I. Report ox the Dr edgings in the region of St. George's 

 Banks, in 1872.* By S. I. Smith and O. Harger. 



[Published by permission of tlie Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey.] 



During the summer of 1872, a series of dredgings was carried on 

 by the authors in the neighhorliood of St. George's Banks. The work 

 was undertaken at the instance of Professor Baird, United States 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and carried on, through the 

 cooperation of the Coast Survey, from the steamer Bache, on board 

 of which accommodations were furnished for two persons, with the 

 necessary apparatus. On board the steamer we were received and 

 treated throughout with the utmost courtesy by Commander J. A. 

 Howell, and the other officers of the vessel. Lieutenants Jaques, 

 Hagerman, Jacob and Rush ; and although the dredging was carried 

 on in connection with the special hydrographic work of the Coast 

 Survey, all these gentlemen manifested a degree of interest in our 

 work equal to that which they felt in their own. 



On account of the lateness of the season at which operations were 

 begun, the weather was most of the time cpiite unfavorable for dredg- 

 ing, so that the number of hauls made with the dredge was much 

 smaller than had been expected, and no opportunities were afforded 

 for using the large traAvl or the rake dredges which had been pro- 

 vided, with the rest of the outfit for the natural history department 

 of the expedition, by the United States Fish Commissioner. Still, the 

 collections which were made from these comparatively few dredgings 

 have proved rich and very important, giving nearly the only informa- 

 tion which we possess of the character of the fauna of the fishing 

 banks, and adding very largely to the knowledge of the distribution, 

 both geographical and bathymetrical, of the marine animals of our 

 northern coast. 



* The text of this report was written and presented to the Superintendent of the 

 Coast Survey, very nearly in its present form, in December, 1872, but its publication 

 has been unavoidably delayed until the present. The figures illustrating some of the 

 species mentioned have been added since the report was first prepared. 



Trans. Connecticut Acad., Vol, III. 1 xily, 1874. 



