ROCK-BASSE, Percn La- 
 brax. [Lin. Sciaena Bloch.] On the sides are 
 parallel lines, like narrow ribbons, eight in number, 
 which give it the name of striped basse ; the scales 
 are large, of a metallic lustre ; in the operculum 
 the middle plate is serrated ; the last portion of 
 the third plate, the gill cover, constituted of three 
 pieces, has two nearly concealed spines. 
 
278 P EEC O IDES. 
 
 In the branchial membrane are seven rays, pec- 
 toral sixteen, ventral six, dorsal eight in the first, 
 and fourteen in the second, anal fifteen, and in the 
 caudal seventeen ; some of them in each fin ac- 
 cording to the size it would appear of the individ- 
 ual, are stiff or spinous. 
 
 Three or four of the stripes reach the tail, 
 the number not always being constant ; and the 
 remainder gradually disappear at different points 
 on the abdominal walls ; the eyes are white, the 
 head strikes one as being long, and the under jaw, 
 as in the pike, juts beyond its fellow. Next to 
 the mackerel, this is decidedly the handsomest of 
 the native fishes. 
 
 Basse, says the late distinguished De Witt Clin- 
 ton, is a Dutch word, signifying perch. The resem- 
 blance between the fishes in Lake Erie, and those 
 in the Atlantic is so striking, that they must be re- 
 ferred to a common origin. It cannot be true 
 that our inland fresh water seas were peopled with 
 aquatic beings when the deluge subsided. That 
 some of the lakes may have received inhabitants 
 in that way we should not attempt to deny ; but 
 that there has been no other mode of stocking 
 them is so unphilosophical, that it would greatly 
 embarrass a man to maintain an argument to that 
 effect. In this same Lake Erie are found the 
 rock-basse, and the white basse, a fac-simile of the 
 
P E R C A . 279 
 
 striped basse of the ocean ; yet nothing would be 
 more difficult than to hold a water communication 
 with the sea. Even the herring, supposed to 
 require salt water at least some part of the year, is 
 a steady resident of this lake. 
 
 Our remarks on the probable manner in which 
 eels are distributed over the country, will also ex- 
 plain the mystery of these Atlantic fishes being in 
 fresh water, equally developed, and obviously cli- 
 mated, because the species have not become 
 deteriorated, birds have doubtless been the 
 agents in transporting the spawn. 
 
 Striped basse are a sea fish, but principally sub- 
 sist near the mouths of rivers, up which they 
 run as high as they can conveniently go. During 
 the approach of winter, instead of striking out into 
 the deep water of the open ocean, like most other 
 anadromous species, the basse finds a residence 
 in ponds, coves, rivers, and still arms of the sea, 
 where, undisturbed and comfortable it remains 
 till the following spring. The principal rivers in 
 the state of Maine, as the Penobscot, &c., are 
 the places where they are now taken in the great- 
 est abundance, and of the finest flavor and size. In 
 all the rivers too, of Massachusetts, they are also 
 found, at the inclement season of winter,, but 
 the fishery is not so productive as in Maine, 
 whence the best in the Boston market are annual- 
 ly brought. 
 
280 PERCOIDES. 
 
 It is thought that the basse remains more con- 
 stantly on the coast, through the year, than almost 
 any other fish, being taken in every month, but 
 most valued in the keen, severely cold weather 
 of winter. They weigh from three to fifty pounds. 
 
 A striped basse, weighing' forty pounds, was 
 taken by a colored servant on the banks of Har- 
 laem river, a little south of the bridge. The fish 
 was discovered by the man from the end of the 
 dock, which projected some distance into the 
 river. At times he would sail gently along past the 
 dock into quite shoal water, but how to capture 
 him was the question. No net, or hook and bait 
 was at hand, and as the golden opportunity might 
 not last long, our hero resolved to encounter him 
 single handed in his native element, and at a favor- 
 able moment he leaped from the dock directly upon 
 his back. The affrighted fish darted from under 
 him as though a shark was in pursuit, and as luck 
 would have it, took a direction for the shore, and 
 ran up nearly high and dry into the mud. Before 
 he could get fairly afloat again, and have plenty 
 of sea room to make his escape, the colored man 
 seized him by the gills, dragged him upon the 
 beach, and secured his prize. 
 
 Not many years ago there was a strange and 
 fatal epidemic raging among the basse in Boston 
 harbor. Great numbers floated towards the navy 
 
PERCA. 281 
 
 yard, at Charlestown, much swollen, and speedily 
 putrescent after coming to the surface. Whether 
 some deleterious matter from the common sewers 
 of the city poisoned the water, or whether a con- 
 tagious disease was propagated from one to the 
 other, could not be ascertained. That a small 
 quantity, comparatively, of poison, may be so gen- 
 erally diffused, as to exert a deleterious influence 
 on aquatic life, has been conclusively proved in the 
 case of the sinking of a small cargo of lime, which 
 caused the death of an incredible number of fishes. 
 That epidemics occasionally prevail in the ocean, 
 appears to be admitted, proving exceedingly de- 
 structive to particular species. 
 
 Judge Davis intended to have presented us 
 some remarks on a great mortality of the fishes in 
 and about the old town of Plymouth, many years 
 since, but we have unfortunately not yet received 
 them. When the new volcano of Graham's Isl- 
 and appeared between the island of Pantellaria, and 
 Seiacca on the southwest part of Sicily, distant 
 about thirty miles from either place, 'in 1831, the 
 havoc the heated water and sulphureous vapor made 
 among the fishes, was indeed extraordinary. Mill- 
 ions of them were seen, for miles around, floating' 
 on the tops of the restless waves, either dead, or in 
 the last agonies of death. 
 
 By what authority Dr Mitchell gave his own, 
 
282 PERCOIDES. 
 
 name to the striped basse, " Perca MitchilU" we 
 cannot divine ; he might with equal propriety 
 have tacked his name to the white shark, or the 
 bones of the mastodon, and the last would have sa- 
 vored less of vanity, than the affixing his cognomen 
 to a common table fish, known from time imme- 
 morial, all over Europe. These remarks are not 
 made in a spirit of envy, nor with a disposition 
 to be disrespectful towards the memory of an emi- 
 nently distinguished American naturalist. 
 
 We have not succeeded in procuring a single 
 specimen of the " Perca MitchilU Interrupta" of 
 that author, nor one of the "Perca MitchilU Alter- 
 nata" which are laid down in his communication to 
 the New York Literary and Philosophical Society. 
 And the Uack-harry, or hauna-hilis, or blue-fish, 
 on which considerable labor has been bestowed in 
 the description, though successfully sought near 
 Sandy Hook, does not appear to have an abiding 
 place in Massachusetts. One old fashioned basse, 
 only, whose stripes are sometimes black and some- 
 times blue, at one time dotted, and at another pre- 
 senting interrupted lines, according to the season, or 
 its physical condition, is known to us from Cape 
 Cod to Maine. 
 
 " If," says Governor Clinton, " the whole world 
 contains one thousand species of fish, as is said, it 
 is not unreasonable to suppose the United States 
 
URANOSCOBUS. 283 
 
 and their dependencies contain between three and 
 four hundred." We fully assent to the opinion of 
 the probable number of species, but, so far from 
 consenting to the supposition that four hundred of 
 them live upon the Atlantic coast of the United 
 States and the inland waters, we confess our belief 
 is that the number will fall far short. Nature has 
 been bountiful beyond the deserts of the country, 
 in natural productions, but we are too apt, in the 
 love of home, to over estimate its comforts not 
 that we would be understood, as it regards their 
 value to ourselves, but as they would be estimated 
 by the stranger. 
 
 Our coal mines are no better than those of Eng- 
 land, our metals are neither more abundant nor 
 purer ; the birds in America are not more musical 
 than on other continents, nor are the fishes more 
 various, or of a superior quality ; all our writers on 
 natural history have fallen into an error, we appre- 
 hend, in multiplying species unwarrantably, 
 which will not only subject us to ridicule, but also 
 retard the advancement of true scientific knowl- 
 edge, by requiring the industry of future writers 
 to correct old and deep-rooted errors. 
 
 GEN. URANOSCOPUS. 
 
 Uranoscopus Scaber, Among the singular 
 productions of the ocean, this fish must be regard- 
 
284 PERCOIDES. 
 
 ed as one of peculiar ugliness. Its hea pis in 
 shape like a square block, being larger than all 
 the remainder of the body, having protuberant 
 eyes on the top, looking nearly upward ; the low- 
 er jaw juts out beyond the upper, giving the idea 
 of a grinning expression ,- on each side, over the 
 shoulders, is a strong spine ; the fins are small, 
 compared with its other dimensions, and the 
 anal is prolonged, soft and greasy to the touch.* 
 
 Though it is only about one foot long, the di- 
 ameter of the head, through the articulations of 
 the jaws, is five inches, in a living state. The 
 color borders on a dirty gray, and is considerably 
 
 * "Nothing is made in vain, " 
 
 In th& year 1825, a vessel from Europe, bound to Quebec, 
 struck against some loose ice, in consequence of which she 
 sprung a leak, somewhere below water, which entered so 
 fast as almost to defy the utmost exertions of the crew to keep 
 the hold clear. Just as they were on the point of taking to 
 the boats for safety, the leak was discovered to have sudden- 
 ly stopped ; and getting the ascendency > by renewed efforts, 
 the pumps were found to suck. Every person on board was 
 astonished, nor could they account for the very sudden check 
 given to the great force with which the water had entered 
 but a moment before. A few days after brought them into 
 port, where, on examination, a large hole was found beaten 
 through the plank, in which was a live fish, exactly filling the 
 orifice, and this saved the ship. It was supposed that the fish 
 was sucked in by the water, rushing into the hull, and being 
 too large to pass through, and unable to extricate itself, there 
 remained till liberated by its grateful benefactors. 
 
URANOSCOPUS. 285 
 
 loose and shrivelled. At the corners of the mouth 
 are threads, and small cirri or tendrils hanging 
 from the tip of the under lip. It is destitute of a 
 swimming bladder, and therefore must be confined 
 to the mud, where we imagine it passes the time 
 in snatching the smaller fishes that happen to, come 
 within reach of its dilatable mouth. We have 
 only one specimen, taken in deep water, in fishing 
 for cod. 
 
 WEB-FINGERED GURNARD, Trigla Palmi- 
 pes. Dr Mitchell found also the sea-robin, (line- 
 ata,) at New York, but we have never detected 
 it in Massachusetts. There are fleshy filaments 
 attached to the skin, just under the lower fissure 
 of the gills, before the pectoral fins, which have 
 given it the name. At their extremities they are 
 like the fine threads of a tassel. Over the head 
 there is a coat of mail, quite rough. On the mid- 
 dle plate of the operculum, there is a sharp bony 
 spear, directed backward, and the posterior is 
 notched like two saw teeth. On the walls of the 
 chest are two broad shields of bone, also armed 
 with thorns ; and from the eyes are two others, end- 
 ing near the dorsal fin. A mottled olive is the pre- 
 vailing color, but the abdomen is delicately white ; 
 and interspersed here and there are spots of red. 
 The pectoral fins almost equal those of the flying 
 
286 PERCO1DES. 
 
 fish, being stretched on long, hard rays, projecting 
 beyond the inter-spinous membrane. The anal 
 fin is of a dusky yellow. In the branchial mem- 
 brane are six rays, in the pectoral fourteen, ven- 
 tral six, dorsal nine and fourteen, anal sixteen, and 
 caudal fifteen, rays. It is very ugly to the eye. 
 
 GEN. COTTUS. 
 
 This genus is characterised by a head thicker 
 than the body, beset with occasional spines, gen- 
 erally flattened horizontally ; the first dorsal fin 
 spinous, and separated from the second, which is 
 near the tail, and soft ; the pectoral fins are broad, 
 large, strong, and powerfully, and sometimes dan- 
 gerously exerted on the fishermen's hands. They 
 are found in salt and fresh water, and live consid- 
 erable time out of the water, in the shade. Those 
 from the ocean are less tenacious of life than the 
 others. If irritated, their heads appear to become 
 enormously distended with air, which is drawn in 
 by the gills. 
 
 RIVER-BULLHEAD, Cottus Gobio. This fish 
 is universally known all over New England, and 
 we imagine, all over the continent, existing in all 
 latitudes. The body is of a variable olive color, 
 approaching a dark yellow, and on the back near- 
 ly black. On each side of the head is a long 
 
c o T T u s . 287 
 
 sickle-shaped spine, sharp at the point, familiar to 
 youth, who, in the interior, have great enjoyment 
 in catching them. 
 
 Some of them exceed a foot in length, but the 
 average in New England, is not far from seven 
 inches. One would hardly, at first, discover the 
 difference between the pout, before mentioned, 
 and the bullhead, though they are totally unlike. 
 
 SEA-BULL, Coitus Quadricornus. This fish 
 resembles the sculpin, but has the addition of four 
 short spines, rooted in the cheeks, below the eyes, 
 lying nearly flat to the face, and pointed backward. 
 Both pectoral and dorsal fins are broad and large, 
 and tinged with red. It is found along the whole 
 coast, also in the Baltic and Mediterranean. It 
 is also taken in the Duno in Livonia, and the Dal- 
 erou, in Sweden. With us, the usual length is 
 eight and ten inches. The ground-work of the 
 color is yellow, patched over with red and dark 
 brown spots, and it is called, familiarly in this part 
 of the country, the four-horned sculpin. 
 
 SCULPIN, Coitus Scorpius. In England this 
 is the father-lasher, figured exceedingly well in the 
 old works on icthyology. Sculpin is a familiar 
 name for the family, derived, most likely, from 
 scorpcena, or scorpius. The head is large, and 
 
288 PERCOIDES. 
 
 so are the fins ; stiff rayed, and the body marbled 
 over with yellow and smoky patches, which, in 
 reality, are beautiful. There are two spines on the 
 gill cover, and two short ones, also, near the eyes. 
 It never appears very active, but lies on the shoal 
 bottom, and as the .tide ebbs and flows, seems to 
 take advantage of it. 
 
 THE SCUXPIN. 
 
 The fins, when in that quiet state, are fully 
 spread, and should a baited hook be passed within 
 a few feet they leisurely swallow it down. They 
 are the pest of saltwater fishermen. As food they 
 are not esteemed. They abound in Europe, New- 
 foundland and Greenland ; they are able to main- 
 tain a long combat with a small shark by bristling 
 up their spines. 
 
 ARMED BULLHEAD, Coitus Cataphactus. Nei- 
 ther does this differ so much from the others as 
 not to be instantly recognised as a sculpin. If the 
 
BATRACHUS. 289 
 
 head is wanting in some of the spines and warty 
 excrescences, so forbidding in them, it has a com- 
 pensation in the development of horny bumps, like 
 the crusts on a rhinoceros, and a dingy yellow skin, 
 marbled much like the preceding. 
 
 On inquiring of the aged fishermen to whom we 
 showed the specimens, they were particularly fa- 
 miliar with them under the names ofruper sculpin, 
 horn sculpin, and toad sculpin. 
 
 GEN. BATRACHUS. 
 
 GRUNTING BULLHEAD, Batrachus Grunni- 
 ens. Its name originated from the circumstance 
 of its making a grunting noise as it comes out of the 
 water, which is effected by the prodigious inflation 
 of the gills and side muscles of the mouth, similar 
 in office to the buccinators. The mouth is small, 
 with minute, almost concealed teeth ; but in the 
 fauces are large molar blocks, constituting a crush- 
 ing mill, of a powerful order. A whitish color 
 predominates, shaded by dark bands. 
 
 in- the branchial membrane are seven rays ; sev- 
 enteen in the pectoral fin, six in the ventral, seven 
 in the anal, nineteen to twenty five in the caudal, 
 and ten in the first, and twentyfour, ordinarily, in 
 the second dorsal ; under the tip of the low.er lip 
 are cirri. About the length of the sculpin. 
 
 19 
 
290 PERCOIDES, 
 
 GEN. LOPHIUS. 
 
 FROG-FISH, MOUSE-FISH, ANGLER, BEL- 
 LOWS-HEAD, and SEA-DEVIL, Lophius Pis- 
 catorius. We were fortunate in procuring a 
 specimen of this monster, but it was subsequent- 
 ly destroyed by vermin, in the process of dry- 
 ing. It was taken near Cohasset rocks, on the 
 tautog fishing ground, by a pleasure party from 
 Boston. The head was enormously large, but 
 the body slender and tapering, and four feet 
 long. When the jaws were open it could re- 
 ceive a morsel as large as a man's head. 
 
 THE FROG FISH. 
 
 Separately from the fins, it resembled a colos- 
 sal tad-pole or pollywog. The skin was rough- 
 ened by warty excrescences of a clayish blue 
 color, and snug over the body, but loose over the 
 head; the eyes were large and dull. Many 
 threadswere projecting from, the sides and angles 
 of the mouth, short and flexible, and at their ex- 
 
LOPHIUS. 291 
 
 tremities bulbous. There were two long rays be- 
 hind the upper lip. In fact, the dorsal fin com- 
 menced by another ray, somewhat solitary, seve- 
 ral inches from the last, towards the tail. Only a 
 few rays were given for the support of the two dor- 
 sal fins, which appeared to have been torn ; indeed, 
 it would not be difficult to make three distinct dor- 
 sals. The pectoral had twentyfive deeply lodged 
 rays, enveloped in a fleshy, reddish mass, like the 
 meshes in the palm of a child's hand ; in the 
 branchial were five on each side, at considerable 
 distance, allowing the gill to be spread out like a 
 dust-pan ; the caudal had eight ; the anal ten, and 
 under the belly were loose, fleshy appendages, of 
 a roseate color, covered by an elastic, gelatinous 
 tissue, which are called flippers. Both lips, as 
 well as the jaws, were stocked with sharp, conical 
 teeth, of unequal length, and in the swallow were 
 patches of another kind, but apparently thrown 
 about without much regard to order. 
 
 Where the body joined the head, although that 
 measured over four feet in circumference, it did 
 not much exceed the diameter of a man's arm. 
 
 Old writers, to whom the fishing frog was known, 
 assured their readers that the cirri were fishing 
 lines, and the bulbous extremities were the baits, 
 which nature had provided for its use in angling. 
 BufFon, who relates some strange facts of this fish, 
 
292 PERCOIDES. 
 
 says it lies concealed in the weeds, allowing 
 the lines to float above its head, which so much 
 resemble a favorite species of marine worms, that 
 the fishes being deceived by them, are successful- 
 ly decoyed into the capacious vortex which is 
 open to receive them. 
 
 That the sturgeon practises a similar method 
 seems generally admitted by naturalists. Pliny 
 goes still farther by allowing the little fishes to 
 " swallow the bait" when the concealed dragon 
 draws them in by shortening the line. Dog-fish 
 are mentioned by some writer, as their favorite 
 food, which, by the way, we are right glad to 
 hear, as they are the robbers and murderers that 
 keep many species from visiting our shores. When 
 the intestines are taken out and the shell of the 
 head dried, it becomes diaphanous, in which con- 
 dition boys put a candle inside, and make use of 
 it as a scarecrow lantern. 
 
