"As already referred to, it must also be borne in mind that it is not merely the small fry that are thus devoured, and which it is expected will fall a prey to other animals, but that the food of the bluefish consists very largely of individuals which have already passed a large percentage of the chances against their reaching maturity, many of them, indeed, having arrived at the period of spawning. To make the case more clear, let us realize for a moment the number of bluefish that exist on our coast in the summer season. As far as I can ascertain by the statistics obtained at the fishing-stations on the New England coast, as also from the records of the New York markets, kindly furnished by Middleton & Carman, of the Fulton Market, the capture of bluefish from New Jersey to Monomoy during the season amounts to no less than one million individuals, averaging five or six pounds each. Those, however, who have seen the bluefish in his native waters and realized the immense numbers there existing will be quite willing to admit that probably not one fish in a thousand is ever taken by man. If, therefore, we have an actual capture of one million, we may allow one thousand millions as occurring in the extent of our coasts referred to, even neglecting the smaller ones, which, perhaps, should also be taken into account. "An allowance of ten fish per day to each bluefish is not excessive, according to the testimony elicited from the fishermen and substantiated by the stomachs of those examined; this gives ten thousand millions of fish destroyed per day. And as the period of the stay of the bluefish on the New England coast is at least one hundred and twenty days, we have in round numbers twelve hundred million millions of fish devoured in the course of a season. Again, if each bluefish, averaging five pounds, devours or destroys even half its own weight of other fish per day (and I am not sure that the estimate of some witnesses of twice this weight is not more nearly correct), we will have, during the same period, a daily loss of twenty-five hundred million pounds, equal to three hundred thousand millions for the season. "This estimate applies to three or four year old fish of at least three to five pounds in weight. We must, however, allow for those of smaller size, and a hundred-fold or more in number, all engaged simultaneously in the butchery referred to. "We can scarcely conceive of a number so vast; and however much we may diminish, within reason, the estimate of the number of bluefish and the average of their capture, there still remains an appalling aggregate of destruction. While the smallest bluefish feed upon the diminutive fry, those of which we have taken account capture fish of large size, many of them, if not capable of reproduction, being within at least one or two years of that period.