54 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. DO 



done successfully and the slabs shipped safely to the National 

 Museum, where they are now being prepared for exhibition in the 

 hall of paleontology. 



FIELD-STUDIES ALONG THE PATUXENT AND POTOMAC RIVERS, 

 CHESAPEAKE BAY. AND THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST 



Collections of fishes for the National Museum were made during 

 191 2 in the Potomac River and its tributaries from Plummer's 

 Island to Mattawoman Creek, in branches tributary to the Patuxent 



Fk;. 58. — Power launch Yorkspit, and view across Mattawoman Creek, 

 Maryland, one mile above Indian Head docks, a good collecting ground. 

 Photograph by Bean and Weed. 



River, and in Chesapeake Bay several miles south of Chesapeake 

 Beach. They were made without expense to the Museum, for the 

 most part by members of the Museum scientific staff while on leave 

 of absence, and were mainly for addition to the exhibition series. 



On a one day excursion to Mattawoman Creek, and nearby points 

 on the Potomac, something like 450 specimens representing 26 spe- 

 cies were collected. Included among these are specimens of black- 

 bass, white and yellow perch, darters, roach, shiners, silver sides, 

 herring, young shad, mummychogs (bull or pike minnows), " spawn- 

 eaters," "smelt" of the Potomac, common eels, catfish, little "mad 

 toms," American sole or hog-choakers, sunfish, or " tobacco-boxes,'' 