 Perhaps in fishing six months another might 
 not be caught, so that they may be considered as 
 prone to concealment. From the nature of the 
 organization of the viscera, it is certain they are 
 destructively voracious; confined to deep,. dark, 
 muddy bottoms, and never disposed to wander far 
 from localities which yield a tolerable subsistence. 
 
SCOMBER. 293 
 
 FAMILY V. SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 The scales in this family are almost impercep- 
 tible, on account of their smallness. Usually, the 
 adipose portion of the dorsal and anal fins are 
 thickened by the scales, anteriorly; the mem- 
 brane of the rays behind is slender, and sometimes 
 wanting in some genera. Cuvier divided the fam- 
 ily into four tribes, characterised by the structure, 
 rather than the position of the dorsal fins. 
 
 CHUB-MACKEREL, Scomber Grex. This is 
 the same fish called thimble-eyed and bull-eyed 
 mackerel, to the south of Cape Cod ; to the 
 north of that point of land, for some reason which 
 we cannot explain, it rarely makes its appearance, 
 though abounding at New York. By a round, 
 gently tapering body, waving lateral line, a dark 
 green color on the dorsal surface, and a va- 
 riegated, changeable color on the sides, when firs 
 caught, like feathers on a pigeon's breast, it may 
 always be known. 
 
 In the Literary Transactions before referred to, 
 we find that in the years 1781 and 1813, all the 
 bays, rivers, creeks and coves were crowded with 
 this species, which has, since those memorable 
 periods, been comparatively scarce. 
 
 In the branchial membrane are five, pectoral 
 
294 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 nineteen, dorsal nine and twelve, anal thirteen, and 
 caudal twentythree rays, though not invariably. 
 Probably age adds to the strength, and in fact 
 completes the growth of some of the soft rays. 
 
 SPRING MACKEREL, Scomber Vernalls. We 
 have long been in doubt about the existence of 
 this fish, but on the whole, conclude that it really 
 differs from the common mackerel. In the first 
 place, it is truly beautiful, being elegantly propor- 
 tioned, from ten to sixteen inches in length, and 
 two and a half, or thereabouts, through the shoul- 
 ders ; waving stripes of a rich blue, emerge from 
 the dark color of the back and wind under the 
 abdomen, where they are lost ; the interstices be- 
 tween the bands are of a changeable red, mixed 
 with green ; the caudal fin is forked, and spreads 
 either way to the extent of more than three inch- 
 es, supported on the outer edges by spines. 
 - On the ventral fins, early in the spring, are cloud- 
 ed blackish spots ; the eyes have a night or nicti- 
 tating curtain, moved over the cornea it would 
 seem, as in birds. We are not, however, precise- 
 ly certain that this is the fact. Only a very few 
 of these visit the shore further north than Salem ' 
 and its neighborhood. There are six rays in (he 
 branchial, seventeen in the pectoral, five in the 
 ventral, ten or twelve in the dorsal, twelve in the 
 
SCOMBER. 295 
 
 anal, and from eighteen to twenty four in the cau- 
 dal. 
 
 YELLOW MACKEREL, Scomber Crysos. Only 
 six inches in length, and two deep at the thick- 
 est part ; said to be on the coast, though we have 
 not procured a specimen, but taken in the bay 
 of New York, and at Newport, &c. Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 HoRSErMACKEREL, Scomber Plumbeus. On 
 the authority of the late Dr Mitchill, we no- 
 tice the existence of this little fish, thirteen 
 inches long, with a name that is associated with 
 the idea of something large enough to swallow a 
 horse. Not a single specimen could be procured 
 last season, in the vicinity of Boston. 
 
 SPANISH MACKEREL, Scomber Maculatus, 
 so called by writers, and the banded-mackerel, 
 scomber zonatus, are minutely described by Dr 
 Mitchill, but after a tedious and satisfactory ex- 
 amination, we are fully persuaded that the doctor 
 was deceived by the soft rays and the accidental 
 difference of color, at different seasons of the year, 
 and that there are not so many varieties of the 
 mackerel as he imagined. If at any subsequent 
 period we change this opinion, in a future edition 
 we shall certainly be honest in confessing it. 
 
296 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 MACKEREL, Scomber Scomber. This com- 
 mon fish has a head compressed and smooth ; the 
 body is also smooth ; the lateral line carinate ; has 
 several spurious fins, oftentimes observed between 
 the dorsal fin and caudal. Twenty two species are 
 thought to be known to icthyologists, distinguished 
 by having or not having spurious fins ; those 
 which have the spurious, are divided into those 
 having them distinct and those having them con- 
 nected together. 
 
 Three species are found near Massachusetts by 
 the fishermen. Occasional stragglers are proba- 
 bly taken, but are not recognised as such. 
 
 The common mackerel of commerce is certain- 
 ly one of the most beautiful fish in our waters, so 
 familiar, that it is almost needless to describe its 
 figure. It has, till very recently, been supposed 
 that the mackerel was a migratory fish, retiring, 
 towards winter, to the polar regions, where it pro- 
 tected itself from the intense cold, by keeping under 
 the vast mountains of ice. Lately, it has been as- 
 serted, but on rather doubtful authority, that this 
 fish remains on the coast through the year, imbed- 
 ded during the severity of the winter, in the soft 
 mud but a few leagues from the coast. 
 
 The following subjoined letter to the author, 
 from Capt. Couthouy, a highly intelligent navi- 
 gator of Boston, not only on the subject of their 
 
SCOMBER. 297 
 
 migration, but on other controverted points among 
 naturalists, will in some measure settle the point 
 in question. 
 
 Jit Sea passage from Cadiz to Boston, Jan. 1832. 
 DR SMITH 
 
 Dear Sir, Believing that any information, however hum- 
 ble or limited, respecting the habits and peculiarities of fish- 
 es, will, in consequence of your present occupation, possess 
 some interest for you, and also mindful of the request you 
 made last summer, I take the liberty of sending the few obser- 
 vations I have been able to make this voyage. I regret that 
 owing to the hurry of preparing for sea, I omitted informing 
 you according to promise of the time of my sailing, in order 
 to be furnished with large bottles, &c. for the preservation of 
 specimens since, though I have taken a great number of 
 fishes, the greater part have unluckily been lost for want of 
 means of preservation. 
 
 I have, however, saved the following, two species of remo- 
 rse ; one of the pipe or file fish ; a fine specimen of the mo- 
 noceros, one of the largest I ever saw; and a very singular 
 worm. Of the remorae, the common or black one was taken 
 from a large shark we -caught, to which it adhered for 
 some time after he was on deck. The striped one was attach- 
 ed to the monoceros, and is, I think, the male, as the black 
 one is the female, of the species ; the stripes, which the liquor 
 has turned nearly white, were then of a brilliant yellow, the 
 body of an uniform dark ash color. At the same time there 
 was one adhering to the heel of the rudder, of similar appear- 
 ance, but near five feet in length ; he remained there several 
 days, although the vessel was sailing at the rate of six to sev- 
 en miles the whole time ; but all attempts to capture him 
 proved fruitless. 
 
 The pipe fish appears to be a variety of the species brought 
 you last summer, the most remarkable circumstance relating 
 
298 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 to it, is its having been taken in a small pond of fresh water, 
 fifty miles from sea, and where no salt water ever came. I 
 imagine it was transported thither by some sea-fowl, which 
 swallowed it while in the ovum, and subsequently deposited 
 it in this pond. The monoceros was taken with a bucket, at 
 a time when a number of large sharks were around us ; it is 
 a very stupid fish, suffering itself to be knocked several times 
 with the bucket, without attempting to remove ; the sharks 
 also frequently rubbed against it, but it paid no attention to 
 them. 
 
 The worm is the first of the kind, I have ever met with ; 
 it was found in a living state, in the maw of a flying fish 
 which came on board, but whether it was taken for food, or 
 preyed upon the fish itself, I could not determine. At the 
 time the monoceros was taken, as above mentioned, there were 
 great numbers of dolphin swimming among the sharks with 
 perfect familiarity ; and although the latter were so ravenous 
 that we took five of them from seven to twelve feet long, 
 they did not manifest the slightest disposition to molest the dol- 
 phins; a circumstance which confirms me in the belief I had 
 long entertained, that the stories of sharks catching dolphins 
 were merely fabulous. 
 
 The shark holds about the same position among fishes, as 
 the vulture among birds excessively greedy, but seldom at- 
 tacking any thing but carrion. Another reason for this belief 
 is the difficulty of a shark's seizing any object above him, in 
 consequence of the upper jaw projecting so far beyond the 
 lower ; a conformation which obliges him to turn over, in or- 
 der to secure his prey. Any fish, during this act, could make 
 its escape with ease. Man does so with less readiness, be- 
 cause, being out of his element, he cannot manage himself with 
 so much facility. I would here mention that one of the sharks 
 was entirely different from any which have before come under 
 my observation, and might be called a most beautiful fish, pos- 
 sessing none of that clumsiness of shape or motion, which is 
 characteristic of the species ; but by no means inferior in vo- 
 
SCOMBER. 
 
 299 
 
 racity, of which he gave us ample proof. He was nineteen 
 feet or more, in length, our stern being eighteen feet across, 
 and his head and tail projecting considerably on either side. 
 His color on the back, was a brilliant purple, which became 
 gradually fainter towards the belly, where it was a pure white ; 
 the pectoral and dorsal fins were much smaller than in the 
 other species, and the tail not so perpendicular, it being in most 
 of them, thus 
 
 while this was more horizontal, and tapered more gradually 
 in this form 
 
 the head also, instead of being flat and semicircular, like the 
 rest, was long and pointed in somewhat this manner 
 
 the eyes were of a bright green hue. He stole about thirty 
 pounds of meat from the lines, while we were trying to noose 
 him, in which, however, we finally succeeded, and I had al- 
 ready in imagination, placed his head in a barrel of pickle, in 
 order that it might, at some future moment be submitted to 
 the philosophic investigation of Dr J. V. C. S., when owing 
 to the peculiar formation of his opposite extremity, the noose 
 slipped over it, and for aught I can tell, he may yet be hur- 
 rying off as fast as his fins will permit him. 
 
300 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 If your patience is not too far tested already by this long 
 fish story, there is another circumstance which may be inter- 
 esting to you. I am not sufficiently versed in icthyology to 
 be positive, but believe it to be generally understood, that the 
 mackerel which disappear from our coasts in the fall, run to 
 the northward, and remain during the winter under the ice. 
 I have not the presumption to assert that this is not the case, 
 but leave you to judge how far the following facts may go to 
 disprove such a position. On the 10th Nov. 18.31, we were 
 sailing at the rate of five knots per hour to the northeastward, 
 when we were passed by an immense shoal of mackerel, 
 swimming in a southeast direction. They first came in sight 
 about 10, A. M. and continued passing till after 11, They 
 would not take the hook. There were hundreds of dolphin 
 in pursuit, by whom they were sometimes driven almost on 
 board. 
 
 This was in lat. 44 north, long 39 30' west. Supposing 
 its progress to have been nt the rate of six miles per hour, 
 which it must have been at least, the shoal was about seven 
 miles in extent from northwest to southeast their breadth 
 was far as the eye could discern on both sides.* On coupling 
 
 * The following extract is a corroborationofCapt. Couthouy's 
 remark, that they go in immense shoals. 
 
 "This fish," says the Newburyport Herald, of 1831, l< was 
 never more abundant in our bay than on Sunday, Monday, 
 and Tuesday of this week. A solid shoal of miles in extent, 
 lay outside of our harbor, within twelve miles, and gave in- 
 cessant occupation and fine sport to a large fleet of mackerel- 
 men. The number of craft engaged was supposed to be 
 about three hundred. We have already stated that one ves- 
 sel took, in a single day, seventy barrels. On Wednesday, 
 the shoal had disappeared." 
 
 *' A mackerel, three feet ten inches long, and measuring 
 eighteen and a half inches round the body, was caught in Sev- 
 ern River, near Round bay, on Saturday last, and was ser- 
 
SCOMBER. 301 
 
 this with the facts, that in the early part of May, 1829, in 
 about 19 north lat. and 48 west long., I passed a large shoal 
 swimming to the northwest, and their making their first ap- 
 pearance on our coast to the southward, I am inclined to be- 
 lieve that in lieu of going to the northward on the approach of 
 winter, as generally imagined, they on the contrary quit our 
 seas for those of a more temperate clime. 
 
 Again, is not their extreme leanness when first appearing 
 with us, a natural consequence of their long and fatiguing 
 passage ? I am wholly ignorant, whether they have been 
 seen in more southern climates, except in the instance I have 
 mentioned, but if they have not, I think it may be reasonably 
 supposed that they swim deep to avoid the havoc which would 
 otherwise be committed in their ranks by the fishes of prey, 
 which inthose seas abound near the surface. 
 
 How far the facts stated justify such an inference, you are 
 the best judge ; they are certainly singular and novel ; it 
 is to be lamented that in general, those who have the most 
 frequent opportunities of investigation, are apt to regard such 
 occurrences as hardly worthy of notice ; as a habit of observa- 
 tion and remark, would no doubt be the means of elucidating 
 many doubtful or disputed points. 
 
 And now, requesting your indulgence for this long and I 
 fear tedious letter, my only excuse for which, is the motive 
 with which it was written. 
 
 I remain, very respectfully, your obt. servant. 
 
 Jos. P. COUTHOUY. 
 
 I will just add, though you are already, perhaps, aware of 
 it, that the male dolphin may be easily distinguished from the 
 
 ved up at Wilson and Swan's Hotel, on Sunday. A delicious 
 dish it was." 
 
 We are told, but on what authority we are totally unable to 
 divine, that the mackerel has a strong predilection for hu- 
 man flesh. In the Mediterranean, the famous article called 
 caviare is manufactured from the roes. 
 
302 SCOMBER OIDES. 
 
 female, in the water, by the shape of its head ; that of the 
 former being abrupt, and almost perpendicular, thus 
 
 while the female's is more rounded, thus. 
 
 Yours, &c. J. P. C. 
 
 Certain it is that in the spring they make their 
 appearance in vast shoals, scarcely inferior, as it 
 regards numbers, to the herring being many 
 miles in extent. From some cause not yet under- 
 stood, the common mackerel appears to be consti- 
 tutionally subject to a disease of the tunica con- 
 junctiva, the skin covering the eyes.* This mem- 
 brane seems to thicken, during the winter, to such 
 a degree, as apparently to obstruct the entrance 
 of the rays of light to the retina ; but as warm 
 
 * Effects of lime upon fish. As a barge laden with lime 
 was proceeding up the Ouse from Lewes, from some cause 
 or other, it sunk near Barcombe. The effect on the fish in 
 the river was instantly manifested ; hundreds rose to the sur- 
 face, and a great number were taken by hand. Pikes were 
 seen darting about in great agony; and most of the finny 
 tribe within a mile of the spot where the accident occurred, 
 were rendered blind from the burning nature of the lime. It 
 is calculated that some thousands of fish perished. 
 
SCOMBER. 303 
 
 weather approaches it sloughs off. The color 
 of the mackerel is altogether beautiful, and it may, 
 in this respect be considered the Adonis of the 
 sea. 
 
 Commonly, in length, it is about ten. and from 
 that to fourteen inches. It has dark blue, trans- 
 verse stripes, from the dorsal fin, elegantly shaded 
 with a rich tinge of green. On the male, the 
 stripes are nearly straight, but on the female wa- 
 vering. Numerous black spots are noticed on the 
 sides, fading into a splendid golden green, that 
 cannot well be imitated by artists. 
 
 THE MACKEREL* 
 
 In the catalogue of edible fishes, this has main- 
 tained a high rank from remote antiquity. The 
 ancients manufactured from the mackerel a sauce, 
 in universal estimation, called garum, which was 
 little else than the pickle, in which they were pre- 
 served. The same article still holds an elevated 
 rank at the fashionable tables of Constantinople. 
 
 Surely, the mackerel fishery of Massachusetts, 
 now exceedingly extensive, must be reckoned one 
 of the most important branches of business, giving 
 
304 
 
 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 employment to thousands, who could not contribute 
 to the general prosperity of the state in any oth- 
 er way.* 
 
 The thousands of barrels annually exported to 
 the West Indies, give peculiar activity to our 
 commerce. 
 
 THE SURMULLET, Mullus Surmuletus, a 
 variety of the mackerel, was held in the high- 
 est possible estimation by the Romans, those 
 princes of good living. Pliny says that a Ro- 
 man Consul paid for only one of them, a sum 
 equal to $216,68, and Suetonius furthermore re- 
 
 * The following is the number of barrels of mackerel pack- 
 ed in this state during the last twentysix years. The 
 halves are reduced to whole barrels. 
 
 1804 
 
 8,0794 
 
 1818 
 
 47,210 
 
 1805 
 
 8,9364 
 
 1819 
 
 105,433 
 
 1806 
 
 8,473 
 
 1820 
 
 236,243 
 
 1807 
 
 10,9044 
 
 1821* 
 
 111,0094 
 
 1808 
 
 7,7384 
 
 1822 
 
 160,2944 
 
 1809 
 
 8,8654 
 
 1823 
 
 145,006 
 
 1810 
 
 13,0584 
 
 1824 
 
 191,6504 
 
 1811 
 
 19,632 
 
 1825 
 
 254,3814 
 
 1812 
 
 5,0184 
 
 1826 
 
 158,7404 
 
 1813 
 
 3,832i 
 
 1827 
 
 190,3104 
 
 1814 
 
 1,349 
 
 1828 
 
 237,3244 
 
 1815 
 
 I2ts.l6,3494 
 
 1829 
 
 225,882 
 
 1816 
 
 30,021 
 
 1830 
 
 308,462 
 
 1817 
 
 37,982 
 
 
 * The first year after the dMsion of the States from Maine. 
 
SCOMBER. 305 
 
 lates that one of the Emperors, at an aera of osten- 
 tatious luxury, gave for three surmullets, 30,000 
 sesterces, which is $1065,60 cents. 
 
 The markets in Constantinople are liberally 
 supplied with this fish, under the royal appella- 
 tion of sultan baMJc. A variety of the surmullet 
 is found to the south of New York, and sometimes 
 there, which is familiarly known to fishermen as 
 the short mackerel. These are often poisonous, 
 which results, most likely, from the substance on 
 which they have been feeding. The follow- 
 ing notice in a New York paper., of the last sea- 
 son, is confirmatory of this assertion. 
 
 " Families are cautioned against eating a spe- 
 cies of small mackerel which are now selling in our 
 markets. Seven of the writer's family, yesterday 
 morning, were affected in a way which leaves no 
 doubt as to the fact of their having been poisoned. 
 Each individual was variously affected, according 
 to the quantity eaten. The face and whole body, 
 became flushed, and in a short time the complex- 
 ion resembled the color of mahogany. The head 
 was also affected, and sickness at the stomach and 
 vomiting succeeded in two or three instances ; in 
 others medicine was administered. The pupils of 
 the eye dilated, and then swam as it were in liquid ; 
 the body also became swollen. No serious con-* 
 sequences ensued, though an individual is still con-* 
 20 
 
306 COMBEROIDES. 
 
 fined to her bed. As the writer has since heard 
 of another instance of similar effects being produ- 
 ced from eating this fish, there is no doubt as to 
 the cause which produced it. The effects were 
 visible a few minutes after the fish was eaten." 
 
