240 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



Bottom temperatures south of Marthas Vineyard, August 22, 1882. 



And the fact that the temperatures of 1882 were taken when the water 

 was at its warmest (a month later than those of 1881) suggests that 

 the discrepancy for the two years would have been even greater had 

 both sets of readings been taken at the same season. The only one 

 of our stations directly comparable wdth the above is Station 10112, 

 over the sixty fathom curve south of Marthas Vineyard, August 22, 

 where the temperature was 58.9° at sixty fathoms, i. c, nearly 10° 

 warmer than in 1882. The deep waters of the Gulf of Maine were 

 likewise unusually cold in 1882 (p. 244), and the remarkable mortality 

 of fish which took place in the spring of that year has usually been 

 accounted for by the abnormally low temperature (p. 266). 



The only records available for the next year (1883) are a few scat- 

 tered observations by the Albatross (Townsend, 1901), unfortunately 

 all outside the 100 fathom curve. They show that the temperature 

 south of Marthas Vinfeyard was 48° at 131 fathoms in May, and 49° 

 at 117 fathoms in September. In September, 1884, the Albatross 

 took a series of bottom temperatures south of Nantucket, extending 

 from the eighteen fathom curve out to the continental slope, with the 

 following results: 



Bottom temperatures, south of Nantucket, September 26-28, 1884- 



Fathoms Temperature Fathoms Temperature 



18 55.9° 58 52.9° • 



25 54.4° 78 51.9° 



38 50.3° 98 50.9° 



43 50.2° 122 48.8° 



46 51.4° 



This series was taken a month later in the season than our 1913 sta- 

 tions, which perhaps explains the high temperatures on the inner part 

 of the shelf in 1884. And the fact that our one Station (10112) at the 

 end of August was considerably warmer than the 1884 records shows 

 how difficult it is to compare scattered records, owing to fluctuating 



