PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 315 



8. ScuLPiN {CoUus octodecimspinosus, Mitchill). A single specimen 

 showed an excess in the rectum of 0.8°, and in the neighborhood of the 

 liver of 3.2° over the temi)erature of the surrounding water. 



9. Sea-raven {Hemitripterus americanus (Gmel.), Storer). A speci- 

 men kept alive in a tub on board of the Speedwell for three-quarters of 

 an hour (the water marking 70.Go) showed an excess in the temperature 

 of its circulation over that of the water of 4.4°. Another specimen 

 brought up in the beam-trawl-net showed an excess in the rectum of 

 17.7° and in the heart of 18.9° over the temperature of the bottom water, 

 but had been half an hour in the trawl, pressed closely on every side by 

 a mass of fishes and sponges. So that the observation is valueless ex- 

 cepting in that it shows that even under abnormal conditions, so long 

 as the fish lives, there is a difference between the temperature of the 

 rectum and of the venous blood. 



10. GoosEFiSH (LopMus piscatorius, Linnsens). This fish is admirably 

 constructed for temperature experiments, being provided with a very 

 large heart and branchial artery, and, moreover, with a highly organized 

 digestive system. Unfortunately the only two specimens observed were 

 brought up in the trawl-net with the above-named sea-raven, and had 

 their body temperatures abnormally raised in the same manner. The dif- 

 ference in temperature between the rectum and the cu"culation was 4.4°. , 



11. Eel-pout [Zoarces anguillaris (Peck), Storer). Two specimens 

 taken in the trawl-net at the same time and under the same circum- 

 stances as the preceding showed a difference between the temperatures 

 of the rectam and the circulation of only 0.5°, the fishes being almost 

 dead. A single specimen taken afterwards with the hand-line showed 

 an excess in the rectum of 3°, and in the neighborhood of the liver of 

 C°, over that of the surrounding water. 



12. Flounder {Hippoglossoides platessoides (Fabricius), GiU). In a sin- 

 gle specimen taken on a trawl-line the temperature of the circulation was 

 3° above that of the water near the bottom. 



13. DociPiSH [Squahis acantJiias, Linnaeus). This species was much 

 the most abundant of any near Provincetown. Owing to the high or- 

 ganization of the digestive system of the order to which this fish belongs, 

 it was to be expected that the heat resulting from the processes of nu- 

 trition would be found in it to be highest. Accordingly, as the table 

 shows, the differences between the body temperatures and those of the 

 surrounding water are here greater than tbose manifested by other fishes. 

 In a series of five taken from cold water (40.4°) the average rectum tem- 

 perature was 4.4° and that of the circidatiou 12° above that of the water 

 near the bottom. The greatest difference occurred in a female, the ova- 

 ries of which contained well-developed young, in which case the circu- 

 lation was 10.0° warmer than the surrounding water. A young dogfish 

 about 9 inches long, with umbilical vesicle still attached, taken from 

 this specimen, gave an excess of 20.0° in the heart above the temperature 

 of the water, the greatest difference observed during the summer. In 

 this young fish there was of course no cooling of the blood during its 