 The mackerel, with all its beauty, is decidedly 
 stupid, in many respects. A red rag, or a bit of 
 paper tied to the hook and rapidly trailed from a 
 boat, affords delightful sport. We actually won- 
 der that the worshippers at the shrine of honest 
 Izaak Walton, who cannot angle for trout in the 
 ocean, do not turn their attention to mackerel 
 chases in our beautiful harbors. 
 
 GEN. THYNNUS. 
 
 TUNNY, Scomber Thynnus. Occasionally 
 the tunny is taken in baiting other more common 
 fish. They do not run in shoals, on this coast. 
 Sometimes they have been seen ten feet in length, 
 but on this shore they oftener fall short of two 
 feet, than exceed it. They may be known by a 
 hissing, or cutting of the dorsal fin through the 
 water, while running with great swiftness. They 
 sometimes pursue the mackerel, which they de- 
 vour voraciously. 
 
 In this place they are not frequently eaten, 
 being so scarce that their -quality, as food, is 
 not commonly known. Pliny, the naturalist, 
 
CENTRONOTUS. 307 
 
 gives an account of a shoal of tunnies, so vast that 
 the fleet of Alexander the Great, could scarcely 
 maintain its course. The ships were arranged in 
 battle array, to force the extraordinary aquatic pha- 
 lanxes to give way to the conqueror of the world. 
 The tunny will be recognised by its dark blue 
 back ; silvery sides, and the gray color of the first 
 dorsal fin, and the darker gray of the tail. Its 
 spinous fins have a yellowish tinge. 
 
 GEN. CENTRONOTUS. 
 
 PILOT FISH, Centronotus Ductor. To mar- 
 iners, this frequent attendant on vessels is well 
 known, and is the theme of many fore-castle tales. 
 It has a light blue colored body, with wide trans- 
 verse bands of a deeper and beautiful shade, four 
 dorsal spines, a forked tail, and varies in length 
 from six to eighteen inches. 
 
 In a recent publication on natural history, it is 
 positively asserted that two of these fishes, some 
 years ago, accompanied a ship from the Mediter- 
 ranean into Falmouth, where they were taken in 
 a nest. This was an unfeeling and ungenerous 
 act, after they had travelled such a distance. 
 
 Sailors are very confident that the pilot fish 
 swims before sharks, to conduct them where to 
 commence a slaughter, but this is altogether gra- 
 tuitous ; but that they are much in their bad com- 
 
308 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 pany, is very true, but then it may be with the 
 expectation of nibbling at the remnants of the 
 feast. 
 
 With the most determined perseverance, they 
 will keep within a few feet of the hull of a ship, 
 night and day, for weeks together, as though they 
 were actually on business. Whether this arises 
 from a feeling of safety, while in company with a 
 vessel, a love of wandering, or a hope of plunder, 
 cannot be determined. 
 
 GEN. ZEUS. 
 
 COMMON DORY, Zeus Faber. Three spe- 
 cies, the hair-finned, rostrated, and bristly, zeus 
 capillariSj restrains et setapinnis, are known in 
 the waters about Long Island Sound, New York, 
 but the common dory is the only one of the fami- 
 ly which has been detected in Boston Bay, so far 
 as known to us. It is a thin, broad fish, fashion- 
 ed somewhat like the fresh water bream, with 
 sloping head, and a body of a yellowish color, 
 having a black patch each side, large as the thumb 
 nail. From the middle of the back over the 
 shoulders, long, slender, thread-like spines, three 
 or four inches long, are given off, which, when the 
 fish swims fast, are laid nearly flat. Farther back 
 little spikes of bone are presented above the skin, 
 and at the commencement of the dorsal spine are 
 
CHRYSOTOSUS. 309 
 
 forked spines, the first being long and semi- 
 flexible ; the anal fin is similar, the tail forked, 
 like the mackerel. 
 
 There are other marks, such as two long, slen- 
 der, brush-like fins, under the throat, and pouting 
 lips, the under being a trifle the longest. The 
 black spots are said ta have been given it by St 
 Peter, as in the haddock, by the pressure of the 
 thumb and finger. Another vulgar notion is this, 
 that St Christopher, in wading through an arm of 
 the sea, having caught a stray dory, left on it the 
 marks of the grip which he gave. Quin, the cele- 
 brated English comedian, is said to have brought it 
 into repute as a luxury, in his day, though it is 
 now neglected. Its usual length is not far from 
 ten inches. 
 
 GEN. CHRYSOTOSUS. 
 
 MOON-FISH, Chrysotosus Luna. Within the 
 last few years, some of these splendid fishes have 
 been brought into port by homeward-bound ves- 
 sels. .During long and tedious calms, within a 
 day's sail of Boston, Newburyport, Salem, See. 
 the moon-fish has been taken with a hook, ^ 
 sometimes measuring six feet in length. The 
 body and tail are flat, oval, without perceptible 
 scales, short snout, and destitute of teeth. 
 
 There are six rays in the gill membrane, the 
 
310 SCOMBER01DES. 
 
 first portion of the dorsal fin is pointed and high, 
 but the middle part of it short. A silvery green 
 is the prevailing color, but in a certain position, 
 golden, with azure tinges, are seen, and then, as 
 though there was a particular design in beautifying 
 it. though only occasionally seen by man, well 
 defined white oval spots are dotted along the 
 sides. 
 
 Much as has been said of the splendor of the 
 mackerel, the moon-fish is really, to our appre- 
 hension, the Adonis of the sea. We have not 
 seen a single specimen in spirit, in any cabinet in 
 this country, those brought on shore being usually 
 first placed in pickle, and afterwards dried, which 
 ruins the color. 
 
 GEN. XIPH1AS. 
 
 SWORD-FISH, Xiphias Gladius. Two species 
 of the sword-fish have been discovered, but only 
 one of them is known to exist here, which, by way 
 of eminence, is called the great sword-fish. The 
 snout is long and flattened, resembling a dirk; 
 the first dorsal fin, commencing just back of the 
 shoulders, is high, and particularly elevated ante- 
 riorly, but gradually slopes off towards the tail, 
 where it presents merely a sharp ridge above the 
 back, and then suddenly rises into a point again ; 
 some of the first rays are spinous. The anal fin 
 
 f . 
 
XIPHIAS. 311 
 
 is short and pointed ; the tail lunated, the color of 
 the body a sort of brown, running into a bluish 
 shade, but on the abdomen, the skin is white. As 
 
 THE SWORD FISH. 
 
 before remarked of some preceding fish, this is ev- 
 idently possessed of a highly irritable disposition, 
 and therefore appears to be constantly involved in 
 perilous and fearful difficulties ; it is voracious, 
 and yet without teeth ; and though it seems to 
 be the knight errant of the deep, by meddling 
 with the affairs of others, in which it has no 
 personal interest, it also appears, at other times, 
 to be at open war with whatever moves in the 
 same liquid element. 
 
 Whales of prodigious magnitude, though truly 
 peaceably disposed, if by chance they get within 
 the sphere of its vision, are butchered without 
 mercy ; whenever the sword-fish fails of accom- 
 plishing the death of this great animal, it is often- 
 er because the sword is not long enough to pene- 
 
312 SCOMBEROIDES. 
 
 trate through the thick sheet of blubber to the vi- 
 tals, than from any want of exertion on the part 
 of the warlike assailant. 
 
 Mariners assure us, that on making our coast, 
 it is no uncommon circumstance to see this fish, 
 six, ten, and fifteen feet long, playing about the 
 vessel. We have been inclined, at times, to sup- 
 pose that the makaira, cr lesser sword-fish, also 
 inhabited these waters, but no specimens having 
 been procured to establish the fact, we have con- 
 cluded that the young of the gladius are the little 
 ones adverted to by seamen. 
 
 We have had an opportunity of conversing on 
 the subject with several intelligent vineyard pilots, 
 particularly Mr Dagget, an aged man, who has 
 pursued his adventurous business nearly half a cen- 
 tury, to whom we are indebted for all the accurate 
 knowledge we possess of their history in Mas- 
 sachusetts. 
 
 Instead of being rare, they are certainly nu- 
 merous, and some of them of tremendous power. 
 They are sometimes sought, successfully too, for 
 their flesh, which is considered a wholesome,' nu- 
 tritious food, much superior to common fish. Mr 
 Dagget remarked that he salted it down in barrels 
 for retailing.* 
 
 * Let a man do what he will, if he is honest and industri- 
 ous, the labor of his hands is not only profitable to himself, 
 
X1PH1AS. 313 
 
 Very recently this same gentleman procured a 
 magnificent one, the head of which, with its sword, 
 upwards of four feet long, was neatly prepared 
 by Dr Yale, of Holmes's Hole, by whom it was 
 forwarded to Boston. There are times when they 
 appear unusually numerous ; and then again, sev- 
 eral weeks perhaps will pass by before they are 
 seen again. 
 
 On a calm sunny day, during the last summer, 
 as a pilot was leisurely rowing his little skiff 
 over the glassy bosom of the gently swelling waves, 
 he was suddenly roused from his seat by the 
 plunge of a sword fish, thrusting his long spear 
 more than three feet up through the bottom of 
 the slender bark ; when the pilot, with that pres- 
 ence of mind for which the whole fraternity are 
 distinguished, broke it off on a level with the floor, 
 by the butt of an oar, before the submarine assas- 
 sin had time to withdraw his fearfully offensive 
 weapon. 
 
 but of real utility to others. The truth of the observation is 
 finely illustrated in the following extract. 
 
 " In the garden grounds along the river Sitter, in the Can- 
 ton of Appenzell, Switzerland, such numbers of snails are kept 
 for fattening, that the noise of their dentriulatedjaws, are heard 
 several paces. Sometime before Lent, they are packed in 
 casks, and sent to the convents of Suabia, Bavaria, Austria, 
 even as far as Vienna, where they are sold as luxuries. By 
 this traffic, some have acquired Handsome fortunes." 
 
314 SCOMBER011JES. 
 
 Within five or six years, a Boston ship, on a 
 return from a long voyage, being overhauled for 
 repairs, presented the stump of a sword-fish's 
 blade, the point of which was driven a considerable 
 way into the hard oak. In repairing his Britannic 
 Majesty's ship Leopard, in 1725, on her return 
 from the coast of Guinea, a sword of this fish was 
 found to have gone through the sheathing one inch, 
 next through a three inch plank, and beyond that 
 four inches and a half into the firm timber. It was 
 the opinion of mechanics, that it would require 
 nine strokes of a hammer, weighing twentyfive 
 pounds, to drive an iron bolt of similar size and 
 form, to the same depth in the same hull ; yet 
 this was accomplished by a single thrust. 
 
 The Hon. Josiah Robbins of Plymouth, rela- 
 ted to us the following extraordinary fact. On the 
 return of the ship Fortune, of Plymouth, from a 
 whaling voyage, in the Pacific, some time in the 
 year 1826, or 7, he does not recollect which ; 
 the stump of a sw r ord-fish's blade was discovered 
 on the outside of the hull, which, on examin- 
 ation, was found to have penetrated through the 
 copper sheathing, an inch board sheathing, a three 
 inch hard wood plank, the solid white oak timber 
 of the ship, twelve inches thick, through anoth- 
 er two and a half inch hard oak ceiling-plank, and 
 lastly perforated the head of an oil cask, where 
 
XIPH1AS. 315 
 
 it still remained immovably fixed, so that not a 
 single drop of oil had escaped. 
 
 We are enabled by these relations, to form some 
 tolerable idea of their amazing muscular power. 
 The late Sir Joseph Banks was informed by an 
 East India Captain of a fact equally interesting ; 
 the sword was driven its entire length into the 
 solid wood of the ship, but the extreme violence 
 of the shock instantly killed the enraged fish. The 
 block, sawed out of the hull, containing the imbed- 
 ded instrument, is still exhibited in the British 
 museum. 
 
 On the coast of Brazil, the sword-fish attains 
 its greatest dimensions, being found twentyfive 
 feet long. Ship-carpenters do not view the cir- 
 cumstance of finding points and portions of blades 
 in vessels a rare occurrence, and more particularly 
 in those from South America. 
 
 We have many specimens of the swords, from 
 various parts of the world, but two only possess 
 the skeleton of the head, which renders them 
 quite valuable to a cabinet. Seamen, who bring 
 them from foreign parts as curiosities, are very apt 
 to ruin them in two ways, viz : first, by sawing 
 them off too far from the jaw ; and secondly, by 
 scraping the blades smooth with knives and glass, 
 by way of improving upon nature ; hence a ma- 
 jority of the specimens in museums are nearly ru- 
 ined. 
 
316 SQUAMIPENNES. 
 
 The blade, as it comes from the fish, is between 
 three and four inches wide, at the base, depending 
 on the proportions of the individual to which it 
 belonged, tapering to a sharp point ; the edges 
 are rough, like a coarse file, not cutting, but cal- 
 culated rather for tearing ; the upper surface 
 is ash-colored, convex, and covered by an epi- 
 dermis, or scarf skin, also rough to the touch, 
 like sand paper. The under side is lighter color- 
 ed, freer from roughness, and less convex. A 
 smaller fish is found in the southern states, whose 
 under jaw is terminated in a sword, in character 
 and use precisely like this ; how either of them 
 feed is a question which remains to be answered. 
 
 FAMILY VI. SQUAMIPENNES. 
 
 Members of this family are known by the scales 
 mounting the soft portion of the fins, and by the 
 peculiarity of the teeth, which are very much like 
 short bristles, irregularly crowded together. 
 
 GEN. SESERINUS. 
 
 Seserinus Alepidotus. Though quite rare, 
 whenever taken, it will be recognised by the blue 
 
FISTULAR1A. 317 
 
 color of its body, forked tail, and oval form. The 
 body is wide and thin, the little teeth, hardly per- 
 ceptible, are sharp, in one row ; the scales are 
 also so small that a glass is required to observe 
 them distinctly ; the first spines of the anal and 
 dorsal fins are hooked forward towards the head ; 
 and instead of ventral fins, there are two slender 
 bones ; and beside, two lateral lines on each side. 
 
 FAMILY VII. FISTULARHXZE. 
 
 The characteristic of this family, is a long, semi- 
 transparent tube, formed by the extended eth- 
 moid bones, bones of the partition of the nose, and 
 others of the head, covered with a prolongation of 
 the skin ; and at the extremity is the mouth. The 
 body is long, slender, and delicately formed. 
 
 GEN. FISTULARIA. 
 
 TOBACCO-PIPE FISH, Fistularia Tabacaria. 
 Had we not two excellent specimens of this fish, 
 taken near Holmes's Hole, its existence would not 
 have been credited so far to the north of the equa- 
 tor. Those before us, now under examination, 
 are upwards of eighteen inches long and from 
 the caudal fin, a single hair runs off one foot fur- 
 
318 
 
 PISTUL ARID^E. 
 
 ther, giving an entire length of two feet and a half. 
 The body is smooth, the jaws narrow, scales mi- 
 nute, fins tinged with red near their joinings ; one 
 dorsal fin opposite to the anal, and both are near 
 the tail, which is forked ; in the branchial mem- 
 brane are seven rays. 
 
 TOBACCO-PIPE FISH. 
 
 As it respects the habits of the tobacco-pipe 
 fish, we have no means of gaining a knowledge. 
 None have been seen excepting those which have 
 been driven on shore in storms. In South Amer- 
 ican seas, they are larger, and between three and 
 four feet in length. 
 
 END OF PART FIRST. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING 
 
PART SECOND: 
 
 TROUT, 
 
 INTERSPERSED WITH REMARKS 
 
 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ANGLING. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 THE State of Massachusetts may be said to 
 abound in that highly esteemed and well known 
 fish, the trout, which is unrivalled, either as an 
 object of gratification to the palate of the epicure, 
 or as contributing to the innocent sport of the an- 
 gler. Every ingenious device which has been 
 practised in other countries to lure this wary, yet 
 bold and voracious fish, has been adopted in this, 
 and with equal success. In treating of them, 
 the subject of angling is necessarily introduced, 
 since all the works which have been published 
 in England, and all well known in this country, 
 upon fishing generally, give them a preeminence 
 over every other, as being most worthy the pur- 
 suit of the scientific angler. 
 
 In Great Britain, trout are divided and subdivi- 
 ded into many varieties, and it is not impossible 
 there may be as many in this country j but as it 
 
324 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 is often difficult to settle these shades of difference, 
 on account of the supposition that they are capa- 
 ble of hybridous productions, it is sufficient to 
 know that there are but three principal varieties 
 in this state. 
 
 These are pond-trout, river or brook'trout, and 
 sea-trout. The two former being such fish as live 
 exclusively in fresh water, and the latter, such as 
 live, a great part of the year, in that which is salt 
 or brackish, ascending the streams as spring ad- 
 vances, and returning to their native element so 
 soon as the spawning season is over. 
 
 There are but few natural ponds or lakes in this 
 state which contain trout, for it is that which is 
 found in natural ponds, which we denominate ponoV 
 trout, and not the more common fish which is 
 generally found in artificial mill-ponds, and which 
 closely resembles such as are found in the brooks 
 and rivers, which being flooded form the ponds. 
 The species referred to are found in Winnipis- 
 seogee Lake, in New Hampshire, whence they 
 are often brought to market in a frozen state, but 
 are in no estimation for the table, the flesh being 
 white and quite tasteless. They are taken only 
 in the winter through the ice, but seldom or never 
 by the usual method of angling. 
 
 These fish are doubtless natives of the lake in 
 which they are found, and like others of the same 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 325 
 
 species, congregate in winter in its deeper waters ; 
 feeding upon the surface, as the weather grows 
 warm and the season advances, and depositing 
 their spawn in the still shallows of the rivers 
 which flow from it. Their spots are large, faint 
 and dark. Their shape is long like the mackerel, 
 but without its symmetry, and their average weight 
 from three to five pounds. 
 
 Though what we denominate, more strictly 
 speaking, pond-trout, have no red spots, there may 
 be some exceptidns, even among such as are 
 found in natural ponds. But their distinction as 
 a species, is indicated by their never attaining the 
 same weight. For instance, in the town of Bel- 
 grade, in the state of Maine, there are two ponds 
 united by a river, called Long Pond and Snow's 
 Pond, the latter of which flows into the Kennebec, 
 where the trout are of a very beautiful description, 
 as it respects their form, bright vermilion spots, 
 and the pink-color of the flesh . They however do 
 not grow to a very large size, yet much larger 
 than the generality of brook and river trout. 
 
