FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 9 



distribution and relative abundance has been gleaned from the fishery statistics 

 published by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, the Dominion of Canada, and 

 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 



The literature dealing with the lives and habits of fishes occurring in the Gulf 

 of Maine is very extensive, for most of the important commercial species, and many 

 of the others, are common to both sides of the North Atlantic and have come within 

 the scope of the intensive studies carried out of late years by European zoologists in 

 conjunction with the International Committee for the Exploration of the Sea, while 

 considerable attention has been devoted to them by American ichthyologists, also 

 (published for the most part by the United States Bureau of Fisheries) . The many 

 scattered accounts of eggs and larvae of northern fishes have been collected by 

 Ehrenbaum ^ in his general summary of their developmental stages, a compilation 

 the utility of which can hardly be overrated. 



Among the other general European manuals, Day's "Fishes of Great Britain 

 and Ireland" ^ and Smitt's "Scandinavian Fishes" ^ are especially helpful. We 

 have also had access to a great amount of unpublished material in the files of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, especially instructive being the schedules turned in by observers 

 who accompanied certain otter trawlers during 1913, and the observations of Vinal 

 Edwards on the diet of fishes at Woods Hole. The superintendents of the New 

 England hatcheries have supplied much valuable information, as noted in the appro- 

 priate connections. Dr. A. G. Huntsman has, with great kindness, contributed his 

 unpublished notes on the fishes of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 allowing us to quote freely from them, while Prof. J. P. McMurrich has permitted the 

 use of his unpublished plankton records. W. F. Clapp, formerly of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, has contributed many interesting notes 

 gleaned during his experience as a fisherman before his entrance into the scientific 

 field. Harry Piers, of the Provincial Museum of Halifax, has supplied interesting 

 notes on the occurrence of the blue shark. 



We owe a debt of gratitude, also, to Dr. Samuel Garman, who has ever been 

 ready with assistance, and to W. C. Adams, director of the division of fisheries and 

 game of the State of Massachusetts. Finally, we wish to express our thanks to the 

 many commercial fishermen M'ho have unfailingly met our inquiries in the most 

 cordial way and who supplied Mr. Welsh with a vast amount of first-hand informa- 

 tion on the habits, distribution, and abimdance of the conamercial fishes, which could 

 be had from no other source. Without their help the preparation of this handbook 

 would have been impossible. 



' Eier and Larven von Fischen, by E. Ehrenbaum. Nordisches Plankton, Vol. I, 1905-1909 (1911), 413 pp., 148 figs. EleJ 

 und Leipzig. (Appeared in two parts as Lief. 4, 1905, and Lief. 10, 1909.) 



' The fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, by F. Day. Text and atlas, 1880. London and Edinborough. 



' A history of Scandinavian fishes, by B. Fries, C. V. Ekstrom, and C. Sundervall. Second edition revised and completed by 

 F. A. Smitt, 1892, 1,240 pp.. 53 pis. Stockholm. 



