PROGRESS Iisr BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 1927 211 



lished statistical information, to observe the methods of the fishery, 

 and to select suitable observation bases for the future collection of 

 biological data. In addition length-frequency and sex-ratio observa- 

 tions were made and scale samples were collected. These should be 

 of value for comparison with corresponding data collected in suc- 

 ceeding seasons. Nine thousand fish were measured, including 7,000 

 squeteague, and 1,200 scale samples collected, 850 of which were from 

 squeteague. Fishermen were interviewed, traps were visited, and 

 trips were made on fishing vessels at Wildwood, Manasquan, and 

 Long Branch, N. J.; West Sayville and Montauk, N. Y. ; Stoning- 

 ton. Conn. ; Newport, R. I. ; and Woods Hole and Nantucket, Mass. 



In October, 1927, Harry A. Hanson, temporary assistant, was 

 assigned to the duty of collecting and transcribing vessel logs and 

 records of pound and trap net catches. These data are now being 

 analyzed at the Woods Hole laboratory, and should be of great 

 value as illustrating the sort of phenomena that the investigation 

 must seek to explain. 



A collection of squeteague scales made in Pamlico Sound, N. C, 

 during 1925 has been mounted and is now being examined at the 

 Woods Hole laboratory. It is hoped that comparison of these scales 

 with samples collected in the northerly part of the range of these 

 fish will cast light on the unit}" or distinctness of the populations con- 

 cerned. A collection of scales made in Sandy Hook by investigators 

 of the New York Aquarium has been turned over to the bureau for 

 stud}^ 



During the 1928 fishing season observers will be stationed at a 

 number of localities, where regular collections of data on the follow- 

 ing subjects are to be made : Length-frequency samples, sex ratios, 

 condition of gonads, food habits, and racial determination. Efforts 

 are being made to render the statistical records in future years 

 more complete and more adaptable to the purposes of scientific 

 investigations. 



The work on the fishes of Chesapeake Bay, mentioned in previous 

 progress reports and prepared by Dr. Samuel F. Hildebrand and 

 William C. Schroeder, has been issued. This book contains 366 

 pages and many illustrations and may be purchased from the Super- 

 intendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, 

 D. C, bound in buckram, for $1.50. 



LARVAL FISHES 



) 



Perhaps the basic problem in general fishery investigation is the 

 discovery of the causes of the fluctuations in abundance, which have 

 such a profound effect on the fishing industry. It is agreed generally 

 that these fluctuations are determined largely by the mortality that 

 occurs in the early stages of development, and hence a study of the 

 survival of eggs and larvas of commercial fishes is of utmost im- 

 portance. The early life history of most of our commercial fishes is 

 virtually unknown, however; indeed, the very young, which are so 

 different in appearance from the adults, are extremely difficult of 

 recognition. A preliminary step in a study of the biology of survival 

 is the ready identification of the eggs and larvae of the species under 

 consideration. It is the purpose of the bureau, therefore, to give 