 These fish are not often caught in the ponds 
 above named, but as the spring advances they 
 are taken in the river which unites them. Warm 
 weather drives them back into the deep waters 
 of the ponds again, whence they return in 
 the autumn to deposite their spawn, at which 
 
326 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 time they become too easy a prey to the an- 
 gler. 
 
 There is another variety peculiar for its bright 
 red spots, in the town of Sandwich, in what is 
 called the Upper Pond. This is supplied by 
 springs, but it is difficult to say whether the fish are 
 indigenous to the water or not, for although the 
 water is cold, and therefore congenial to their hab- 
 its, yet they may have originally come from the 
 sea, and changed their nature from being confined 
 to the pond, by the obstructions upon the stream 
 which runs from it ; this may be said of many 
 other ponds and the effect of confinement and 
 change of food, is that of rendering the flesh soft 
 and muddy to the taste. 
 
 It has been remarked that the larger the water 
 the longer the fish, and also that wherever trout 
 are found, there are few of any other kind offish. 
 This arises from the fact of their requiring a cold- 
 er temperature than suits the nature of most other 
 fresh water fishes. In fact, according as the water^ 
 is cold, the flesh of the trout is firm and high fla- 
 vored. In Enfield Pond, in the state of New 
 Hampshire, there is a very large growth, which 
 in this and other waters of the same size, have 
 been known to attain the weight of ten or twelve 
 pounds ; here as elsewhere, they are never taken 
 but in the winter through the ice, a method which 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 327 
 
 affords no sport to the true angler, as requiring no 
 skill, and is despised accordingly. Into this 
 pond, the pickerel, sometimes called the fresh wa- 
 ter shark, has been introduced, and the result has 
 been that the pickerel gained the ascendency and 
 exterminated the trout in a very few years. 
 
 The same thing has been practised in a number 
 of ponds in the state of Maine, and the same re- 
 sult has followed. It is remarkable that on the 
 west side of the Penobscot river, the ponds are 
 mostly filled with pickerel, while on the east 
 side they are as generally stocked with trout ; this 
 must arise from some particular quality or tem- 
 perature of the water, nature having placed them 
 in that which is most congenial to their habits, and 
 necessary to their perpetuity. 
 
 In treating of the fish now under consideration, 
 it was intended to confine our remarks to such as 
 were found in Massachusetts alone, but as it has 
 been before observed, there are few ponds in tjiis 
 state, or if any, not well known, which contain 
 the pond-trout as a distinct variety. We have 
 alluded to such waters in the neighboring states as 
 are well known to afford the subject of our illus- 
 tration. 
 
 They are found of immense size in the Schoo- 
 dic Lakes, but larger still in proportion to the ex- 
 tent of the waters, in the great Moose-head Lake. 
 
328 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 In both these they are only taken in the usual 
 way, through the ice in the winter season. Per- 
 haps no attempt has ever been made, but could 
 these " monarchs of the deep" be taken by the 
 regular angler, aided by all the devices so essen- 
 tial to the true enjoyment of his sport, the pleasure 
 resulting from the success of his achievement, 
 would be proportioned to the size and strength of 
 his captive. 
 
 The possibility of taking a very large fish, 
 (though not a trout) with the rod and line, has 
 been settled by the performance of Col. Thornton, 
 mentioned in " Daniel's Rural Sports," who caught 
 a pike in one of the Lochs in Scotland, which 
 weighed fortynine pounds and a quarter. He 
 was prepared with trolling apparatus to take this 
 very fish, which was known to be in the lake, hav- 
 ing at a previous time carried off a hook. It re- 
 quired one hour and a quarter to, exhaust his 
 strength, and on being safely secured in the boat, 
 a scar was perceptible where the hook had escap- 
 ed through the skin. It is said that the trout of 
 the great western lakes attains the enormous size 
 of one hundred pounds. 
 
 The largest that we know in the state of 
 Maine, are found in the Moose-head Lake. To 
 confirm this fact, it is known that a fish was found 
 dead upon its shore which weighed fifty pounds. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 329 
 
 having been suffocated in an attempt to gorge 
 another of a large size, which protruded from its 
 mouth. The flesh of all these overgrown fish is 
 described to be coarse and unpalatable. 
 
 Of all the ponds or lakes which have been ad- 
 verted to as containing the primitive trout, there 
 is no one so well known or so much resorted to by 
 the ardent angler, as Sebago Pond, near Portland. 
 As early as March, in the spring of the year, these 
 fish emerge from the deep, and therefore warmer 
 water of the lake, and enter the Songo river, in 
 pursuit of their favorite bait, the smelt, at this 
 time they may be taken in great numbers with the 
 rod and line. The attempt would be fruitless to 
 succeed in the pond itself, at this early season. It 
 is customary, therefore, by those who make this 
 visit so early in the year, and whose love of the 
 sport prevails over the necessary privations, to en- 
 camp upon the margin of this tributary river. The 
 number of such, however, is small, but as the sea- 
 son advances, and the fish have receded from the 
 river, and dispersed themselves over the whole 
 lake, rising and feeding upon the various insects 
 which float upon its surface, the angler approach- 
 es with a better prospect of comfort, if not success. 
 His equipments are a long stout salmon rod, with 
 rings upon it as usual to guide the line, which is 
 made of silk and hair, woven together, and eighty 
 
330 TRO LTT AND ANGLING. 
 
 or a hundred yards long. He has a brass reel or 
 winch, upon which the line is wound. The winch 
 is not a multiplying one, but single, and attached 
 to the butt of the rod, the end joint of which is 
 short and stout ; other spare joints are contained 
 in the butt of the rod. His hooks are large and 
 well tempered, of the size best known as mack- 
 erel-hooks, and they are attached to double and 
 twisted gut, upon which a weight, about the size 
 of a musket-ball, is made by loops to fasten on at 
 pleasure. 
 
 His pocket-book is well furnished with all the 
 materials necessary for the prosecution of his 
 sport, together with such implements as are requir- 
 ed to repair that derangement of his apparatus 
 which in fishing is always likely to occur. Only 
 one thing more is added to complete his gear, (for 
 artificial flies have seldom or never been tried,) 
 and that is, a net with a wide bow and a shor^ han- 
 dle, or a gaff which answers the same purpose, to 
 land his fish, when, after being sufficiently exhaus- 
 ted by playing, they are ready to take in. 
 
 Thus equipped, the angler visits Sebago in the 
 month of June. If he is a lover of nature, there is 
 much to admire, not only in that densely wooded 
 scenery which generally surrounds our inland lakes, 
 and is so striking in this, but also in those little quiet 
 fairy islands which here and there break the glassy 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 331 
 
 monotony of its surface. Notwithstanding the fact 
 that the artificial fly has seldom been used by the 
 frequenters of this lake, it does not follow that the 
 practice of fly-fishing would not be attended with 
 the same success, which attends the act as practis- 
 ed without exception upon the various waters in 
 England and Scotland. There is reason to think 
 so, from the well known fact that, differing from 
 the trout of various other ponds, they live and feed 
 near the surface of the water at least, this is 
 known to be their habit in the summer time, and it 
 may be stated still farther, in confirmation of the 
 probable success which would result from the use 
 of the artificial fly, that the insect, familiarly known 
 as the beetle or daw-bug, is often found on exam- 
 ination to have been their food. 
 
 Since then it is not fly-fishing, trolling may be 
 considered the usual method of taking the fish in 
 this pond. Trotting is a term which is generally 
 applied to fishing for pike, but it means nothing 
 more or less than moving about either with a dead 
 or live bait from place to place, and fishing upon 
 the surface, in distinction to fishing in deep wa- 
 ter, and confined to one spot. In this pond it 
 is customary to fish from a boat, which is slowly 
 moved through the water, either by the help of 
 oars or a sail. If the former, the fish take the bait 
 at a greater distance from the boat, being alarmed 
 
332 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 by the motion of the water ; in this case it is ne- 
 cessary to uncoil half the line, but if a sail is used, 
 a shorter line is sufficient. 
 
 But though the greater number of fish are 
 taken from a boat while moving through the 
 water, many are also caught at a favorite re- 
 sort, on a rocky shore of the pond called the 
 " images" This well known spot has been the 
 scene of many a festive meal/ and often have the 
 caverned rocks reverberated to the sound of the 
 joyous angler's mirth. 
 
 Though very little can be said in favor of the 
 quality of the Sebago trout, as a delicacy for the 
 table, still ample amend is made by their unrival- 
 led activity on the hook, which is in the highest 
 degree exciting to the angler. When struck, they 
 instantly bound from the water to the height of 
 many feet, plunging and leaping alternately, in the 
 vain attempt to disengage the hook, but good man- 
 agement, and a " steady hand which feels him, 
 yet still to his furious course gives way," sub- 
 dues his strength at last, and the unwilling captive, 
 floating on his side, yields as a trophy to the an- 
 gler's skill. 
 
 It has been before observed, that their food, 
 more particularly in the early spring, is the fresh 
 water smelt ; but in summer, there are various 
 other small fry, such as the shiner, and minnow, 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 333 
 
 which yield them sustenance. It is therefore an 
 object to obtain these small fish if alive, so 
 much the better, but as it often happens from the 
 state of the weather, or some other cause, that 
 live bait is not to be procured, recourse is then 
 had to a small slip taken from the most shining 
 part of the fish itself; this, if not so killing, is for 
 the reason stated, the bait which is generally used 
 for the Sebago trout. 
 
 It may be here remarked, once for all, that the 
 success of the sport, like all fresh water fishing, 
 very much depends upon the state of the weather, 
 and its influence upon the water. For though 
 at times there seems to be an unaccountable 
 caprice in their habits, yet how common it is, at 
 that season of the year when nature is dressed in 
 her gayest attire, when the air is filled with fragrance, 
 the field with flowers, the grove with music, and the 
 heart with delight when the balmy south wind 
 generally undulates, without agitating the surface 
 of the lake or stream and above all, when 
 " from the bosom of yon dropping cloud" a gentle 
 rain descends how common a thing it is to hear 
 the ardent angler, his feelings responsive to the 
 charms of nature, exclaim, " What a glorious 
 fishing-day !" 
 
 A few years ago, on a visit to this lake in the 
 last week of May, the season being backward, the 
 water and the weather cold and unpropitious, there 
 
334 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 was no such thing as taking a fish, but having pro- 
 ceeded farther to the eastward, and revisiting the 
 lake after a lapse often days, the result was such as 
 might be expected from warm weather and a more 
 advanced season. On this occasion the average 
 number taken in a day, by the party of four, which 
 ransacked the lake in a boat, was near twenty- 
 five, the weight being from about two to five pounds 
 each. 
 
 Very erroneous opinions are formed of the 
 weight of these trout. They are generally exag- 
 gerated ; and this may be said of them wherever 
 they are found, but as it respects this pond, though 
 it is not uncommon to take them of six, and occa- 
 sionally of twelve pounds, yet it was the opinion 
 of the celebrated Mr White, which has been con- 
 firmed by our own observation, that considering the 
 prevailing number of small fish, they do not aver- 
 age over a pound and a half each through the sea- 
 son of fishing. This remark may strike some with 
 surprise, who have told a very different story, 
 founded perhaps on their individual good success. 
 The truth is, they have degenerated not only in 
 size, but numbers, owing to various causes, un- 
 necessary to detail. 
 
 Not less erroneous, than that which respects 
 their weight, is the opinion entertained by some, 
 that these fish were originally salmon, but being 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 335 
 
 pent up and confined to the pond, by the various 
 obstructions in the river which forms its outlet to 
 the sea, they have changed their form, assumed 
 the spots, and become trout. If the fact were to 
 be settled merely by the color of the flesh alone, 
 there might be some ground for the notion, for it is 
 redder than any salmon's ever was, but with this 
 exception there is no other striking resemblance 
 between them. And as it is believed that the va- 
 rious shades of color peculiar to the trout, are the 
 result of some chemical action, arising from the 
 varieties of food which they eat, it may hence be 
 inferred, that had they ever been salmon, a change 
 of color would have been quite as likely to result 
 from their transition from salt to fresh water, 
 as well as a number of other transformations 
 which are said to have taken place. As well might 
 it be said that a trout on entering the sea, would 
 turn into a salmon. 
 
 It may be remarked in addition, that the color 
 of which we are speaking is not confined to the 
 fish of this lake only. In no other respect then 
 are they salmon, than as being individuals of the 
 genus salmo, may render them such. 
 
 Neither are they exclusively salmon trout, as all 
 of the species may with propriety be so denomin- 
 ated. Indeed it is doubtful if in this country that 
 particular variety is known which corresponds with 
 
336 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 that described as the salmon trout of England ; in 
 fact, no two authors agree upon the subject. Since 
 then, those of which we are speaking, possess the 
 obvious qualities of their species, to say nothing of 
 the more scientific arrangement established by nat- 
 uralists, by whom the trout and salmon are classed 
 as distinct species, since they possess neither the 
 form, the fat, the flavor nor the projecting excres- 
 cence of the under jaw, peculiar to the male sal- 
 mon, since the longitudinal line as well as the spots 
 are more clearly defined, we may, however our 
 minds have harbored a doubt that a whale is a fish, 
 as safely arrive at the conclusion that a trout is not 
 a salmon, as that " fleas are not lobsters." 
 
 With the exception of a few observations, 
 which apply to the species generally, our remarks 
 thus far have been mostly confined to the variety 
 which we denominate the pond-trout ; w r e proceed 
 now to speak of the second description, viz: the 
 brook or river-trout, considering them as strictly a 
 fresh water fish . And in this class, we mean to 
 include, as before observed, such as are found in 
 the artificial ponds, as well as the running water 
 by which they are supplied, for they are precisely 
 the same fish, differing only in size, in which the 
 pond-fish have generally the advantage, since they 
 are less approachable, and not so effectually thinned 
 out as the trout of the streams. They may be 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 337 
 
 considered the common trout of the country, and 
 abound in all parts of the state, being most plenti- 
 ful however, in such streams as have the fewest 
 obstructions. There is a great similarity in their ap- 
 pearance wherever they are found, and in size 
 much less variation than is generally supposed. 
 
 One scarcely ever hears of a brook, but at some 
 time or other the largest trout has been ta!ken from 
 it that ever was seen. And further, there is 
 scarcely a brook or river, but there is sure to be 
 located at a convenient distance from it, some vet- 
 eran angler from the old country, who enjoys the 
 undisturbed monopoly of its finny treasures. He 
 scorns the vulgar bait. He enjoys the sport, and 
 exults in its success, according as it requires an 
 exertion of his skill, for the more the art " is redu- 
 ced to a complete science," the greater is the 
 pleasure which he derives from it. 
 
 There are not only the individuals of whom we 
 speak, but others, who, availing themselves of all 
 the information to be acquired from books and 
 experience, are fully aware that fly-fishing is 
 the perfection of angling. 
 
 They import the best tackle from England, for 
 it is not to be bought in all its variety in this coun- 
 try, including a stock of artificial flies, which are 
 more particularly considered standards, for it would 
 be useless, (our streams being, a part of the year, 
 22 
 
338 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 " in icy fetters bound,") to include such as are de- 
 signed, in England and Scotland for each particu- 
 lar month* 
 
 A pocket-book, not only well supplied with ar- 
 tificial flies, but with such materials, particularly 
 feathers, as enable him to repair his losses, and 
 imitate nature upon the spot, is an important arti- 
 cle of the fly-fisher's equipment ; his rod, howev- 
 er, deserves the first consideration. The wood is 
 hickory ; it is twelve and a half feet long ; it has 
 but three joints, which are ferruled only on one end 
 for the sake of lightness; the butt is solid, very 
 large in the hand, and tapers very suddenly ; into 
 the end of it a spike of five inches in length, 
 thin like a knife, is made to screw, for the purpose 
 of supporting the rod upright in the ground, as this 
 is a position in which it is least exposed to dan- 
 ger ; the length of the spike is required to give it 
 firmness in the ground in which it is thrust, which 
 is often of a sandy or mossy nature finally, when 
 put together, it weighs but thirteen or fourteen 
 ounces without the spike, and may be held all day 
 at the extremity, or, as some prefer, above the 
 winch, without the least fatigue, and is under as 
 much command as a coach- whip. A reel or winch 
 is indispensable ; it should be such as is called 
 multiplying, with which advantage is taken in ex- 
 hausting the fish, by winding up the line with greater 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 339 
 
 rapidity, whenever it becomes relaxed. The line 
 should be about thirty yards long, and made of pa- 
 tent silk and hair, either of a green or gray color ; 
 smaller lines, made of that indispensable mate- 
 rial, gut, are also necessary ; these are called 
 " casting lines" and sometimes "foot lengths" and 
 are attached, as occasion may require, to the prin- 
 cipal line, for the purpose of falling with less vio- 
 lence upon the water. A line made of hair, or 
 silk and hair wove together, is preferred, (indeed 
 no fly-fisher ever uses any other,) on account of its 
 not becoming heavy and saturated with water, 
 like lines of silk and other materials, which cling 
 to the rod,, when wet and swelled, fall with vio- 
 lence when the fly is cast, and are not delivered 
 freely through the rings of the rod. 
 
 There are some small materials which may 
 prove convenient, all duly noticed in every book 
 on angling, such as the clearing ring, the landing 
 hook, &c. The fish pannier, which should be' of 
 a middle size, and the landing net, are however in- 
 dispensable. The handle of the latter should be 
 made of the lightest wood, about five feet long, 
 and the bow of the net about twelve inches in di- 
 ameter. 
 
 The landing net is carried under the left arm, 
 and beside the use for which it is designed, of 
 landing the fish, it often proves serviceable in 
 
340 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 sounding the depth of a bog, or breaking the force 
 of a fall. 
 
 Having thus described the most material parts 
 of the angler's apparatus, we proceed to say, 
 that success will depend upon the expertness with 
 which the fly is cast, and this it would be in 
 vain to attempt, in the teeth of even a gentle 
 breeze. He must take advantage of the wind, and 
 if it blows from him, the fly may be cast to a 
 distance with great precision. Much depends on 
 practice, and to some it has proved a knack very 
 difficult to acquire. 
 
 Two flies are generally used, termed technical- 
 ly, a dropper, and a stretcher, the latter being at 
 the extremity of the line, and both made to re- 
 move at pleasure, by a simple arrangement of the 
 casting line. The trout of which we were speak- 
 ing, and to which we now return as compared to 
 the sea-trout, yet to be noticed, has a large 
 mouth, dark within ; the general complexion of the 
 skin, particularly about the head, is of a deep 
 brown color ; the spots are bright, and the pecto- 
 ral fins often of a reddish tinge. 
 
 A fish in good condition, of a pound weight, 
 measures fourteen inches in length. The color of 
 the flesh is various in different waters, in some it 
 is of a cream-color, in others white, which is the 
 most usual, and in others, again, of a pink or 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 341 
 
 salmon hue, depending, no doubt, upon their 
 food. If any, however, deserve the name of sal- 
 mon-trout, it should be those only which -resemble 
 the salmon in the color of the flesh, since in that 
 particular the salmon never vary, which the trout 
 often do. 
 
