BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES* FISH COMMISSION. 143 



more capital, in the start, for the purchase of larger boats and more 

 extensive nets; but there is every reason to believe that it would repay 

 the outlay to, at least, a limited number of fishermen, for many impor- 

 tant markets are close at hand. 



These prawns are so readily recognized as such, in the regions to 

 which they belong, that a description of their appearance is unneces- 

 sary here. We abstract the following notes, mainly heaving upon their 

 distribution, from recently published observations of Prof. S. I. Smith. 



Pand<rfus borealis attains a length of 7 inches.v The body is thickly 

 sprinkled with small red stellate spots, which, from closer aggregation, 

 make the tail deeper iu color than the rest of the body. The eggs are 

 ultramarine blue. Females with spawn were taken in August and Sep- 

 tember, 1877 and 1878, in Massachusetts Bay and off Cape Ann. The 

 following list of localities, from which this species has been recorded, 

 will give an idea of its distribution: Massachusetts Bay, off Salem, 45 

 to 50 fathoms, very abundant on muddy bottoms; Gulf of Maine. 40 to 

 1G0 fathoms, muddy bottoms, very abundant in many places. In the 

 Gulf of Maine, it was found to be especially commou in a region about 

 14 miles southeast of Cape Ann, in depths of 50 to about 1U0 fathoms. 

 It was also encountered 20 to 30 miles off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, in 

 depths of 59 to 88 fathoms, and 30 miles off Halifax, in 85 to 110 fathoms. 

 In foreign waters, this species has been recorded from Greenland, Nor- 

 way, and Behring Sea. 



Pandalus leptoceros and Montagui differ from Pandalus borealis, among 

 other characters, in the coloration of the body, the red being more intense 

 and arranged in clearly defined markings, of which those upon the 

 carapax and abdomen form conspicuous, obliquely transverse lines or 

 bars, while the color upon the rest of the body, and upon the appendages, 

 is collected iu distinct specks, blotches, or annulations. The length at- 

 tained by these species is ab out four and a half inches, th ough the bulk 

 of the specimens examined have measured somewhat less. Their range 

 is from Eastern Long Island Sound to Greenland, in the West Atlantic, 

 and from the British Islands northward, on the European coast. They 

 are much more abundant than Pandalus borealis, though smaller in size, 

 and occur in shallower water, as well as in the same places with the 

 latter. South of Cape Cod, they are much less abundant than to the 

 north of it, and average smaller in size ; they occur in depths of 25 to 30 

 fathoms and deeper. In Massachusetts Bay, they inhabit depths of 22 

 to 48 fathoms, where the bottom is gravelly, sandy, and muddy, and 

 have also been found on Stellwagen's Bank. In the Gulf of Maine, they 

 are widespread and exceedingly abundant in many localities, being 

 often associated with Pandalus borealis on muddy bottoms. They live 

 on all kinds of bottom and in all depths of water, from 10 fathoms down- 

 ward, having been found just to the eastward of George's Bank in a 

 depth of 430 fathoms. In the Bay of Fundy, they occur in depths of 10 

 to 77 fathoms; off Nova Scotia, in depths of 16 to 75 fathoms; in Bed- 



