6 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [300] 
In describing the animals belonging in these different divisions and 
subdivisions it has not been found desirable to mention, in this part of 
the report, all the species found in each, but only those that appear to 
be the most abundant and important, and especially those that are 
known to serve as the food of fishes. But in the general systematic list, 
which accompanies this report, all the species of the region, so far as 
determined, wiil be enumerated. 
IL.—THE FAUNA OF THE BAYS AND SOUNDS. 
In Buzzard’s Bay, Vineyard Sound, Nantucket Sound, and Muskeget 
Channel, (see map,) the water is shallow, being generally less than 8 
fathoms deep, and rarely exceeding 14 fathoms, even in-the deepest 
spots. It will beseen by reference to the map, on which soundings have 
been given and contour lines drawn, representing the zones having 
depths below 3, 10, 14, and 20 fathoms, respectively, that the greater 
part of Buzzard’s Bay is less than 10 fathoms deep, and that the 3-fathom 
curve is nearly parallel with the shore lines, and the same is true of the 
6-fathom line, which has not been drawn. The 10-fathom curve is very 
irregular and only extends ashort distance within the mouth of the bay ; 
but an irregular area, in which the water exceeds 10 fathoms in depth, 
the central part over a limited area being about 15 fathoms, is sit- 
uated to the west of Penikese, Nashawena, and Cuttyhunk Islands ; 
this is inclosed on all sides by shallower water. The 14-fathom curve is 
situated from four to eight miles farther off and does not enter the bay 
at all, showing only a very slight curvature in that direction; yet 1t 
extends, far up Narragansett Bay, and to a considerable distance within 
the mouth of Vineyard Sound, but, like the 10-fathom line, does not 
enter Muskeget Channel or Nantucket Sound at any point, and shows 
scarcely any curvature toward those waters, which are very shallow 
throughout their whole extent, and much obstructed by banks and 
broad shoals of moving sands. The 20-fathom line at nearly all points is 
situated far off shore, and does not conform at all to the outline of the 
coast. There is, however, an area of water exceeding this depth oft 
Newport, in the mouth of Narragansett Bay. 
Vineyard Sound is deeper and much more varied in its depth and in the 
character of its bottom than Buzzard’s Bay or Nantucket Sound, and 
therefore its fauna is richer in species and the facilities for collecting are 
much greater. In Vineyard Sound the 3 fathom eurve follows the out- 
lines of the shore very closely, and the same is true of the 6-fathom curve, 
which has not been represented on the map. The 10-fathom line when 
it enters the mouth of the sound incloses the greater part of its width and 
is approximately parallel with its shores, but after it passes the narrowest 
part of the sound, between the northern end of Martha’s Vineyard and 
Wood's Hole, it rapidly narrows and is finally interrupted by shallows and 
sand-bars after passing Holnes’s Hole, but there are beyond this sev- 
eral isolated areas of water exceeding this depth and having their long 