 Though their average size and weight is much 
 the same, but falling short of that which is usually 
 ascribed to them ; still there is in every water some 
 peculiarity by which the fish may be distinguish- 
 ed, some being darker, some of a more shining 
 hue, and some of a fuller form. And there are 
 also exceptions as to the fact of the uniformity of 
 their size, for they are known, in one stream to be 
 of a very minute description, not longer than min- 
 nows, yet perfectly formed and beautiful fish, 
 while in another stream the average is large, and 
 small fish seldom seen. 
 
 Two pounds may be considered large, yet they 
 sometimes attain the weight of three. To give, 
 however, a better idea of the usual size, we should 
 say, that after a day's fishing, and having return- 
 ed to the water such as were too small to keep, 
 the balance would generally compare to the stand- 
 ard of herrings, a fish well known for their uniform- 
 ity in this particular. 
 
 But here it may be remarked, that it is this 
 very variation in size, so peculiar to the trout, 
 
342 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 which is the delight of the angler. His skill is 
 constantly liable to be put in requisition, and should 
 he succeed in securing a larger fish than ever he 
 had previously taken, his prime object is ac- 
 complished. He exults in the size, as an offset 
 to the numbers taken by the companion of his 
 sport. 
 
 It has been correctly remarked, that they will 
 seize upon any small object in motion on the wa- 
 ter, for which reason, unless they happen to be 
 particularly dainty, it is unnecessary to be very 
 curious in the selection of a fly, as a proof of 
 this, and at the same time of their well known vo- 
 racity, we remember to have taken a trout of about 
 a pound weight, when on disengaging the hook, 
 something like a string was observed to hang out 
 of its mouth. This proved to be the tail of a 
 mouse, which we drew from the throat of the fish 
 in a partly digested state. This circumstance 
 happened in the town of Tyngsborough, in a beau- 
 tiful stream, which take it for all in all, is as a 
 trout-brook, the very beau ideal of the angler's im- 
 agination, and is one fact, to which many others 
 might be added, that they are not over particular 
 in their food. 
 
 We shall mention but one more, occurring 
 in the town of Sandwich, in the well known 
 " Monument River." On opening a fish of about 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 343 
 
 the same weight, the stomach was found to con- 
 tain a stone we will not be so indefinite as to 
 say " about the size of a piece of chalk," but 
 weighing an ounce and a half. 
 
 It may be hence inferred that the fish in this river 
 or estuary, as it may be called, are rather short of 
 food, which is the fact, they are consequently 
 poor and in bad condition, feeding on sand-fleas, 
 and a few minnows, and are the most inferior of 
 all the sea trout, peculiar to a part of the country 
 to which we shall presently refer. The sensibili- 
 ty of the angler is relieved by the belief that, in 
 fish, the organs of feelings are somewhat obtuse. 
 If this is true, the opponents to the sport are dis- 
 armed of the only argument which can be alleged 
 against it, viz : its cruelty. If, however, they mean 
 to apply the charge not only to the fish, but to the 
 \vorm or other living bait with which they are tak- 
 en, the fly-fisher at least, must be exempted 
 from such an imputation. The impaling of the 
 writhing worm does no violence to his tender sen- 
 sibility, neither does the lively minnow quiver upon 
 his hook. 
 
 Provided with his book of flies, he pursues the 
 pleasure of his sport guiltless of its only objec- 
 tion. Still farther, to remove what is urged 
 against fishing on the score of its cruelty, we 
 may notice how frequently the troul is hook- 
 
344 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 ed a second time, with the hook which but 
 a few moments before his struggling had de- 
 tached, fixed firmly in his jaw. In fact, the loss 
 of a favorite fly, is generally attended with the 
 consolation that it may be thus recovered again. 
 
 Once angling with the bait by the side of a 
 friend, we struck a trout, and he shortly doing the 
 same, on raising our rods, a fine fish was suspended 
 between us. It was judged to belong to him 
 whose hook was deepest. We have heard it said 
 that it was necessary to the existence of the fresh 
 water trout that they should periodically visit the 
 sea, but this notion is too ridiculous to deserve 
 a serious contradiction. The innumerable ob- 
 structions of our rivers and rivulets now-a-days, 
 most effectually prevent it. On the contrary we 
 say farther, that there is a small description of 
 trout often found in such streams as flow into the 
 tide waters, that have this opportunity without 
 availing themselves of it. They are not only na- 
 tives of the stream, but live within its confines all 
 the year round. 
 
 Alas ! that the manufacturing interest should 
 clash with the success of the fisheries ! It is not 
 that we complain of these obstructions as prevent- 
 ing the fish from going down to the sea ; we should 
 be content to find them still where nature placed 
 ' them. But now, they are dispersed and degen- 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 345 
 
 erated in quality, the waters are poisoned, and the 
 legitimate current of the rivers, like the present 
 course of politics, is forced into new and untried 
 channels ; so that in the anguish of our hearts, 
 adopting a distich to the teeming times, and blend- 
 ing the patriot's apprehension with the angler's re- 
 gret, the thought occurs to us that 
 
 i "Nullification is vexation, 
 
 Division is as bad " 
 
 For such is the creed .of him who is both a lover 
 of his country and its enjoyments. But if fortu- 
 nately chance should have directed his thoughts 
 and steps to a more favored scene 
 
 ' Where purple violets lurk 
 
 With all the lowly children of the shade " 
 
 there, having passed a day of temperate pleasure, 
 far from the world of strife, having tried conclu- 
 sions with none but the companion of his toil, or 
 the -victims of his skill, he lingers till " the evening 
 shades prevail," then homeward-bound returns, 
 his basket heavy as his heart is light. 
 
 By the influence of a distinguished individual 
 who occasionally indulges in angling, as a relief 
 from the cares of an arduous profession and a pub- 
 lic life, an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts 
 
346 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 was passed, imposing a penalty of fifty cents for 
 each trout taken in any other way except with the 
 rod and line. It is to be regretted however, that 
 the intention of extending the protection of jhe 
 law to this estimable fish, has not been altogether 
 realized : the law exists, but is disregarded. 
 
 Factories and saw-rnills have done their part to- 
 wards the work of extermination, and the destruc- 
 tive net bids fair to do the rest. But though 
 much diminished from these causes, there are more 
 or less waters all over this state, and particularly 
 in Plymouth county, and Barnstable county on 
 Cape Cod, where the fish live and thrive in the 
 undisturbed possession of their element. 
 
 -In no place, however, do we remember to have 
 seen them in such abundance as in Duke's county, 
 upon Martha's Vineyard ; and it is perhaps from 
 this very circumstance that they are held in so lit- 
 tle estimation, the preference, as an article of food, 
 being given to the silvery " neshaw eel," as it is 
 called ; neither has the pleasure of taking them 
 ever entered into the minds of the people. It 
 may well be supposed then, how favorable these 
 circumstances must have proved, not only to their 
 preservation and wonderful increase, but also to 
 their attaining that respectable growth which en- 
 titles them to the name of " old settlers." It was 
 here in the month of November last, and of course 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 347 
 
 \ 
 
 in their spawning time, while returning home from 
 a ramble among the heaths and hills of Chilmark 
 and Tisbury, that crossing the principal brook of 
 the island, our attention was attracted towards the 
 agitated state of the waters, and never do we recol- 
 lect so fully to have realized the expression of its be- 
 ing "alive with fish,' y as on this occasion. As we 
 carelessly descended the course of the brook, they 
 were constantly rushing before us, but on a closer 
 and more careful inspection, they might be discern- 
 ed lying dormant in the gravelly shallows with then- 
 back fins out of water, watching their spawn, occa- 
 sionally darting out, as danger in the shape of some 
 unwelcome intruder approached the object of their 
 care. 
 
 Departing once more from the intention of con- 
 fining these remarks to the trout of Massachusetts 
 alone, it may be here stated that with the excep- 
 tion of the Vineyard alone, there is no place with- 
 in our knowledge where they appeared to be so 
 numerous as in the river at Dennysville, in the 
 state of Maine. They were in all respects like 
 those we have been describing. They were 
 found in all parts of the river, but more par- 
 ticularly in certain spots where a cold brook en- 
 tered and mingled with its waters, called trout- 
 holes ; in such places they were congregated in im- 
 mense numbers. 
 
348 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 Had these been the only object of a visit to a 
 part of the country and a stream, which consid- 
 ering their numerous attractions to the eye of the 
 angler, may be viewed as unequalled, there would 
 have been ample field for gratification. But on 
 the contrary, being prepared, and fishing for sal- 
 mon, their numbers proved rather annoying, than 
 otherwise., 
 
 At this time, the late season, and some other 
 obstacles, interfered with the success of our en- 
 deavors to take the salmon with the rod, line and 
 artificial fly ; an achievement which had been rare- 
 ly attempted, and probably never accomplished, 
 unless by foreigners, except in the single instance 
 of one of our party, who on a previous visit to this 
 wild river, in a more propitious season, had the 
 good fortune to realize that object, which is said to 
 constitute the apex of the angler's ambition. 
 
 Proceeding with the order in which we arrang- 
 ed the three principal varieties of trout peculiar to 
 this state and its vicinity, we come now to the last, 
 and by far the most esteemed, viz : the sea- 
 trout. They are found, as may be inferred from 
 the name, in the salt and brackish waters of tide 
 rivers, creeks and inland bays, in various parts 
 of this and the adjoining states. But with the ex- 
 ception of "Fire-Place" on Long Island, we are 
 not aware of their being known in the same plen- 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 349 
 
 ty and perfection as in " Waquoit Bay," upon 
 Cape Cod ; a place of well known resort, and to 
 which our remarks will more particularly apply. 
 Waquoit Bay is a large expanse of shallow wa- 
 ter upon the southern shore of Cape Cod ; it was 
 so called by the aborigines, who in this respect 
 were governed by the suggestions of nature, from 
 the resemblance of the sound of the word to that 
 which is emitted by the male quail at the time of 
 incubation. 
 
 A number of small streams are discharged into 
 it, which render its waters slightly brackish, and it 
 has but one narrow outlet to the sea. The soil 
 in the country generally, but particularly in the 
 neighborhood of this bay, is of a sandy, sterile qual- 
 ity, but nature, which has been rather niggardly 
 in this respect, has made ample amends, pot only 
 in the superior quality of the trout of which we are 
 speaking, but of other fine fish, such as eels, basse, 
 &;c., with which its waters abound. 
 
 There is another neighboring bay, called "Pop- 
 ponesset" upon the same shore, (scarcely less fa- 
 mous for the sea-trout than Waquoit,) into which 
 the celebrated Marshpee river flows, perhaps the 
 greatest resort of anglers in New England for the 
 sea-trout, after they have begun to ascend the fresh 
 water streams. When taken from the salt water 
 early in the spring, they are in high perfection, 
 
350 TROUT AND ANGLING 
 
 and nothing can exceed their piscatory symmetry. 
 The general appearance of the skin is of a silvery 
 brightness ; the back being of a greenish and 
 mackerel complexion ; the spots of a vermilion 
 color, mixed with others of a faint yellow, and 
 sometimes slightly tinged with purple, extend the 
 whole length on each side of the lateral line ; the 
 fins are light in color, firm in texture, and together 
 with the tail are rather shorter and more rounded 
 than in the common trout ; they have a firm com- 
 pactness of form from head to tail, which accounts 
 for the superior sprightliness of their motions ; 
 the head and the mouth are very small, and the 
 latter never black inside like the common or fresh 
 water trout ; the flesh is even redder or rather, 
 we should say, more pink-colored than the sal- 
 mon, to which by many, they are preferred as a 
 delicacy, having, like the salmon, much of what 
 is called the curd or fat between the flakes. 
 
 - A fish of a pound weight, measures about eleven 
 inches in length. Their average size is consider- 
 ably larger than the fresh water or brook trout 
 having been taken in the waters to which we re- 
 fer, of nearly five pounds weight. Such instances 
 however, are rare, three pounds being considered a 
 very large fish. We may here remark respecting 
 their size, that it is considered very good luck when 
 after a day's fishing ten or a dozen will average a 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 351 
 
 pound each, and we have a recollection of a few 
 days only which have shown a greater result ; we 
 mean to each individual. We do not remember 
 of ever seeing a poor fish of this kind taken ; they 
 are invariably in good condition, let the size be 
 what it will ; their principal food is the minnow 
 and the shrimp, particularly the latter, with which, 
 early in the season, their stomachs are found to be 
 filled ; they feed upon the minnow rather later in 
 the season, when the increasing warmth of the 
 water invites it to leave the warmer springs of 
 fresh water, where it has passed the winter, 
 and venture into the shallows round the margin 
 of the bay ; it then becomes an easy prey to the 
 voracious trout, which pursues it with despe- 
 rate boldness to the very feet of the angler as he 
 stands in the water, obliging it in shoals to 
 leap from the surface, and sometimes even to be 
 cast on shore in its attempts to escape his hungry 
 jaws. There is a place called minnow-cove, where 
 they are very plentiful, particularly in the boggy 
 marsh holes, in which they collect in the spring so 
 abundantly, that half a net full may be sometimes 
 taken at a single dip. 
 
 At this time, however, they are out of the reach 
 of the trout, though they are on the whole, the 
 best bait ; the shrimp on the contrary, living as 
 they do among the eel-grass in the bay, which 
 
352 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 also affords shelter to the trout, being more with- 
 in reach, may consequently be said to supply their 
 principal food, at least through the winter months. 
 As it is necessary in the pursuit of all game to be 
 governed by a knowledge of its particular food, so 
 it may be said of the sea-trout, their motions while 
 in the salt water being regulated by those of the 
 minute fish upon which they live. Both minnows 
 and shrimps are more or less affected by the action 
 of the tide, particularly the latter, which in its re- 
 flux sweeps the passive shrimp in shoals across a 
 sandy eddy of the bay into the very mouths of the 
 expectant trout, who there collect and lie in wait 
 to feast upon them. 
 
 It may be hence inferred that the shrimp is a 
 good bait, and so it is, the only objection to it, is 
 that of its not being sufficiently tough upon the 
 hook, and therefore stolen with such ease by the 
 fish as to require very frequent rebaiting ; in this 
 respect, the minnow has the advantage, and may 
 be considered the established bait for the sea- 
 trout. 
 
 If ever so well provided, it would be in vain to 
 fish in the broad waters of the bays to which we 
 allude an occasional trout is sometimes taken 
 while following ,the edge of the eel-grass which 
 forms the channel, but it is not the way to fill 
 the basket. They are governed, as we have ob- 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 353 
 
 served by the operation of the tide upon the bait, 
 which occasions their collecting in two well known 
 rendezvous or sand spits which project into the 
 bay, forming a current favorable to the purpose of 
 their resort. 
 
 To give some idea of the numbers which are 
 occasionally taken, it may not be amiss to state that 
 upon one of the points alluded to, being the one 
 of least note, and forming a sort of narrow to a 
 division of the bay, we perceive by a memoran- 
 dum made at the time, that two persons took 
 eighty sea-trout, the weight of which, including 
 two baskets four pounds each, was fiftynine 
 pounds. This was on the fourth of April, the 
 wind west, flood tide most of the time, and the 
 bait equally shrimp and minnow. Though the 
 artificial fly is by no means used for sea-trout, 
 with much success, before they are led by instinct 
 to change the nature of their food with the ele- 
 ment in which it is formed, yet it is customary in 
 this sort of fishing to have a red fly, as it is called, 
 but more strictly speaking, a caterpillar, perma- 
 nently attached to the line ; this with one bait, 
 either the shrimp or minnow, is the common prac- 
 tice, by which two fish are often taken at the same 
 time, and occasionally three, as we have once 
 seen, when the three varieties of bait were used 
 together. 
 
 23 
 
354 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 There is another sandy point, and the only one 
 in the bay, named Poponessett, previously alluded 
 to, which forms one side of the channel called 
 " Sampson's Narrows," not less famous for the 
 size and quality of the trout than Waquoit, though 
 not so remarkable for numbers. A basket of 
 twenty pounds capacity is often filled in this spot, 
 at one tide, and it is worthy of notice that, prob- 
 ably on account of the action of the current upon 
 the various sand-bars, the flood is decidedly best 
 upon this of which we are speaking, while in the 
 other bay the ebb tide is preferable. If we should 
 be called upon to give a preference to the trout of 
 any particular place over all the others which we 
 have seen, the decision would be in favor of those 
 of Sampson's Narrows, as possessing all the fine 
 qualities heretofore enumerated in the sea-trout, 
 with compactness of form and richness of flavor in 
 a more remarkable degree. 
 
 With a view to make further discoveries of the 
 resort of fish, we have followed the shore of one 
 of these bays, so far as the very outlet to the sea. 
 No addition, however, was made to the stock of 
 knowledge already possessed. The only trout 
 which was taken at this outlet, confirms the fact 
 often noticed in other places, that the nearer they 
 are taken to the sea, and the salter the water, the 
 more they possess the greenish color peculiar to 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 355 
 
 the back of the mackerel, as well as a more dazzling 
 and silvery brightness, compared to those living 
 in waters at all brackish. That some idea may 
 be formed of the size of the fish, not unusu- 
 ally taken in these waters, and particularly at the 
 sandy point last referred to, we may state the cir- 
 cumstance of our having caught, a few years since, 
 on the 24th of March, three trout, which together 
 weighed eight and a quarter pounds two of them 
 approaching very nearly to three pounds each, be- 
 sides many others at the same time, over a pound, 
 their stomachs being filled with shrimps ; on this 
 occasion both wind arid tide were favorable 
 the latter for sea-trout being much the most impor- 
 tant. 
 
 We have now to mention a well known and 
 by far most frequented spot in all these waters, 
 called "Poket Point," in Waquoit Bay. Its 
 name like that of the bay, is no doubt of Indian 
 origin, and agreeably to the custom already, re- 
 ferred to, might have been given to it for the very 
 simple reason of its poking out in so striking a 
 manner as to form those singularly abrupt projec- 
 tions from the shore or main land, generally known 
 by the name of " Sand Spits." Be that as it 
 may, it is a very remarkable place, and for many 
 years, has been no less the resort of the angler, 
 than the great abundance of fine sea-trout which 
 
356 TROLTTAND ANGLING. 
 
 form the object of his visits. But to describe it 
 more particularly. Having proceeded about a 
 quarter of a mile, or it may be nearer a half, from 
 the landing place, (which by the way is that point 
 we have previously mentioned as being the second 
 best,) along the fringed upland which skirts the 
 marsh, we come to a gently sweeping curve of the 
 grassy shore ; on the other side there is a similar 
 curve or swell of the bay, both of which, inclining 
 together towards the extremity, form the celebra- 
 ted spot of which we are now speaking, It is a 
 few hundred feet from the upland to the end of 
 the point, which at low water particularly, is a 
 mere sand bank, and upon which there is no other 
 vegetable growth to be seen except the coarse, 
 rank beach grass, so peculiar to the sterile shores 
 " of the stormy Cape Cod." 
 
