REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 153 



mm.) ; they are not pelagic, but retire to the bottom among the stones 

 and sea- weeds (Ehrenbaum, Nordisches Plankton, 10, 1909, 310). 

 Size: Twenty inches, and up to three feet. 



17G. Lycodes reticulatus (Reinhardt). Eel-Pout. 



Geog. Dist.: North Atlantic, south to Narragansett Bay. Reported 

 from Vineyard Sound (Goode and Vean, 1896, Smith, 1898). 



Habitat: Deep water, 17 to 140 fathoms. 



Season in R. I.: The National Museum contains two specimens taken by 

 the "Fish Hawk," in Narragansett Bay, in 17 fathoms, September, 

 1880 (Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, 1896, 305). 



Size: Fourteen inches. 



177. Lycenchelys verrillii. (Goode and Bean). 



Geog. Dist.: Off Massachusetts in very deep water. Reported in the 

 deep water of Massachusetts Bay (Goode and Bean, 1879). 



Season in R. I.: Specimen at Boston Society of Natural History, sup- 

 posed to have been taken at Newport. 



Size: Dwarf species of very small size. 



MERLUCCIID^. The Hakes. 



178. Merluecius bilinearis (Mitchill) . Silver Hake; Whiting; Frost-fish. 



Geog. Dist.: Coast of New England, northward to Straits of Belle Isle; 

 south in deep water to the Bahamas. 



Season in R. I.: June 5, 1906, a few specimens were taken at Hazard's 

 Quarry trap. June, 1907, this species was abundant until the latter 

 part of the month. This season was particularly cold, which explains 

 their abundance at a date much later than usual. 



Reproduction: In September and October, 1880, while exploring the 

 ocean bottom off Newport and at the edge of the Gulf Stream, immense 

 numbers of the young of this species, from ^ to 3 inches in length, 

 were taken on the bottom, in water 150 to 487 fathoms deep; with 

 them were taken manj^ adults, 12 to 18 inches in length, apparently 

 in the act of spawning, some with ripe or nearly ripe ova, others 

 which were evidently spent fish. The largest of these young must 

 have been hatched from eggs shed in July. 



Thus the spawning season must be somewhat extended, lasting well into 

 the fall. In September an adult taken at Halifax, N. S., was full of 



