New-York daily tribune., 1858-07-22

| s0ts, two three snd1 co., ruch ca, me nst<f-
| men cal them, and IA many polack.
TIE polIack is beautiful fish of a si5guIariy
elcsan. shape. From is agility Lnd fine form, the
| Bay of Fundy fishermen often call ic the I" sea-
salnon." Ii has a strongly defined sifveYy line
rupnng down the sidss Above the lateral kne the
color s greenish black. Tbe belly 's white Is
10 caught very freely on our shores in Spring aud
Autumn. Jeffries Ledge, which les fifteen or siI-
teen miles east by north of Cape Ann, is fayorite
fishing ground for pollack. and immense quantities
are taken there in the Fall of the year BY bo.ts
which 90 in fleets twenty or thirty for the purpose
Formerly the fsh was very little priced Was hardly
ever eaten fresh and so carelessy cured that s
| had low reputation in the market. Within a
quarter OF century i. has come into use, and is
| favOrite 9tcle when sa.ted and dried. IL "a also
very good eating fresh though / find our pilot and
shipper retain their ancient prejudice against il in
| that state. The pollsck grows to the size some
times Of thirty pounds, but the average weight Of
| those taken in deep water is ten pounds Those
| that we caught were small, weighing abou. pound
ard a half Subsequently in our cruse We have
caught them plentifully of somewhat lager size.
and have seen great schools of them dartng out Of
| the water.
Tbesky and sea were sn beautiful and the air wss so
dehcous the surf broke splendldiy over the many
rocky points and ledges that surrounded Us, that
| fear we prolonged our fishing beyond what the
| cessitles of supper strictly required. curious
whitsb appearance on the summit of the huge rock
near which our dory lay, had attracted our atten-
ton from the sloop. As the pilot maintained that
it was caused by the droppiDgs of sea birds, the
Professor jumped ashore to examine it, instead Of
| guaDo, it proved 10 be white quartz.
When We returned to the sloop, we found pilot
and skipper both fast asleep. On awaking. and In
specting wind and tide, they decided that We mus
| remain where we were for the present Refresh
| ing ourselves with lemonade concocted by the skip
per- into which the Professor put little whisky to
correct the acidty, We gave ourselves up TO the con-
temptation of e ct OF medusG which were sailing
by in prodigous numbers. The Professor rgged q
| dip-net, and caught variety of specimens.
The common names for these curious and beauti-
fu creatures are sea -nettes and eles. Around
Boston Harbor the common people call them sun
fish. Our pilot called them sunsqual.s which OBJ
viously is derivation from the German name for
them, schirm-quallen, which means - umbrella,jel-
les ard is highly descriptive OF the animal. They
consist of transparent g.latinOus substance, OF
circular form, and when floating have the shape Of
on expanded umbrella, without the handle. They
contract and expand In a manner similar u the
opening and shutting of an umbrella, except that
they do not shut up quite so tightly. The most
common form which we saw here was that OF the
aurtta aurita which sometimes swims IN such
abundance in Boston Harbor as ~ impede the mo-
tons of boats. II is easily distinguished by the
four stOmachs in its center, each surrounded by
circle of Ovares which are very conspicuous be-
cause unlike the rest of the animal, they are of an
opaque whiiish or pinkish white color. From the
center between these organs, bang four fringed
tentacles by which the food, consisting chiefly of MI
mute crustacea caught and conveyed to the mouth.
The margin of the umbrella is closely surrounded
with long cia which wave gracefully IN the water
with the motions OF the animal
We captured a number Of large ones, foot in
diameter and weighing several pounds in substance
and consistence exactly like Jelly. But if one Of
these ia exposed TO the few hours, it will evap-
orate and dry away till nothing is left but some
small shreds of nembrsDous skin. Those We
caught were of various species, some Of them well
deserving their popular name of sea nettles, for IN
handling them stung severely with an inifain.
nation which lasted two or three hours. BY some
naurasts this singing IS supposed to be sort OF
electric shock but II has been ascertalned that 1t Is
mechanical, and is caused by the dsrting of minute
bsrbed stiDgs, shaped like arrows.
Twas inspecting one of these animals the Pro.
fessor made sudden dash with his dip-net. "Ah :"
he cried, exultingly, II have caught stanrophora
heiniata, which is very rare. They are hardly
ever seen in the bay" We have, however, since
seen it in considerable numbers. 1t is so transpa-
rent that it could scarcely be distinguished IN the
water were it not for its two lines OF Opaque ovaries
arranged in the form of crop, and ntersectlng at
the center, at which the extremely small mouth oi
the animal is situated The mouth has no tentacles
in tEis species. The margin of the umbrella is
ciliated.
spent good part of the afternoon in watching
these sun squalls, as the skipper called them, which
think are the lOyeiest and the srangest OF all the
productions of the sea that have yet seen. In
their delicate and fragile and eyanescent beauty,
can compare them to nothing on the land except
the soap bubbles blown by child. No one who has
not seen them in their proper element can appre-
AZ NJ 10 tn
greatest charms was the exceeding strangeness OF
their forms and motions which are wholly unlike
those of any other living thing. And strsngeness,
as Lord Bacon long ago said, is one OF the hrst eh-
ments of beauty ! have seen while on this cruise,
| suppose a hundred thousand sun.squals. In
some places the sea swarms with them. Yet
never see one pass without sensation of eager de-
light ard curiosity.
About six O'Clock the pilot took the dory and
went ashore to the lighthouse In search Of milk As
he was returning from this expedition sudden COM
motion in the water near the slOOp attracted my at
tention II occurred once or twice before called
the Professor, who was in the cabin, making des-
perate efforts 10 light cigar, the fog having AZ
fected our matches with dampness. A school Of
bluefish {" exclaimed the Professor, as his eye
caught the movement to which l pointed. He
shouted frantcy TO the pilot to make haste with the
dory and throwing on an oyercoat, seized from the
locker where we kept our fshng tackle, long,
stout line at the end of which Was shining spoon
shaped piece of pewter terminated by large hook.
This apparatus he called jig. As the dory aP..
prosched he jumped in, nearly oversettiDg it, and
telling the pilot to row in the direction where the
bmehsh last showed themselves, threw overheard
the JIG and rapidly unwound the line, TIL about thirty
fathoms were trailing behind him.
Presently saw him, standing in the stern Of the
boat, pull " rapidly the line. He had caught a
large bue-fish which he held UP for me 10 look at
went below TO see what tbe books said OF the