102 INLAND FISHERIES. 



aud bait having' been taken on at Newport, she again sailed south. 

 The following- morning, when the boat was only sixty miles from 

 Block Island, the trawls were set. The first haul yielded seven 

 fish; the second, forty-seven, and the third, nineteen. On the 

 following- day seventy-eight fish were taken, many of them of larg-e 

 size, and the vessel, now bearing 1,000 pounds, headed for Montauk 

 Point, where the fish were given to the soldiers at Camp Wikoff. 



When one considers that the trawls were short, provided with 

 only a few hooks and tended by only one dory, it would seem that 

 the fish are sufficiently abundant for an ordinarily equipped fish- 

 ing-smack, with its miles of trawls, to secure a full fare in a very 

 short time. 



The tile-fish, since the mortality of 1882, has been taken only 

 along the edge of the continental plateau, in water near the one- 

 hundred fathom line, from points south of No Man's Land, Block 

 Island aud the eastern portion of Long Island. The "range" of 

 the species, as at present determined, is restricted to a tract of the 

 sea bottom about one hundred and fifty miles in length, and ten 

 to fifteen miles in width. The " stations," how^ever, are few, and 

 further investigation may result in a considerable extension of the 

 range. The fish that have been caught during the past summer 

 difl'er in respect to size from those that were caught before the 

 mortality ; for, while many are large, weighing fully twenty pounds, 

 there are also many small immature individuals which often weigh 

 but a pound or two. This percentage of immature fish would seem 

 to indicate that the present environmental conditions are favor- 

 able, and that the species has become re-established. 



H. C. BuMPUS, 



Director of Biological Lahoratory. 



U. S. F. C. Station, Woods Holl. 



Note. — The " Grampus " again visited the tile-fish grounds the 

 latter part of September, returning to Woods Holl on October 2, 

 with over two hundred fish, weighing upwards of 3,000 pounds. 

 This last catch was made between the meridians of 65) and 70, a 



