CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE. 35 



1855. Baird, Spencer F.— Continued. 



" The meadows are densely coated with grass, and are covered with water only during un- 

 usually high tides. 



"Beesley's Point is situated at the mouth of Egg Harbor river, where it empties into 

 Great Egg Harbor bay. The water is, of course, salt at this poiat, though somewhat diluted 

 by the volume of fresh water brought down by the river. 



"The distance from the mouth of the river, or head of the bay, to the inlet on the beach, 

 is about two or three miles ; the extreme width about the same, although extending into 

 thoroughfares, through which a boat may be taken to Absecom on the one side, and to Cape 

 May on the other, without going outside of the beach. The mouth of the river is occupied 

 by veiy exten.sive beds of oysters, which are celebrated for their excellent flavor. The bot- 

 tom of the bay is in some part hard and shelly, in others sandy, or again, consists of a soft 

 mud ; the latter condition prevails near the shore, oi- wherever the current is of little strength. 



"There are numerous mud-flats or sand-bars in the bay, some of them bare at low tide, or 

 nearly so, and occupied by various species of water-fowl. These flats, continuing to increase 

 in height, and at length acquire a growth of grass, which fixes still more the accnmulating 

 mud and sand, so that in time what was formerly a bar becomes an island elevated some feet 

 above the water. 



"This transition is, in fact, so rapid that many of the inhabitants now living have known 

 islands several acres in extent to form within their own recollection. 



" Tlie greater part of the bottom of the bay and of the thoroughfares, generally, is a soft 

 mud, rich in organic matter, and covered with a profuse growth of Zostera marina and alga? 

 of various species. Mr. Samuel Ashmead, who has been engaged for some years in studying 

 the sea-weeds of our coast, has found a much greater variety of species at Beesley's Point 

 than Professor Harvey allots to the Kew Jersey coast. The water being generally shallow 

 except in the channels, the submarine vegetation can be seen to great advantage, while sail- 

 ing over the surface. The water becomes very wann during the summer, and supplies all 

 the conditions necessary for the development of young fishes of many species. The young 

 of all the large fish of the bay may thus be found in greater or less numbers along or near 

 the shore. 



" The ponds in the meadows, like the waters of the bay itself, arc generally muddy at the 

 bottom, sometimes bare of vegetation, and sometimes covered with a thick growth. The 

 fishes found in these ponds consist almost entirely of cyprinodonts of various species, with 

 occasional specimens of Atherina, small mullets, or sticklebacks. The creeks likewise con- 

 tain cyprinodonts, generally of diflereut species from tliose of the ponds, with young fish of 

 • various kinds. Crabs and eels are found everywhere. 



"The line of beach is two or three miles from the mainland, and consi.sts of a clear white 

 sand raised into hills ten to thirty feet high, a few hundi'ed feet from the water's edge. It 

 is in the inlets at the ends of these beaches that the greatest variety of fish is to be found, 

 particularly in the small indentations, protected from the roughness of the waves, and the 

 bottom of which is covered with Ceramiutn or sea-cabbage. 



"Corson's inlet, frequently mentioned in the following pages, is situated at the southern 

 end of Peck's beach, which begins directly opposite Beesley's point at the entrance to the 

 harbor, and extends to this inlet over a distance of about five miles. 



"The only fresh water near Beesley's point is Cedar Swamp creek. This stream, rising 

 in a cedar swamp, and flowing with a very sluggish current, (the water of a chocolate color), 

 is cut oif from the tide by a dam at Littleworth, three miles from the point. The bottom is 

 very :iiuddy. But little variety of fresh-water fish is to be found in this stream. Several 

 species of Esox, two Leuciscus, one eel, three Pomotis, one each of Aphrcdoderus, Labrax, 

 Etheostoma, and Melanura, and several cyprinodonts. The species are nearly all difl"erent 

 from those found in the interior of Pennsylvania on the same latitude. 



"Another Cedar Swamp Creek occurs on the opposite side of Egg Harbor Kiver, in At- 

 lantic County. In many respects it difiers from that first mentioned in being of more rapid 

 current, and the bottom, at some distance from the tide-water dam, consisting of sand or 

 small pebbles. The water, too, in small quantity is clear, though where of considerable 

 depth it appears almost black. Fewer species of fish were found here than in the other, the 

 only additional one being the Calastomus tuberculatus. 



" Ludley's Run is a small run crossing the road to Cape May, about eight miles from Bees- 

 ley's i*)int ; fresh at low tide, but flooded at high water. The only fish found in it consisted 

 of two cyiirinodonts and the Gasterosteus quadracus." 



The following species are discussed. The figures in parenthesis refer to the pages of the 

 separate edition : 



1. Labrax Uneatus, Cuv. and Val (7) 821 



2. Labrax mucronatus,Cn.x.Bia(iYa\ (8) 322 



3. CenlropHstesnigri4:ans,C\w.tca(\.Y&\ (9) 323 



