372 BULLETIN OF' THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



matioii cou«erniug the fishery ou the bank. This vessel was getting 

 reasonably good fishiug-^a dory load of cod on about 800 hooks of tra^^U 

 The captain told me that on his first " baiting "* he had mackerel for bait, 

 which he procured at the Strait of Canso. While using this bait, h& 

 caught 225 tubs of codfish in six days, the position of his fishing being 

 latitude 44° 55' north, longitude 51<^ 10' west. He thought that the 

 average catch of the vessels from the United States and the British 

 Provinces would be about 250 tubs (equal to about 400 quintals) on their 

 last baiting. As this would represent about two weeks' work on the 

 bank, it may be considered very good fishing, and the indications 

 pointed to a good season's catch by the Grand Bank fleet, since, of 

 course, each vessel usually has several baitings on a trip. 



At station 2449 the trawl brought up about three-quarters of a bushel 

 of various kinds of invertebrates, among which were sea-lemons and 

 spiny sea-urchins. Besides these there were a few scallops {Pecten island- 

 iciis), shrimp, barnacles, and fish of the Cottus genus, also one sponge^ 

 some hydroids, hermit-crabs, small stones, &c. At station 2450 sea- 

 lemons and sea-urchins were numerous ; shrimp were more abundant 

 than elsewhere in any dredging made during the day 5 while there were 

 considerable numbers of small fish, two or three starfish, a few hermit- 

 crabs and shells, the latter being chiefly P. islandiciis and Buccinum. 



On the morning of the 26th we began dredging at daylight, about 30 

 miles northwest from the position where we ceased work on the previous 

 evening, this position being in the deep water (about 80 fathoms) north- 

 ward of the Virgin Rocks, on soft, slimy mud. Dredgings were mad© 

 at intervals of C to 10 miles in the direction of Saint John's, Newfound- 

 land, but the localities where these hauls were made were not on any 

 fishing ground. At five stations (2451 to 2455) a few shrimp, crabs, 

 flounders, starfish, dead shells, one sand-dollar, one small octopus, and 

 some specimens of the basket starfish {Astrophyton) were taken. 

 4 On the morning of July 2 the ship left Saint John's and headed for 

 Green Bank, and dredging operations were soon begun, the rake or 

 scoop dredge being used. The bottom was generally rocky, and only a 

 small amount of material was obtained, the greater part of it being wave- 

 washed stones. A few shells, sea-urchins, and hermit-crabs were taken. 



A little before 6 o'clock on the morning of July 3, soundings were- 

 obtained in 59 fathoms (latitude 45° 47', longitude 54^ 13' 30") on Green 

 Bank, and fishing lines, baited with fresh capelin, were put out. The- 

 ship lay to for 15 or 20 minutes, but no fish were caught nor were 

 there any indications of the presence of cod in the vicinity. After 

 the lines were hauled in, a small dredge was put out and towed for a 

 short time. It came up nearly filled with sand-dollars, with which were 

 also numbers of hermit-crabs, two small flounders, a few sea-urchins^ 



* The -word "baiting" ia used in two senses: (1) the amount of bait taken by a 

 vessel at one time ; (*2) the length of time a vessel is on the banks with a supply o£ 

 bait. The second is the sense in which it is used here. 



