PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 315 



8. ScuLPiN {Cottus 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 temperature of the surrounding- water. 



y. 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 70.0°) 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 w^ater, 

 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 (Lophiiis piscatorius, Linnaeus). 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 tlie 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 circulation 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 rectwm 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), Gill). 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. DoaFiSH {Squalus acantMas, 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 bodj^ temperatures and those of the 

 surrounding water are here greater than those 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 circulation 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 1G.G° warmer than the surrounding water. A young dogfish 

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

 this specimen, gave an excess of 20.(5° in the heart above the temi)erature 

 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 



