PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 193 3 329 



limitation of fiiiuls prevented the initiation of any new experiments. 

 The releases of 1931 and 1932 are of most interest, for tiiey were 

 designed to provide information as to whether or not the small cod 

 that predominate on the grounds along the coast of Maine gradually 

 spread to otl'shore grounds as they grow older and in this way serve 

 to replenish the commercially important stock of large fish oifshore. 

 Former markings did not throw light on this question because a 

 large percentage of tags were lost from the fish within the first year, 

 but since 1931 more permanent marks were used and statistically 

 significant returns of cod that were liberated two years ago are being 

 received. Thus far local returns have predominated, which indicates 

 that there is no important spread of the cod from the coast of Maine 

 before their fourth or fifth year. However, of 2,680 tagged in 1931 

 and 1932, 5 or 0.2 percent were returned from Georges Bank; where- 

 as of the 12,000 comparable releases formerly made with the less 

 permanent tag, only 0.004 percent were reported from offshore 

 grounds. There was a similar improvement of distant recaptures 

 along shore, which indicates that the new-style tags are more suited 

 to the problem than the ones formerly used. It remains for future 

 returns to indicate a more marked offshore movement, if such there 

 be, later in the life of the cod. 



WINTER FLOUNDER 



Of 4,179 tagged winter flounders {Pseudopleuronectes ameincanus) 

 released at Waquoit Bay and Woods Hole during the spawning sea- 

 son (January to April) of 1931, 141 were returned in 1931, 64 in 

 1932, and 33 during 1933. Last year's returns were consistent with 

 those of former years ; the majority were retaken during the spawn- 

 ing season at the place of liberation, and the remainder were reported 

 from the adjacent sounds and the contiguous open sea during other 

 months of the year. Half of the fish were marked with a tag placed 

 at the nape, and half with the tag placed at the dorsal edge midway 

 between head and tail. The marked superiority of nape tags in the 

 third year returns indicates the greater permanence of marks placed 

 in this position. 



SHORE FISHES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES 



These investigations were continued under the direction of R. A. 

 Nesbit. Because 'of reduced appropriations it was necessary to 

 curtail collections of data in 1933. Daily sampling of the com- 

 mercial catch at important fishing centei*s was abandoned com- 

 pletely. Field operations consisted of observation of the winter 

 trawl fishery landings at Portsmouth, Va., during January, Febru- 

 ary, and IVIarch; hatching experiments with squeteague eggs at 

 Wildwood, N.J., in June, and tagging experiments with squeteague 

 in Sandy Hook Bay, N.J., and of Hog Island, Va., in October, and 

 with scup at Woods Hole, Mass., in November. In addition. Prof. 

 A. E. Parr, in cooperation with the Bureau, continued his studies 

 of the biology of the young of food fishes in New Jersey. 



Squeteague. — In the report for 1932 it was suggested that the 

 most important increments to the New York and New Jersey stocks 



