INLAND FISHERIES. 33 



have been seriously affected since September lOtli or lltb, tliong'h 

 the approach of a streak of red water has, in some instances, 

 interrupted good fishing-. 



In the Seekonk River the shrimp and crabs gracbially returned, 

 and in about three weeks after the suchlen mortality were nearly 

 as numerous as before, though the water was at times distinctly 

 colored. On the 23d some shrimio, oysters, and small fish {Fundu- 

 lus) were kept in the water where the Per'idlnhnn were the thick- 

 est, and suffered no apparent injury. In consideration of these 

 facts, it has been doubted whether the Perldinimn was the imme- 

 diate cause of the peculiar behavior and death of the fish which 

 occurred on the 9tli and 10th of September, especially as the 

 weather had been phenomenally hot for several weeks previous to 

 those dates. I believe, however, that the Perldhihiin was the 

 cause of the trouble, and not the hot weather or manufacturers' 

 waste, for the following- reasons : 



Oii the two or three days in which the mortality took place the 

 water was extremely red. 



The hot weather was followed by a cold wave a day or two 

 before the mortality commenced. 



The i^henomena occurred in Greenwich Bay and off Nayatt, 

 many miles from any considerable source of contamination. 



Finally, the phenomena in question were noticed by very many 

 persons throughout the whole rang-e of the red water, while in 

 neighboring portions of the bay, for example, in the Warren 

 River and in Bristol harbor, where the temperature of the water is 

 quite as high as in the red-water districts, no Peridiniaiifi and no 

 mortality or unusual behavior of the marine animals Avas reported, 

 though the regions were carefully canvassed. 



There are many recorded instances of salt and of fresh water 

 colored red probably by PeridiniuQn of this or a similar species. 

 H. J. Carter, in his account of " The Red Coloring Matter of the 

 Sea round the Shores of the Island of Bombay," described the new 

 species P. sanguineuin, which produces this effect. He points out, 

 also, that Darwin's description of the animalcule wliicli he found 