 The distance between high and low water mark 
 upon the point, is but a very few feet ; indeed, 
 the tides in these land-locked bays are so much 
 governed by the force and direction of the winds 
 that it is frequently difficult to tell whether 
 it is high or low, rising or falling ; in moderate 
 weather, however, there can be no doubt, and the 
 calculation of high water in this bay, is about two 
 hours later than the almanac. At low water, 
 there is a wading-place from near the point to the 
 opposite shore which forms one side of " Child's 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 357 
 
 River" the current of which sets against the point 
 and adds to its advantages as a resort for the fish, 
 especially if the wind happens to be in an opposite 
 direction, for the froth which is consequently col- 
 lected upon the surface; is what the trout, beyond 
 all other fish, so much delight in, and they are 
 seen at such times, jumping their whole length out 
 of water, their bright broad sides glistening in the 
 sun. 
 
 This state of things however, -is not always the 
 most favorable for fishing ; for at such times it 
 may be sport to the fish, but by no means to the 
 angler ; few in fact are taken upon the surface, 
 and they evince little or no acquaintance with the 
 artificial fly, that which we have heretofore men- 
 tioned being a sort of decoy, serving but to attract 
 their attention towards the more deadly bait. One 
 circumstance, adding very much to the pleasure 
 of fishing at this, and indeed at other points of a 
 similar character, is that of the line never becoming 
 entangled, or the hook fouled, the action of the 
 current, particularly at ebb tide, which for reasons 
 in relation to the bait, is the best time, being such 
 as to keep the line always free. Neither is there 
 much annoyance from the hideous sculpin. It does 
 occasionally happen however, and is a misfortune 
 soon ascertained by the heavy strain upon the 
 line, and the dead weight upon the hook ; we 
 
358 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 are consequently prepared to deal with him as 
 soon as he reaches terra firma, which is not always 
 realized without serious consequences to an appa- 
 ratus, a little too delicate for this species of fishing. 
 
 Though we profess to feel nothing like a mor- 
 bid sensibility, nor to expend our small stock of 
 compassion upon this maritime monster, yet we 
 have feeling ; but it would be affectation to say 
 that under these circumstances we have no ill 
 will towards the- sculpin, considering the great 
 disappointment he has occasioned us by not being 
 a trout. 
 
 We would not however, torment this much 
 abused fish by thrusting a stick into his jaws and 
 turning him adrift, thereby putting an effectual 
 veto upon his "biting times," as some of our chil- 
 dren do ; we would merely put him out of harm's 
 way as effectually and as speedily as possible, with 
 that tenderness which a due regard to his feelings 
 ana 1 our own comfort may dictate. His indomita- 
 ble love of his native element, is evinced by fre- 
 quent short and powerful jerks, but finally having 
 baffled his spirit of opposition, and with quite as 
 much regard to the safety of our tackle, as to his 
 views of a change of element, dragged the unwil- 
 ling monster to the sand, we disregard the ang- 
 ling rule, by .which one should 
 
 " Gently disengage, 'and in the stream again indulgent throw.' 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 359 
 
 but on the contrary, with feelings by no means pro- 
 pitiated in his favor by the threatening erection of 
 his horns, and his obvious objection to a restoration 
 of the hook, first having disposed of the rod by 
 placing it in the only safe position, that is, in an 
 upright one, by means of the spike, then take the 
 staff of the landing net, which is also armed with 
 a spear, for this and other purposes, seize a quiet 
 moment as he lies upon the shore, and force it 
 quickly through his head into the sand, by which 
 operation he is instantly and therefore humanely, 
 deprived ever after of an indulgence in his pro- 
 pensities of smelling, biting, and jerking ; we then 
 withdraw the handle of the net from the sand, 
 with the impaled sculpin " dead as a herring" 
 upon it, after which, his mouth being open for the 
 first time since the enjoyment of his personal ac- 
 quaintance, the hook is disengaged with perfect con- 
 venience. Finally, the handle of the net acting as a 
 powerful lever, the unfortunate " sea-devil " is cast 
 from it with that force and to that distance which 
 settles the question of further annoyance ; then 
 into the water, splash he falls like Lucifer, never 
 to bite again. 
 
 But enough, perhaps too much of sculpins 
 let us therefore return to the trout. Their only 
 screen from the view of the angler at the point, is 
 the depth of the water, and it is for this reason, as 
 
360 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 they can probably see though not seen, that a 
 breeze upon the surface is absolutely necessary. 
 There must be a ripple so as to render objects, if 
 they are seen, at least broken and indistinct to the 
 fish ; even a very light breeze, which comes par- 
 ticularly favorable from the southeast and south, 
 added to the tide current is sufficient, but noth- 
 ing can be done in a calm. It is true that on first 
 throwing in, a few fish are taken, laying as they 
 do when undisturbed, near the sand-bank in watch 
 for the bait ; but the effect of the natural timidity 
 peculiar to the species, is to make them recede 
 farther and farther, until being out of his reach, 
 the angler, notwithstanding his having pursued 
 them half leg deep, finally abandons the sport 
 until a more auspicious time. Favored, however, 
 by the united circumstances of tide and wind, 
 plenty of bait, and the established equipments, he 
 has every prospect of all the enjoyment which he 
 anticipated. But the idea of enjoyment, to those 
 not of the fraternity will appear rather enigmati- 
 cal, when it is premised that he stands for hours at 
 a time over his knees in the water, (and here it 
 maybe remarked, by way of parenthesis, that as but 
 two or three can fish, conveniently, at one time, 
 upon this and the other similar points, they cer- 
 tainly, having the ground to themselves, have no 
 desire to refute the maxim of de gustibus non est 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 361 
 
 disputandum,) but it does not follow that his feet, 
 though cold, are wet, being protected by his imper- 
 vious india-rubber leggings, in which, after some 
 hours' pressure of the water, there is not the least 
 appearance of moisture, except what arises from 
 the natural exudation from the skin. 
 
 Even as early as February, the trout may be 
 taken in this and other places, and as before ob- 
 served, are in high perfection ; but the cold, at this 
 season requires to be guarded against, and the an- 
 gler is consequently supplied with a pea-jacket, as 
 it is called, among his other defences ; his dress, 
 in fact, is regulated according to the season, March, 
 April and May being the most favorable months. 
 Though by no means giving it the preference, he 
 likes the fishing because he likes the fish, and 
 more particularly, for its novelty, being the first 
 fruits of the season. 
 
 His other gear, as varying strictly from fly-fish- 
 ing, are these : the rod should be rather longer 
 and stouter, though, well managed, the fly-rod 
 may be used without danger and with still greater 
 convenience. 
 
 Casting lines may be used or not, at pleasure, 
 but a single shot of the size called B. is absolute- 
 ly necessary. A very minute swivel is used for the 
 double purpose of spinning the bait and preserving 
 the line from snarling. Several spare hooks, already 
 
362 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 ganged upon silk-worm gut, must be at hand to 
 repair losses, as well as shot previously split. 
 Short casting lines will be necessary only in case 
 of using a small red or gaudy fly, of which a slight 
 stock should also be provided. The meshes of 
 the landing net should be small, for the purpose 
 not only of landing, or it may be said dipping up 
 the fish, but also for catching the live bait. If the 
 net is carried as recommended in fly-fishing, un- 
 der the left arm, the fish should be unhooked over 
 it, so that if it happens to drop, it will drop into the 
 net and not into the water. A japaned box is 
 strapped round the waist, with apartments for the 
 two kinds of bait. The winch and line are the 
 same as that described for fly-fishing. The pock- 
 et book is well supplied with materials to refit, re- 
 pair, and replenish, and the basket, if not carried 
 upon the back, is left in a convenient situation 
 near the edge of the water. 
 
 There have been incredible numbers of trout 
 taken at the celebrated point to which we more 
 particularly refer ; hundreds, and perhaps we may 
 say thousands every year, nor is it perceived, on 
 the whole, that they are diminished in proportion. 
 From particular causes, however, generally attrib- 
 utable to the state of the weather, there are sea- 
 sons of scarcity ; as a proof of this, we may men- 
 tion the circumstance which happened a few years 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 363 
 
 since, of a change of temperature attended with 
 snow, which suddenly succeeded a few uncommon- 
 ly warm days, during which the trout, invited by 
 the warmth of the water, rather than governed 
 by the early season, began to change their quarters 
 and ascend the streams, agreeably to the instinct of 
 their nature. The consequence was, that chill- 
 ed by the snow, the streams and shallows near 
 the shore became a mass of sludge, whence the 
 trout, dead and dying, were collected in great 
 numbers, as well as from the edge of the marshes, 
 where they were left by the receding tide. The 
 mortality was such as to occasion a perceptible 
 diminution in the quantity and size of the fish, on 
 that as well as the following season. 
 
 Instances of this nature are, however, of rare oc- 
 currence, but w r e wish that as much could be said 
 of the shameful practice of NETTING, which, under 
 pretence of taking herring, is annually perpetra- 
 ted, more particularly in Child's and Quash,nut 
 rivers, in defiance of the well known law against 
 it.- It may be said of this and every other place, 
 where trout are found, that fair fishing never thin- 
 ned their numbers yet. 
 
 Since upon Poket Point, there is nothing to 
 screen the angler, on first approaching, it is best 
 to be cautious, particularly if it happens to be a 
 calm time. It not unfrequently happens that two 
 
364 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 persons on first throwing in, will both instantly take 
 double game, as it is called. 
 
 If it is late in May, two of them may be striped 
 Bass, which we have seen repeatedly taken to- 
 gether ; for it is in May that these fish run in 
 from the sea. At that time they are in such 
 fine condition that there is no reason to regret the 
 chance of taking one occasionally, if it were for 
 nothing else but to give variety to the repast in an- 
 ticipation. After premising that there is never a 
 day in the season of fishing, but more or less trout 
 may be taken at this point always enough to eat ; 
 still, to give a better idea of the numbers, though 
 perhaps incurring the charge of dry detail, we would 
 now refer to such days as have been considered 
 fortunate ; and we mention them only as coming 
 within our own observation, and such as every fre- 
 quenter of these waters must also have experi- 
 enced. 
 
 April the twentysecond, two persons took twen- 
 tyseven pounds principally upon this point : a 
 great part of the time the tide was ebb, and of 
 course favorable, but the wind being north-east, 
 by no means so, which is one of the many proofs 
 of their capriciousness for the want of a better 
 reason, already adverted to. The angler, of all 
 persons, therefore, should never despair. On the 
 ninth of April the year is of no consequence 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 265 
 
 two persons took, in the same spot, fiftyeight trout, 
 weighing thirty pounds ; and this gives a correct 
 idea of their average weight of half a pound, many 
 being not much over a quarter, a considerable 
 number up to a pound, and but few reaching the 
 weight of two pounds and over. 
 
 It would be well if some who are in the habit of 
 angling here, would remember the petition of the 
 fish in the fable, and release all trout under the 
 size of minnows, instead of basketing every one 
 they catch, merely to swell the number, without 
 regard to weight, beside the detriment to future 
 sport such conduct is a wanton sacrifice of life, 
 which no true angler will countenance. 
 
 On the seventh of May, twentynine pounds 
 were taken by two persons, the number of fish not 
 known, but probably between fifty and sixty. We 
 shall merely add as an instance of the greatest re- 
 sult of fishing at the two principal points here al- 
 luded to, of which we have any recollection, that 
 in the middle of April 1829, there were taken by 
 two persons, in five day's fishing, 296 sea trout, 
 weighing 191 pounds. On one of the five days 
 the number was eightytwo, and the weight sixty- 
 one pounds, thirty fish of one of the parties weigh- 
 ing thirty pounds and a quarter, and the largest 
 two pounds and eleven ounces. The wind and 
 weather on the whole were favorable, but even 
 
366 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 when otherwise, it made, as sometimes happens, 
 but little difference in the sport 
 
 By a singular coincidence, though in perfect keep- 
 ing with the genius of the place, the names of 
 Phinney, Fish and Handy, are among the occu- 
 pants of the surrounding soil. To those who de- 
 sire to be near the scene of action, the house of 
 the former affords substantial comforts, while that 
 of the latter has been from time immemorial the 
 point tfappui of the visiter, let him come from 
 where he will. It is here that we commence the 
 note of preparation, arrange the tackle and select 
 the bait. It is here we often linger upon the sun- 
 ny slope that fronts his lowly cot, or seated at the 
 window, watch the sluggish tide, or favoring 
 breeze ; or if detained within, we listen to the 
 aged veteran, while with kindling enthusiasm he 
 conjures up a series of such incidents as form the 
 humble part he took in achieving his country's inde- 
 pendence, or dwells with doting fondness and 
 cheering satisfaction, upon the circumstance of his 
 eyes having once been blessed with the sight of 
 the glorious Washington and Lafayette, as the 
 brightest reminiscence of his unpretending history. 
 Grateful for the pittance of his country's bounty, 
 he contrives to live ; his utmost wants all realized 
 in the necessaries of life. But still, without the 
 treasures of the sea, his boat and spear, it might 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 367 
 
 go hard with the aged pensioner, whom we have 
 sometimes seen of a calm dark night engaged in 
 the picturesque process of eeUng ; the boat gently 
 cleaving the smooth surface ; a bright fire kindled 
 in the bow ; his attenuated form standing erect in 
 the centre, and seen by the glare of light in strong 
 relief contrasted with the murky darkness around, 
 darting his spear at times into the lurid water ; then 
 like a trident brandishing it aloft, the very person- 
 ification of old Neptune himself. 
 
 As a short digression from our subject, but con- 
 nected with eeling an occupation so essential to 
 the poorer inhabitants, that the eel spear may be 
 called the staff of life we have to state the cir- 
 cumstance as related to us, which happened in 
 these waters some fifty years ago, of an Indian 
 who one dark night was beset by a host of wild 
 geese. Attracted by the bright glare of the flam- 
 ing pine knots, they approached his boat in a dense 
 black mass, croaking most vehemently, rushing at 
 the fire, which they soon flapped out and scattered 
 with their wings. His only defence was his pad- 
 dle, and this he laid about him with such effect to 
 prevent the canoe from sinking by their numbers, 
 that on reaching the shore with great difficulty, 
 he found his cargo unexpectedly consisting of wild 
 geese instead of eels. 
 
 Having now noticed the principal bays and 
 
368 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 points, where the sea trout are found in the great- 
 est numbers and perfection, compared to all the 
 other tide waters in the state, we proceed to men- 
 tion the two well known rivers, into which upon 
 the return of warm weather they begin to migrate, 
 called Child's and Marshpee rivers, or in other 
 words, we speak of the sea trout in fresh water. 
 The first mentioned river is shallow and will be 
 found more or less brackish according to its prox- 
 imity to the bay into which it runs ; the banks are not 
 wooded, and it receives the water of a brook that 
 takes its rise in springs and bogs at only a short 
 distance from the head of tide waters, or rather we 
 should say where the fresh water is backed by the 
 impulse" of the flowing tide. As this brook is alto- 
 gether unfavorable for a mill, on account of its 
 short and sluggish character, the trout have unin- 
 terrupted access to its head waters, where they re- 
 pair in spawning time, but seem in no haste to run 
 in -any great numbers at an earlier period of the 
 season, which fact is peculiar to this stream, and 
 no doubt is to be accounted for by the greater 
 abundance of good feed below. 
 
 Occasionally this boggy brook affords good di- 
 version in its few approachable parts, but generally 
 speaking they are found collected in one or more 
 of the little shallow basins, a successive chain of 
 which forms this peculiar river. It has neither 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 369 
 
 shelving banks, or rocks, or brush, the only cover 
 for the fish being a green spongy weed at the bot- 
 tom, and so easily detached by a little too much 
 wind, as to be very annoying to the angler. In- 
 deed there is an end of fishing whenever this sub- 
 stance is inclined to float upon the surface, as we 
 have often noticed in this, as well as other rivers. 
 Child's River however, though by no means pos- 
 sessing the rural charms in which the fly-fisher so 
 much delights, or the difficulties which it is his am- 
 bition to contend with and overcome ; has no supe- 
 rior as a place favorable to the practice of the in- 
 cipient state of the art, particularly on account of 
 its freedom from the usual impediments, enabling 
 the angler to cast his fly without difficulty. In 
 this water we have found the same red fly already 
 mentioned, very successful, as also others of a 
 bright and showy description, which certainly for 
 sea-trout are the most killing. And here it would 
 not be amiss to mention the materials composing 
 this fly, and forming the great dependence of the 
 angler for sea-trout. The hook is small and of the 
 kind called limerick, ganged of course upon silk 
 worm gut, the snood of which may be the whole 
 length of the gut if used for a stretcher, but if used 
 for a dropper, either with another fly, or with the 
 bait, it should be but three or four inches long, and 
 the gut of the stiffest kind, to prevent its winding 
 24 
 
370 TROUT AND ANGLI NG. 
 
 round the casting line when wet, as it is inclin- 
 ed to do. Its distance from the end fly or stretch- 
 er is about three feet, but if bait is used, it should 
 be at least double that distance. Its body or dub- 
 bing may be made of red worsted, mohair or floss 
 silk, the last being neatest, and objectionable in all 
 flies only on account of its greater liability to hold 
 the water. Then comes the hackle, from the neck 
 feathers of a white rooster dyed red, which is 
 wound round the body, making a very simple fly, 
 so called, but more resembling a caterpillar, as it 
 will be observed it has no wings. 
 
 When three flies are used, there can be no better 
 arrangement for them than the following. The 
 first drop-fly, to be thirty inches from the stretch- 
 er, the gut only four inches long, and of the stout- 
 est kind. The second drop-fly to be thirtyfive 
 inches from the first, and the gut eight inches long. 
 The advantage of observing this fixed distance be- 
 tween the flies, is that of their all three coming in 
 contact with the water in the ordinary position of 
 the line after it is cast. 
 
 Highly as we appreciate it as a pleasing resource 
 to the angler, and forming one object for the 
 exercise of his skill, it is not intended to add to 
 these remarks our own experience in the art ' of 
 fly making ; it will however be proper to state 
 the names of those mentioned in the books on 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 371 
 
 angling where ample directions may be seen 
 of such as are said, and we have proved to be, stan- 
 dard flies, that is, such as are found to be good at all 
 times and in all places. They are the palmer flies, 
 namely, the red hackle, yellow hackle, grouse 
 hackle, etc ; and wing flies, such as the green 
 drake or may-fly, the march brown, and indeed any 
 and all of that class of insects known by the name 
 of phryganeae and ephemerae, to which may be 
 added the grasshopper as well as beetles, for " there 
 is hardly any insect that flies, including the wasp, 
 the hornet, the bee and the butterfly, that does 
 not become at sometime the prey of fishes." 
 
