464 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



chiefly to the newly described S. cubensis (p. 473). However, at least a few stray as far as 

 southern Florida and Cuba." Offshore its range reaches to the outer edge of the continental 

 shelf j inshore, into the outer reaches of Chesapeake, Delaware, Narragansett and Passa- 

 maquoddy Bays and the larger harbors. But it rarely, if ever, enters river mouths, at least 

 on the American coast (but see footnote 33, p. 461). 



Seasonal Migrations. The Spiny Dog is a spring and autumn migrant in the southern 

 coastwise section of its range from North Carolina to New Yorlc, and mostly so along the 

 southern coast of New England, but it is chiefly a summer visitor to the Gulf of Maine (in- 

 cluding Georges Bank) and more northerly waters. South of New York Spiny Dogs are apt 

 to "strike in" nearly simultaneously all along the coast j there are records for New Jersey 

 (March 6, 13, or even earlier) and Chesapeake Bay (March) as early in the season as for 

 North Carolina (April and early May). But the date of their arrival varies considerably 

 from year to year. They depart entirely from Chesapeake Bay and the coast south of it by 

 early May in some years and by late May at the latest j but they do not leave New Jersey 

 waters and the immediate vicinity of New York until early or middle June. In the Long 

 Island and southern New England areas they usually do not appear before late April or 

 early May," and the majority have departed by the end of that month, or by the close of 

 June at the latest. But even in July and August considerable numbers of adults are taken 

 at the mouth of Long Island Sound in deeper water ( 1 7 to 24 fathoms) while schools of 

 young are taken inshore j and odd specimens are caught near Woods Hole throughout the 

 summer in some years. On Georges Bank, in the only year of record, a few were taken in 

 late March and April, but not until late June did their numbers sharply increase, the peak 

 of abundance continuing through August. In the western side of the Gulf of Maine they 

 may appear as early as mid-May, as in 1903, or not until well into June, as in 1905 and 

 1 913, when the first big run struck near Cape Ann about the middle of that month. But 

 there may be wide variation in this respect from place to place, as in 1903, when they did 

 not appear at the tip of Cape Cod until early July, although they were numerous a month 

 earlier in Massachusetts Bay, near Cape Ann, and off Penobscot Bay. In most years they 

 have also appeared by June in the eastern part of the Gulf of Maine in general, although 

 not until July in the cold waters of Passamaquoddy Bay, tributary to the Bay of Fundy. 

 Within Massachusetts Bay, where the surface warms to about 1 8 ° C. in summer, few are 

 taken between June and September, and the diminution recorded on Georges Bank after 

 July similarly suggests a movement thence into the Gulf of Maine as the water warms. 



Shark in the Indian River," Florida, and as a permanent resident there. But it is proba.ble that this record actually 

 referred to some other small shark, or perhaps even to Amia (known locally as Dogfish), for the Spiny Dog 

 has never been definitely reported subsequently for the east coast of Florida, either in scientific literature or by 

 fishermen. 



43. We have examined the embryos recorded from the Tortugas by Longley and Hildebrand (Pap. Tortugas Lab., 

 34, 1942: 3) and we have found nothing to separate the type of S. barbouri Howell-Rivero, taken off Havana, 

 from young free-swimming acanthias of the same size from New England waters. 



44. May 17 is the earliest date recorded for the eastern end of Long Island; in 1940 they were first taken at Woods 

 Hole on May 9, or six days after the last were taken south of Delaware Bay (Carolina Biol. Supply Co., Caro- 

 lina Tips, Elon Coll., N. Carolina, 3 [7], 1940: 25)- 



