252 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [16] 



"As soon as the leads struck the bottom," says Captain Dempsey, 

 " each man caught either a pair or a single fish, such as we had never 

 seen before, and which, from their manner of biting and their move- 

 ments while being hauled, we supposed were cod until they were brought 

 to the surface of the water alongside of the vessel. 



"We put our lines out a second time with the same result, obtaining 

 in all nine of these fish, which we gutted and packed in ice.* 



"As there was no indication of the presence of codfish (indeed we 

 caught nothing but Tile-fish), we left the locality and proceeded to the 

 fishing-grounds with which we were more familiar, and where we com- 

 pleted our fare." 



8. — CAPTURES MADE BY THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



During the summer of 1880 the United States Fish Commission es- 

 tablished its headquarters at Newport, K. I., and the following year its 

 summer station was at Wood's Holl, Mass. Both seasons extensive 

 explorations were made by the Fish Commission steamer Fish Hawk 

 of the sea bottom lying off the south coast of New England, on the inner 

 edge of the Gulf Stream slope, in depths varying from 70 to 700 fathoms. 



Very important results were obtained in these researches, of which it 

 is not necessary to speak at length here any further than relates to the 

 subject under consideration. On several occasions many of the Tile-fish 

 were taken on a trawl-line. Professor Verrill, writing in the fall of 

 1881, says : " It seems to be very abundant over the whole region ex- 

 plored by us in 70 to 134 fathoms. On one occasion a 'long-line' or ' trawl- 

 line' was put down at Station 949 1 in 100 fathoms, and 73 of these fishes 

 were taken, weighing 541 pounds."^ 



August 9, 1881, eight individuals were caught on a trawl-line in lat. 

 40° 01' K, long. 71° 12' W., the depth being 134 fathoms ; bottom, sand 

 and mud ; surface temperature, 69° ; bottom, 50°. 



September 13, 1880, three Tile -fish were caught on muddy bottom in 

 126 fathoms, lat. 39° 56' N., long. 70° 54' W. Surface temperature, 71°; 

 bottom, 50°. 



9. — FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION SENT TO THE TILE-FISH GROUNDS 



IN 1880. 



So desirous was Professor Baird to obtain fuller knowledge oi Loplio- 

 latilus, which had been pronounced an excellent food-fish, that during 

 his stay in Newport in 1880 he chartered a Noank fishing smack, the 

 Mary Potter, 44 tons, with her crew, to visit the Tile-fish grounds and 

 ascertain in a practical way the abundance of these fish, and, so far as 



* These were the specimens mentioned as having been obtained by the United 

 States Fish Commission. 



t August 23, 1881, lat. 40° 03' N.,long. 70° 31' W. ; depth, 100 fathoms; mud; sur- 

 face temperature, G6°; bottom, 52°. 



t Notice of the remarkalchle Marine Fauna occupying the outer hanls of the Southern coast 

 of New England, No. 2, by A. E. Verrill. American Journal of Science, Vol. XXXII, 

 October, 1881, p. 295. 