 If the angler has half a dozen of each of the 
 palmers, as well as a small stock of the wing flies 
 above alluded to, he may be considered well pro- 
 vided, particularly if he has also feathers and other 
 materials to repair his loss in case either variety 
 should be exhausted. The manufacture of flies is 
 a very nice operation, and more suited to the del- 
 icate fingers of females, by whom they are princi- 
 pally made in England, Scotland, &c. The very 
 best of them are but rude imitations of nature, but 
 the practised eye will distinguish at a glance those 
 that are made by rule, from those that are made 
 by a novice in the art. From our own experience 
 we have been of opinion that quite as much stress 
 is laid upon the necessity of an infinite variety of 
 
37*2 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 flies as is consistent with fact ; neither do we be- 
 lieve that the most killing will prove to be such 
 flies, as at the time the trout happen to be taking. 
 For on the contrary we have often noticed that a 
 totally different fly may be used with success, 
 and it may too, be unlike any insect in creation, 
 for which reason, they seem to give it the prefer- 
 ence. There are however certain general rules to 
 be observed, such as a dark fly for a bright day, 
 and a bright fly for a cloudy day ; a small fly for 
 calm water and a larger one for a rapid. The 
 great difficulty in fly making is in the wings, nay, 
 it is not only difficult but impossible to imitate 
 with anything like truth to nature, those little retic- 
 ulated gossamer transparencies, neither would the 
 flies be any better if we could. 
 
 A judicious selection of feathers then is all that 
 can be done ; they have the advantage of any sub- 
 stance more delicate, which would not bear the 
 use. The smaller the fly the more difficult it is 
 to make, and this accounts for the artificial ones 
 being so out of all proportion ; though we do not 
 believe they are any the worse for it. Indeed it 
 would be a very difficult thing not only to procure 
 a hook sufficiently small, but to make a fly so very 
 minute as to be scarcely perceptible on the wa- 
 ter. It frequently happens, in a calm time, that 
 the surface is covered with an insect so small 
 
TROUT AND ANGL.ING. 373 
 
 that they could not be perceived by the fish if it 
 was at all agitated by the wind. At such times the 
 trout are rising in all directions, apparently in 
 sport j but upon examination they will be found to 
 have fifty or more of these little specks collected in 
 the throat. To imitate the size then is out of the 
 question, the most we can do is to corne as near as 
 possible to the colors, and if we have nothing like 
 it in our collection, to make one upon the spot, 
 though it may be twenty times as large. 
 
 But enough of calms, the test of an angler's skill. 
 The most showy and therefore the most killing 
 salmon flies, resemble nothing which skims the 
 air; after the body requiring great nicety in 
 the operation of tying, they are principally made 
 up of a mass of the most gaudy feathers pos- 
 sible ; well arranged, gay and attractive as the 
 butterfly, and intermingling their tints like the pris- 
 matic colors of the rainbow. Such are the Irish 
 flies of Martin Kelly, some remarks upon which, 
 taken from an English Magazine, we here subjoin, 
 as they apply to fly fishing and fly making in gen- 
 eral. 
 
 " I would recommend every man who aspires 
 to be a first rate salmon fisher, or is ljkely to 
 have frequent opportunities of enjoying that noble 
 sport, to learn the art of fly dressing. The occu- 
 pation is agreeable, and the pleasure of killing a 
 
374 TROUT AND ANGLtNG. 
 
 salmon with those of one's own manufacture is infi- 
 nitely greater than that afforded by doing so with 
 the handy-work of any other artist. The dress- 
 ing an Irish fly is, it must be admitted, a tedious, 
 and to do it neatly, rather a difficult operation, and 
 requires not only practice in the mere mechanical 
 part of the process, but likewise considerable judg- 
 ment in the selection and adaptation of the com- 
 ponent parts. Any man who has been taught to 
 tie flies, may imitate a pattern correctly enough ; 
 but it is not so easy a matter, without a model, to 
 select and mix a good wing, and choose the colors 
 of the body, legs, head, &c., so as to make a ju- 
 dicious whole. The merely being able to tie a 
 neat and pretty looking fly, is not sufficient ; some- 
 thing more is wanting, and this something, most men 
 whether regular tackle makers, or amateurs, want, 
 and nothing but experience and careful and minute 
 observation will supply the deficiency." 
 
 Having made this long detour from Childs' Riv- 
 er, we now return to it, for the purpose merely of 
 stating the numbers and size of the fish taken at 
 one particular time. It was on the eighteenth of 
 May 1829, that two persons one of whom was 
 an English gentleman, a " brother of the angler," 
 to whom we are principally indebted for the small 
 stock of practical skill we possess took seventy 
 fine sea-trout, weighing thirtyeight pounds. A 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 375 
 
 number of the largest weighed about a pound and 
 a half, but none over. They were nearly all tak- 
 en with the fly, and most of them with three or 
 four varieties of those standard flies already men- 
 tioned, namely, the red and yellow palmer or 
 hackle, the march brown, and grouse hackle. 
 The time on the whole was favorable, though the 
 sun was out, the wind blowing up the river, mild 
 and gentle. 
 
 There is another river which flows into Wa- 
 quoit Bay, known by the Indian name of Quashnut. 
 In its tide waters the sea-trout are sometimes col- 
 lected in considerable numbers. It is at best how- 
 ever an uncertain place, and never can amount to 
 much as a trout stream on account of the mill 
 which obstructs their progress to its upper waters, 
 to say nothing of the stealthy practice of seining, 
 before mentioned. And here it may be remarked 
 that the effect of a mill, as it respects the trout in 
 a stream, depends very much upon its location. If 
 it is high up and near the source, its operation is 
 far. less unfavorable to their annual upward tenden- 
 cy, as many instances might be adduced to prove, 
 but if on the contrary, as in the instance of the 
 stream last mentioned, the fall happens to be such 
 that the mill is erected upon the lower waters, it 
 proves an effectual barrier to their migrations, and 
 they desert the stream for one more congenial to 
 
376 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 their nature. As it respects this mill, it is a more 
 desperate case for the fish, than indeed where the 
 communication with the brook is entirely cut ofF 7 
 since the improvement of the dam for factory pur- 
 poses, and the consequent alteration of a waste 
 way, that now falls in a lofty cascade. We have 
 been surprised that this arrangement was permit- 
 ted, since it effectually shuts out the herrings as 
 well as the trout, the former being so essential to 
 the support of the poorer class. 
 
 We remember in the olden time, when every 
 drop of water was by no means so precious as it is 
 now-a-days, that while passing this darn, on our 
 way to " Poket," it was a common thing to be 
 accosted by the worthy miller, with an offer of 
 large trout, which of course we always rejected, 
 expecting to take larger and better ourselves, nei- 
 ther did we altogether approve his modus operandi, 
 simple enough to be sure, as may be seen by what fol- 
 lows. Observing that the trout, in their efforts to 
 struggle through what is called the waste way, were 
 cast back again by the force of the gorge, into one 
 particular shallow of the stream ; he there drove a 
 circle of stakes, making a sort of pound, from 
 which there was no escape, and whence the 
 trout thus confined, were taken at pleasure. We 
 remember to have noticed the same invention, 
 though upon a larger scale, in Canada, at the up- 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 377 
 
 per bridge, that crosses the Jacques Cartier River. 
 A view is given of this wild scene in Mr Vignes 
 " Six Months in America," taken by himself, rep- 
 resenting the identical personage with whom we 
 conversed on the subject of the salmon, while on 
 a journey in the month of August 1826. But the 
 circumstance alluded to, being noticed in a short 
 journal of one of the parties, and also applicable to 
 our subject, we therefore subjoin an extract from it. 
 
 " At seven o'clock we arrived at the beautiful 
 and romantic spot called Jacques Cartier Upper 
 Bridge. Though on a smaller scale, it resembles 
 " Trenton Falls," in the rude features of nature, 
 the river having worn a deep passage in the solid 
 rock, through which the impetuous water foams 
 and tumbles in its progress towards the mighty St 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Two pedestrian highland officers had arrived 
 from Quebec on an excursion for salmon fishing, 
 the spot being celebrated in its facilities for the 
 enjoyment of this sport. With great civility, one 
 of- them perceiving that we were strangers and 
 travellers, accosted us, and imparted all the infor- 
 mation possible in the half hour that we were able 
 to devote to the enjoyment of this interesting scene. 
 It was with great reluctance that we looked with 
 the hurried glance of the passing traveller upon a 
 prospect so truly picturesque, and above all, at the 
 
378 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 only place where we had ever yet visited where 
 the art of angling is enjoyed in its greatest perfec- 
 tion ; but so it was we were bound to Cape 
 Saint to lodge, and even if we had been disposed 
 to stay, the tavern, which was also the toll-house, 
 appeared much too small to accommodate our 
 party without dispossessing the said officers, who 
 had already taken up their quarters there. 
 
 " The salmon are taken with the rod, line and 
 artificial fly, and often in an eddy of the river very 
 near the bridge. The w r ater here has scooped 
 out a vast hollow in the rock ; in this the salmon 
 were to be seen in the morning when the sun 
 shone, doggedly still, because seeing as well as 
 seen, but as the officer observed, all his efforts to 
 allure them by the most enticing flies, proved inef- 
 fectual, though he confidently expected better suc- 
 cess early tomorrow morning ; and well he might, 
 for we understood from the tollman, in French, 
 that four were taken yesterday with the hook, one 
 of which weighed eighteen pounds. 
 
 " On the other side of the bridge, up the river, 
 there was also an elbow in the rock, forming a sort 
 of natural trap, where the salmon, in attempting to 
 leap a rapid, were forced back into a small pool, 
 from which they were taken and removed to another 
 and more secure pen ; out of this our informant took 
 one with a dip net, weighing about three pounds, a 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 379 
 
 size in England called grilse . Though out of season 
 and very indifferent, it proved a valuable addition 
 to our viands, cleanliness being a more striking char- 
 acteristic of Canada, in summer, than good cheer. 
 On the flat surface of the rock, we were shown the 
 deep prints of feet, as they are called ; they have 
 something of the form, to be sure, but are without 
 doubt the natural effect of the torrent, which when 
 the river is swollen, covers these places, and has 
 at some time or other, whirled round loose peb- 
 bles within them, so as to produce, by abrasion, 
 these peculiar forms. It was with regret that we 
 bade adieu to this gem of creation." 
 
 The other stream which we proposed to notice, 
 as being remarkable for its sea-trout, is called 
 Marshpee Brook or River, and takes its rise from 
 the Marshpee or Wakeby pond, flowing through the 
 plantation of the Marshpee tribe of Indians, adjoin- 
 ing the town of Falmouth and Sandwich, it empties 
 into the before mentioned Popponesset Bay. Like 
 many other streams, it is called both a river and a 
 brook, though it is well understood that when the 
 former term is used, it applies to its lower waters, 
 and vice versa. 
 
 We have little to say of its river part, except 
 that being much deeper than the one last describ- 
 ed, the trout are taken sometimes through the ice, 
 in the winter and early spring, in certain deep 
 
380 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 parts, known by the familiar names of the Crow's 
 Nest, Amos's Landing, &ic. And here it may be 
 remarked that, go where you will, let the scene 
 and the country be ever so uninteresting and in- 
 describable, there is hardly an acre of ground or 
 water unprovided with its appropriate name, some 
 of them very ludicrous, and all familiarly known by 
 the occupants of the soil. Though this is observ- 
 able throughout the country generally, it is more 
 particularly so in all our Indian settlements, and in 
 that to which we have alluded as much as any. 
 Mixed and degenerate as they are, it is still grati- 
 fying to see here and there the slightest vestiges, 
 and they are few, of the primitive customs of the 
 sons of the forest. One of these, if not still extant, 
 must have been so at no very distant period, and 
 is that of stopping to rest at certain spots in the 
 roads, (once paths) indicated by a considerable 
 pile of dried sticks, and called "Indian Taverns." 
 These are still visible in many places, and were 
 sustained by the practice of each individual who 
 passed casting a stick upon the heap 
 
 But alas ! even these Indian Tumuli, if they 
 may be so called, are gradually sinking to decay, 
 an indication of that total extinction, .sure and cer- 
 tain, which awaits those with whom they origin- 
 ated. Where is the warlike front, the firm step, 
 the native pride, the majestic bearing, where is 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 381 
 
 the feathered mantle, the gaudy plume, the dead- 
 ly arrow, and the elastic bow, where is the 
 friendly wigwam, and the calumet of peace, 
 where ? all civilized away. Disgrace not the 
 name of Indian, by applying it to that squalid, 
 mongrel race who halt exhausted at an Indian 
 tavern ; they bear the white man's poison, they 
 stop to drink, where once their ancestors, with 
 solemn purpose, cast a bough upon the landmark 
 pile as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Great Spirit ; 
 but at length a too potent spirit has sacrificed them, 
 their civilized and degenerate descendants. 
 
 One of the most interesting remains of Indian anti- 
 quity is to be seen upon the banks of Cotuit brook, 
 on the land of the venerable and worthy Gideon 
 Hawley, Esq. one of the overseers of the Marshpee 
 tribe. It is a large tumulus, so obliterated by time 
 as hardly to attract notice, but on examination a 
 regularity of form is perceptible. It is an oblong 
 square, but not much elevated. There are trees 
 upon it of a considerable size and spontaneous 
 growth. The tradition is that of its being the 
 grave of a large trout, which having forced its way 
 and pioneered the herrings from the sea, was there 
 taken and buried. This is ridiculous enough, as 
 most Indian traditions are ; but should an excava- 
 tion ever be made, there is but little doubt that the 
 labors of the antiquarian would be rewarded with 
 
382 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 a sufficiency of bones; they would, however, be of 
 those the Indian, and not of the. trout.* 
 
 From the peculiar nature of the stream, the 
 fishing of Marshpee Brook may be considered as 
 perfectly sui generis. We have seen the time, 
 when, as beginners, we had no objection to it, 
 particularly on account of the great hauls, with 
 which we sometimes even astonished the natives ; 
 but as that time has gone by, and nothing short 
 of doing the thing secundum artem will satisfy us 
 now ; we shall say merely a few words for the 
 benefit of all those " pot-fishers " that care more 
 about the end than the means. 
 
 It may then be inferred, from what we have 
 said, that the use of the fly in this stream, is out of 
 the question, and so it is ; from one end to the 
 other, with very little exception, its banks are cov- 
 ered to the water's edge with a dense mass of pri- 
 meval foliage, so close, the broad limbs embracing 
 and intermingling from either side, and " wreathing 
 
 * On a recent visit to Cotuit, having visited this Tumulous 
 or " Trout-Mound," as it is there called, the form was found 
 to be rather oval than oblong ; an egg cut longitudinally in 
 halves, will best convey an idea of its shape. \Ve also learnt 
 that some years since, an excavation was caused to be made 
 by D. L. Child, Esq. whose expectations in bringing some- 
 thing to light, interesting to the antiquarian, were not realiz- 
 ed. We are still of opinion however, that had the work been 
 prosecuted to a greater extent, a satisfactory result would have 
 followed. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 383 
 
 their old fantastic roots on high," as effectually to 
 screen the view of the water. The only way to 
 fish in Marshpee brook, therefore, is by wading ; 
 and fortunately, its hard, gravelly bottom, so un- 
 common in other brooks, but remarkable in this, 
 renders it perfectly practicable. 
 
 Notwithstanding our present predilection for 
 what we conceive to be a greater refinement of the 
 art, our thoughts must often recur to Marshpee 
 and its interesting associations, as being our first 
 love. Many are the friends who must recip- 
 rocate in the gratification of having wet a line to- 
 gether in this enticing stream, of which it may be 
 truly said, our lines have fallen in pleasant places ; 
 and among those of the most pleasing kind is 
 blended the recollection of a successful day, passed 
 with one whom we delight to honor, and one whose 
 skilful management in alluring the speckled captive 
 was, as it were, emblematical of that transcendent 
 talent, which, as a statesman and a " fisher of men," 
 has since made captives of us all. And here it 
 may be observed, that if great names were requir- 
 ed to sanction the diversion of angling, and give it 
 a preference, we can refer to Salmonia, that vade 
 mecum of the angler, not only for authority of such 
 a character, but for arguments founded on its ra- 
 tiontd enjoyment as a philosophic pursuit. 
 
 Halieus there says, " I can find authorities of 
 
384 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 all kinds, statesmen, heroes and philosophers; I 
 can go back to Trajan, who was fond of angling. 
 Nelson was a good fly-fisher, and as a proof of his 
 passion for it, continued the pursuit even with his 
 left hand. Dr Paley was ardently attached to this 
 amusement ; so much so, that when the Bishop 
 of Durham inquired of him, when one of his most 
 important works would be finished, he said, with 
 great simplicity and good humor, " My lord, I 
 shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing sea- 
 son is over," as if this were a business of his life. 
 And I am rather reserved in introducing living 
 characters, or I would give a list of the highest 
 names in Britain, belonging to modern times, in 
 science, letters, arts, and arms, who are ornaments 
 of this fraternity, to use an expression borrowed 
 from the freemasonry of our forefathers. 
 
 Physicus. I do not find much difficulty in 
 understanding why warriors and statesmen, fishers 
 of men, many of whom I have known particularly 
 fond of hunting and shooting, should likewise be 
 attached to angling ; but I own I am at a loss to 
 find reasons for a love of this pursuit among phi- 
 losophers and poets. 
 
 Halieus. The search after food is an instinct 
 belonging to our nature ; and from the savage, in 
 his rudest and most primitive state, who destroys 
 a piece of game, or a fish, with a club or spear, to 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 385 
 
 a man in the most civilized state of society, who 
 employs artifice, machinery, and the resources of 
 various other animals, to secure his object, the ori- 
 gin of the pleasure is similar, and its object the 
 same ; but that kind of it requiring most art may 
 be said to characterise man in his highest or intel- 
 lectual state ; and the fisher for salmon and trout 
 with the fly, employs not only machinery to assist 
 his physical powers, but applies sagacity to con- 
 quer difficulties ; and the pleasure derived from 
 ingenious resources and devices, as well as from 
 active pursuit, belongs to this amusement. How 
 delightful in the early spring, after the dull 
 and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disap- 
 pear and the sunshine warms the earth and waters, 
 to wand'er forth by some clear stream." 
 
 To this feeling, whether as fly-fishers, or more 
 general anglers, we most cordially respond, and 
 not the less so as it applies to the stream in ques- 
 tion, among other favorite resorts, for the circum- 
 stance of the necessity of wet feet. There are 
 sundry places where it is customary to enter 
 Marshpee Brook, either higher or lower, according 
 to circumstances. To stem the current and fish 
 upwards, is out of the question, and never practised, 
 neither should we recommend ever " tracing up the 
 brooks," though unimpeded by trees, if it were for 
 no other reason than the derangement of the line, 
 25 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 which constantly occurs by its flowing towards 
 you ; an inconvenience which never happens 
 while descending. In this brook, however, the 
 agitation of the waters in ascending and thereby 
 disturbing the fish, would be a sufficient reason for 
 going with the current, its operation being such as 
 to guide the bait, and often by the minutest 
 aperture; into those deep recesses whence the 
 monarch of the brook is drawn vi et armis, as 
 he struggles to recede into his dark haunt; in 
 fact, as there is no sea-room to play a fish, the 
 tackle should be altogether of a stouter description 
 than that which is confined to the use of the artifi- 
 cial fly. 
 
