[17] HISTORY OF THE TILE-FISH. 253 



possible, tlie extent of the area of their occurrence. Two members of 

 the United States Fish Commission, Mr. Viual N. Edwards and Mr. New- 

 ton P. Scndder, also went on the smack. No satisfactory investigation 

 was made, however ; for the captain, fearing that he would be caught 

 out in a storm, which he thought was imminent, returned to port with- 

 out having secured a single specimen of Lopholatilus^ or, indeed, without 

 having made any determined or persistent effort to accomplish the 

 object of the expedition. 



The following account of the cruise has been furnished by Mr. Ed- 

 wards, and presents in detail all that occurred during the trip : 



" September 29, 1880, we left Newport, E. I., at 5 o'clock a. m. in the 

 smack Mary Potter, Captain Potter master, with a crew of four men, 

 and Mr. Scudder and myself. The wind was strong from the westward, 

 and, after we had run off about south southeast from Block Island, it 

 increased in strength and hauled to the northwest. We then took in 

 the foresail, tacked ship, and stood back towards Block Island, under 

 which we anchored at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Here we lay all night, 

 the wind in the meantime blowing strong from the northwest. On the 

 morning of Sei)tember 30 the weather was clear, and wind still fresh 

 from the northwest. At 7 o'clock a. m. we got under way, and ran off- 

 shore under the three lower sails on a south by east course. At 5 o'clock 

 p. m. we took in the foresail, and hove to and sounded, getting a depth 

 of 80 fathoms. Wp. lay to until daylight or the next morning, when the 

 wind moderated x&aj rapidly, becoming calm in three hours. Having 

 sounded at dawn in 95 fathoms, we ran south for two hours, when we 

 found a depth of 127 fathoms. Here we sat a trawl of 400 hooks, baited 

 with menhaden, and left it out three hours. When hauled, we got on 

 it one swordfish, weighing 500 pounds, and two skates, but nothing 

 else. After hauling the trawl we ran to the eastward, expecting to set 

 again, but the wind breezed up from the northeast, and looked as if 

 there was going to be a blow, and, possibly, a gale, from that direction. 

 Therefore, the captain thought it best to run for Block Island, and we 

 accordingly stood in by the wind for the land, heading along about 

 north northwest until 12 o'clock midnight, when the wind moderated 

 and veered to the eastward. On the morning of October 1, which was 

 nearly calm, we went off in a boat and caught some crabs, shrimp, and 

 small fish. At 9 o'clock the wind sprang up from east southeast, and 

 at 11 o'clock we made Block Island. We then ran for Newport, where 

 we arrived at midnight." 



D— THE MORTALITY AMONG THE TILE-FISH. 



10. — THE DEAD FISH. 



The reports brought in by vessels arriving at the principal Atlantic 

 sea-ports during the months of March and April, 1882, of great numbers 

 of dead fish having been seen floating dt the surface of the sea, over an 



