276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [40] 



night were visited with a pretty heavy frost, which seldom ever occurred 

 in that locality, and, much to our astonishment, the beach in the vicinity 

 of our camp on the following morning was thickly strewn with fish and 

 green turtles that had floated up from the gulf. The fish were perfectly 

 torpid, and the turtles, upon their backs, perfectly paralyzed, so that we 

 picked up many wagon-loads, sufficient to feed the entire army. 



'"It is a well-known fact that neither men nor animals can endure 

 any great degree of cold in that latitude and climate, for it is not un- 

 common for both to perish when exposed to the piercing 'northers' 

 which sweep over those prairies, notwithstanding the thermometer 

 rarely falls to the freezing point, I lost thirty-five mules out of a herd 

 of one hundred and ten in one of these rain-storms during a single 

 night. They laid down and died while they were in good flesh. 



" The fact is that all animal life seems unable to endure any great 

 change of temperature in that climate, and I therefore am of opinion 

 that the fish observed floating upon the surface near the Gulf Stream 

 perished from encountering the sudden change of temperature in pass- 

 ing from the warm water to the unusually severe cold water outside 

 the stream. 



" Moreover, those fish may have been carried by the current from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the much higher northern locality where they were 

 observed. 



" It appears by one statement that several varieties of fish were seen, 

 but if only one kind was noticed that particular kind may have been 

 more sensitive to the change of temperature than others. 



" Your statements that the fish were perfectly fresh and free from 

 apparent disease, with merely the vital function suspended, would go 

 to corroborate my views, as our fish at Corpus Christi were in a similar 

 state. 



" New York Hotel, 



" WasJiington, April 2, 1882." 



Since the foregoing was written the following interesting paper rela- 

 tive to this subject from the pen of Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale College, 

 has been published in the New York Times of October 29, 1882. Pro- 

 fessor Verrill, having been connected with all the researches made in 

 this locality by the United States Fish Commission, under the direction 

 of Professor Baird, is unquestionably one of the best authorities that can 

 be cited, and I take pleasure in quoting extensively from this article, 

 since it throws light on many points which have not been considered 

 in the preceding sections of this paper. He writes : 



"In the autumn of 1880 the United States Fish Commission com- 

 menced the exploration of the sea bottom along the edge of the Gulf 

 Stream, about 90 to 110 miles off the south coast of New England. 

 The results then obtained were so interesting and important, and the 

 discoveries of new forms of life were so unexpectedly numerous and 