 The rod for instance should be but eight or ten 
 feet long, with a very stiff top joint a longer 
 rod cannot be used with convenience on account of 
 the trees. It must have a winch or reel attached, 
 and rings through which to pass the line of ten or 
 fifteen yards in length, and made of silk. The 
 hooks should be of rather a large size, and if 
 ganged on silk worm gut, so much the better. 
 A swivel will be required, and at least one large 
 shot of the size of B. 
 
 The angler should have a supply of all those 
 materials before recommended, to repair his loss- 
 es, which in this brook of all others, on account 
 of the large size of the fish, and more particularly 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 387 
 
 the obstructions in its course, are so likely to oc- 
 cur. Let the rod be of what kind it will, there 
 should always be a spike in the butt, for a rod 
 should never be suffered to lay upon the ground 
 or fall into the water, particularly in a current, 
 which is sure to sag down the line and do such 
 mischief as a little pains might have prevented. 
 He should have his fish pannier at his back, and 
 never be without his landing net under the left 
 arm, for reasons before stated. A clearing ring 
 is also often required in a brook like this. The 
 meshes of the net may be either small or large, as 
 the minnow, though always a good bait, is not 
 used in this stream. The practice is to procure a 
 fresh herring, and after having scaled it, make 
 three longitudinal cuts on each side, and then trans- 
 verse cuts, so as to reduce the whole shiny part of 
 the herring to square bits about double the size of 
 dice. To keep this bait in a convenient situa- 
 tion for use, either a small basket attached to the 
 pannier, or a tin box, with air holes in the top, is 
 necessary. 
 
 We have mentioned a reel as essential, though it 
 is not for the usual purpose of holding a long line to 
 play and drown the fish, as in more open waters ; 
 but for the purpose of governing the length of the 
 line with greater convenience, as it becomes often 
 necessary, in order to insinuate the bait under the 
 
388 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 bushes, or guide it near some frothy hummock, to 
 leave but one or two feet beyond the end of the 
 rod. In such places, sometimes not larger than a 
 hat, to all appearance, but often extending under 
 the banks of the stream to the length of the rod, 
 the trout on coming from the salt water take up 
 their abode, and also disperse themselves, under 
 every log, stone, bank or bush, calculated to afford 
 them cover. It is a peculiar kind of fishing, and 
 requires both caution and patience. 
 
 The angler should descend the stream so mod- 
 erately as not to rile the water more than possible, 
 and stand a moment before coming to a favorite 
 bend or bank, for the cloud to pass off and the wa- 
 ter to become quiet, before he casts his bait into 
 the tempting whirl. On striking, that is, hooking 
 the fish, time should be given to gorge the bait a 
 little, neither should it be done with violence for 
 fear of either breaking the rod, or jerking the 
 line and hook into a tree over head, which, of all 
 things is a difficulty most apt to try one's patience 
 in this brook. To guard against this latter incon- 
 venience, it is best to have a hook, made to screw 
 into the rod of the landing net, for the purpose of 
 drawing down a limb that may be out of reach, in 
 order to disengage the line. 
 
 There are a small species of trout in this stream 
 which are what we call natives, and do not visit the 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 389 
 
 lower parts of the river ; they are easily distinguish- 
 ed from the sea-trout by their yellow sides, scarlet 
 bellies and red fins. The latter however not only re- 
 tain their silvery appearance, but grow brown on the 
 back and black on the head, and in the mouth, ac- 
 cording to the length of time they have been in the 
 fresh water. It is said that they come up with the 
 herrings, but the number taken by the herring fishers 
 in their hand nets is so few, as to establish the fact, 
 not only that they run in the night, but of their 
 continuing to ascend from the bay or mouth of the 
 river, long after the herrings have passed into the 
 Wakeby pond. Their "bright, fresh run appear- 
 ance as well as their large size and numbers, may 
 be mentioned in further confirmation of their run- 
 ning more or less all summer long. For though 
 the fishing may be tolerable by the middle of May, 
 the greatest show of fish has always been taken in 
 the middle of summer. At this time herring 
 bait of course is not to be had, minnows, if possi- 
 ble, or worms, are then substituted. The largest 
 sea-trout in the State, have been taken in this 
 brook ; we believe nearly up to five pounds ; two 
 and three being by no means uncommon. But 
 we would repeat again that the average size is 
 much smaller than is generally admitted, and we 
 should sooner call it half a pound than two pounds, 
 as it has been erroneously stated ; indeed we 
 
390 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 should go farther, and call the average much less 
 even in the best day's fishing, if every trout, great 
 and small is " basketed," for it all depends upon 
 the number of those that are rejected and returned 
 to the stream. 
 
 This is one of the brooks that does not suffer by 
 a mill, that which is upon it, but now in decay, 
 being so near the outlet from the pond as to be no 
 impediment to the course of the fish towards their 
 cold-spring haunts, neither do they incline to pen- 
 etrate into the still and warmer waters of the pond ; 
 but prefer invariably to spawn in the gravelly shal- 
 lows of the running water, for which it is so re- 
 markably adapted. In fact, to all frequenters of 
 the Cape, it has been for generations, renowned 
 for the purity and coolness of the waters, the abun- 
 dance of shelters, the size and plenty offish, and 
 indeed for every quality that constitutes a most 
 perfect trout-strearn, with the single exception of 
 its being, from its wild state, unfavorable to the use 
 of the artificial fly. 
 
 Since we have mentioned worms as a bait, and 
 not remembering to have seen any direction for 
 the process of what is called scouring, it may not 
 be amiss to introduce it here ; for if they are used 
 at all, they are much improved by the operation, 
 both as it respects their being cleaner and more 
 lively. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 391 
 
 First, get some clean meadow moss ; wash it and 
 wring it nearly dry, then fill a vessel of the shape 
 of a gallon measure. Let some common earth 
 worms be dug, of a middle size, enough to fill half 
 a pint ; put the worms as fast as dug into a basin 
 of clean water ; take all that are alive and not 
 broken, of a suitable size, and put them in a heap 
 upon the top of the moss, into which on the fol- 
 lowing day, they will be found to have buried 
 themselves, leaving the earth with which they 
 were filled, upon the surface. The moss and 
 worms must then be taken out, both washed sep- 
 arately, the broken worms picked out, and the. 
 living ones placed as before. This, if repeated 
 two or three times will be sufficient, and will ren- 
 der them bright, clean and lively, in which state 
 they may be kept, occasionally sprinkling the moss 
 with a little milk, for many days, 
 
 As it respects the sea-trout, we have confined 
 our remarks thug far to a few particular places, but 
 it is proper to state that though the last mentioned 
 water is the main resort of visiters to Sandwich, 
 whence it is distant about ten miles ; that town is 
 the most remarkable for its abundance of this fine 
 fish of any other in the State ; so much so, that it 
 was for years frequented not only by those w r ho 
 delight in the pursuit of angling, but also by those 
 who set quite as much value upon them as one of 
 
392 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 the greatest delicacies of the table. It was there 
 they were once taken in great numbers and eaten 
 in the highest perfection. It was there that the 
 hot air of the city was exchanged for the pure and 
 piny fragrance of the Cape. It was there the com- 
 forts of a public house were once realized to the 
 heart's content. But alas ! the glory of Sandwich 
 has departed, and " Fessenden's" exists no longer, 
 except in the remembrance of those who have en- 
 joyed its luxuries and the kind attentions of its re- 
 spected host. 
 
 Besides this lamentable change from what was 
 once justly considered the best house in the coun- 
 try, to its .opposite extreme ; the corrupting influ- 
 ence of a foreign population has proved, in this in- 
 stance, the usual scourge of a village, so that now it 
 may be said, Sandwich fuit, and even " John," the 
 guide of the young angler, has seen his best days ! 
 Deep as our regret may be for this deterioration, 
 occasioned less by the diminution of the fish than 
 the substitution of a low tavern, we do not say grog- 
 shop, for a public house, which from its superior 
 excellence under its former landlord, was of itself 
 sufficient to give character and celebrity to a vil- 
 lage ; we have yet the consolation left us of chang- 
 ing our head-quarters to that beautiful oasis in 
 the desert of pines, called Cotuit. This charming 
 settlement, which to its honor be it said, was nev- 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 393 
 
 er permitted to be cursed with a "bar-room," so 
 called, is now without a public house. We there- 
 fore refrain from saying anything in its commen- 
 dation, as a starting point of the angler ; except that 
 we are among the favored few 1 who are still per- 
 mitted by our obliging friend, Ezra Crocker, Esq. 
 though having taken down his sign, to make his 
 house our home.* 
 
 We mention this place as by far the most con- 
 venient location, either for early or late fishing, to 
 say nothing of its various other charms as a sum- 
 mer resort ; yet all the places, to which we have 
 alluded, may be visited with great convenience 
 from Sandwich, requiring only a little more time 
 in going from place to place. For whether you 
 reside at one or the other, your excursions will de- 
 pend upon the season of the year. If early in the 
 spring before the sea-trout have begun to run, 
 they will be to the narrows of Popponesset bay, to 
 
 * As a proof of the salubrity of the village of Cotuit, as vvell 
 as the primitive temperance of its occupants, it may be re- 
 marked, that for the space of 20 years, a physician has not 
 been called to the family of Mr Crocker, with one exception, 
 and that was to a child, now a blooming young lady, who was 
 on a visit to the family. The physician being from home 
 however, and the patient mending, his services even in this 
 solitary instance were finally dispensed with. The father and 
 mother of Mr Crocker died at the advanced age of 80. Their 
 sons and descendants, together with Mr Hawley and the 
 Rev. Mr Fisk, are the principal occupants of the village. 
 
394 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 Waquoit bay, to the lower waters of Marshpee 
 river, and to Monument river, &c. ; but if later in 
 the spring, and in the early summer, though 
 Marshpee brook will be the great dependence, 
 the various other places where the sea-trout are 
 found are almost innumerable ; for there is not a 
 rivulet that flows from the springy banks of the 
 upland into the creeks of the salt marsh, but con- 
 tains more or less. Among the most celebrated, 
 however, are the two tide rivers in Sandwich, call- 
 ed Scusset, and Scorton, to the former of which, 
 once without its equal, we may again apply the 
 word fuit 9 for it has now suffered from the usual 
 effects of a mill. As to the smaller streams, that 
 which crosses the Barnstable road and enters the salt 
 meadows, about four miles from Sandwich, near the 
 Quaker Meeting-house, has, from our own expe- 
 rience, sometimes yielded great results ; in fact, 
 it may be said that the whole country is full of 
 trout, and not confined, though peculiar to this 
 town, for they abound in the neighboring towns 
 of Falmouth, Barnstable, Wareham, Plymouth, 
 etc., and to come nearer home, Marshfield, of 
 which last, by the way, out of regard to the tena- 
 cious notions of such friends as view the ground 
 their own by a sort of prescriptive right, but for 
 which we can feel no sympathy, we forbear to 
 make that particular mention which it justly, 
 merits. 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 305 
 
 Having thus considered the three principal va- 
 rieties, viz : the natural pond or lake-trout, the 
 river or artificial pond-trout, and the sea-trout, both 
 in salt and fresh water, as connected with the art 
 of angling, and with the exception of the first de- 
 scription, as applied to the state of Massachusetts, 
 the few remarks with which we conclude, will be 
 of a more miscellaneous character, and are such 
 as have been overlooked in our progress thus 
 far. 
 
 The trout being a very timid fish, seldom rise 
 or take the bait, either when seeing or seen, it is 
 therefore necessary to keep out of sight as much 
 as possible. Indeed it is necessary that the angler 
 should steal upon them with the cunning of a fox ; 
 and we have a friend in our mind whose great suc- 
 cess is founded upon his observance of this rule. 
 He uses- the bait only, but always keeps at a re- 
 spectful distance from the water. 
 
 The fly-fisher, if he has learnt the art of throw- 
 ing the fly, may proceed with less caution ; his 
 greatest delight is to overcome distance by the 
 length of line, rather than by the length of the rod. 
 Lines are generally made of an equal size from 
 one end to the other, but a better way is to make 
 them like a whip-lash, that is, larger in the mid- 
 dle than at the extremities, for this gives an im- 
 petus in casting the fly. The best rods will be 
 
396 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 found to have a small piece of wire moulded on 
 the joints where they unite ; this is intended to tie 
 them together by a silk thread, to prevent the 
 awkward predicament of throwing rod and all into 
 the water, one of the miseries of anglers, and a 
 thing that often happens, unless so prevented. 
 
 Since we are upon nice points, though we hope 
 not more nice than wise, we will observe still fur- 
 ther, that the silk thread should be waxed with 
 bees' wax, and not with shoemaker's, that it 
 may be unwound with greater convenience, this 
 being the only use in all the apparatus, to which 
 the former is put in preference to the latter. Shoe- 
 maker's wax is absolutely essential, both as hold- 
 ing the work together and resisting the action of 
 the water. The silk thread should be left hang- 
 ing upon the joints ready for use, which if it is a 
 three-joint rod, as recommended, will require but 
 two wooldings, and gives very little trouble. 
 Before putting a rod together, the end of one joint 
 (without a brass ferrule, as advised,) which goes in- 
 to the ferrule or socket of the other, should have a 
 little hard grease applied to it, to prevent its swell- 
 ing and adhering, so that it cannot be taken apart ; 
 oil will not do. If, however, on account of rain, 
 or falling into the water, it should stick fast, which 
 often happens, it should not be forced, but the 
 brass held in the flame of a candle, when by 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 397 
 
 the expansion of the socket, it will soon cease to 
 bind. 
 
 In bait-fishing, on feeling a fish, do not jerk the 
 bait out of his mouth, or give him a toss over your 
 head into the interior, but instantly drop the end 
 of the rod a little, then raise it with a brisk motion ; 
 this is striking with a better chance of hooking ef- 
 fectually, the bait being more or less gorged. 
 There are, however, two objections to this prac- 
 tice, effectual as it is, in which fly-fishing has great- 
 ly the advantage, one is that of giving pain to the 
 fish, allowing it has feeling and another is the 
 difficulty of disengaging the hook, when deeply 
 fixed in the throat. Should this be the case, al- 
 ways withdraw the hook first through the gills for- 
 cibly, with the thumb and finger of the left hand, 
 then placing the fore-finger of the right hand upon 
 the point while there, bring it out of the mouth. 
 Observing this rule, the instrument called the dis- 
 gorger will be unnecessary, for the hand that holds 
 the line, and the finger shielding the point, an- 
 swer a better purpose. With the artificial fly, 
 however, the affair of striking a fish is reversed, the 
 eye must be constantly directed to the extremity 
 of the line, and the fish struck the instant it breaks 
 water. Quickness of sight is absolutely necessary 
 to success in fly-fishing, and those who do not pos- 
 sess it, and are, besides, constitutionally clumsy, 
 
398 TROUT AND ANGLING. 
 
 had better give it up in despair. It is a very con- 
 venient way to hook into the hat, that is, by the 
 point of the hook of the fly, and a pin in the other 
 end of the snood, such flies as may chance to be 
 wanted, to the amount of half a dozen, or more. 
 A three-joint rod, such as we have described for 
 fly-fishing, should have a spare middle and a spare 
 end-joint, which will be much the same as two 
 rods, as the butt seldom or never breaks ; it will 
 then consist of five pieces. A bright sun is always 
 unfavorable to fishing, and if calm at the same 
 time, still more so, but a bright sun with a good 
 breeze is better than a cloudy calm. The glassy 
 surface of the water must be broken that objects 
 may appear indistinct to the fish ; for this reason a 
 shower, particularly in its commencement 1 , is very 
 favorable, but if on the contrary it has continued 
 so long and with such violence as to render the 
 water turbid, and to gorge the fish with feed wash- 
 ed into it from the shores, such a time is unfavora- 
 ble, both for the bait and the fly. Unpleasant as 
 it is to the angler, he should fish with his face to 
 the sun, particularly in a calm tirre, lest the sha- 
 dow of his person be cast into the water ; this is 
 not, so material if there is a breeze. 
 
 To conclude ; there exists among the fraternity, 
 not only that kindliness of feeling towards each 
 other which usually accompanies a kindred taste 
 
TROUT AND ANGLING. 399 
 
 in all pursuits, yet more particularly observa- 
 ble in that of the contemplative angler; but 
 even a holier feeling often takes possession of his 
 thoughts ; and how can it be otherwise ? Once 
 having felt, he never can "renounce the boundless 
 joys that nature to its votary yields." He is. 
 cheered by the radiance of the rising sun ; he 
 breathes the balmy air of morning soothed by 
 the humming stillness which prevails at noon ; the 
 feathered songsters greet his ear, mixed with 
 the brawling brook, " that down the distant rocks 
 hoarse-murmuring falls." He contemplates with 
 wonder all the secrets of the insect tribe ; he 
 hears, he feels, he sees that nothing is made in 
 vain ; he looks " from nature up to nature's God." 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 29, eighth line from bottom, for osseous, read osseous. 
 
 " last line, for oesophagus, road oesophagi. 
 
 " 37, in reference marked C., for oracle, read auricle. 
 
 " 46, fourth line from top, for candal, read caudal. 
 
 '* 49, third line from bottom, for sclerotic, read scleroticr 
 
 " 57, fifth line from top, lor which to, read which by. 
 
 59, sixth 
 seventh 
 
 ninth 
 63-, tenth " 
 
 oviperous, read oviparous, 
 condropterygii, read chondropterygii. 
 nviperous, read viviparous. 
 
 tenth line from bottom, for andromous, read anadromous. 
 for expregnate, read impregnate. 
 
 for oviperous, read oviparous. 
 
 63, third line from top, for Brancfiiostagous, read Branchiostagious. 
 
 79, eighth " " Vedious, read Vcdius. 
 " tenth line from bottom, for lest, read less. 
 
 80, in some of the impressions for Celachii, read Selachii. 
 
 " ninth line from bottom, for cliein de mer, read chien de mer. 
 
 " tenth " " for Scylliam, read Scyllium. 
 
 124, first line top, for Dr Yates, read Dr Vale. 
 145, ninth line from top, for Block, read Bloch. 
 168, fourteen lines from bottom, do. do. 
 
 173, twelve " " for he, read it. 
 176, two " for genera, read general. 
 
 179, eighth " " " for hirando, read hirundo. , 
 
 184. three lines from top, for loche, read loach. 
 187, two " " " do. do. 
 
 207, five lines from bottom, for pluinosus, read pruinosus. 
 
 208, sixth line from top, do. do. 
 
 226, twelfth * for auguilliform , read anguilliform. 
 
 Owing to a mistake of the compositor, in the whole article on An- 
 guilla, the word is mis-spelt Jlugmlla. 
 
 236, last line before note, for Idua, read Idria. 
 
 237, first line from top, do. do. 
 264, eleven lines from : top, for ccecums, read coeca. 
 271, three " for littoral, read litteral. 
 304, last line from bottom, for States^ read State. 
 
 306, head of page, for Comberoides, read Scomberoides. 
 
 307, sixth line from bottom, for nest, read net. 
 
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