642 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



As many of the species there obtained are referred to, a list of the 

 stations is here added : 



Locality. 



Bottom. 



899 

 900 

 901 



N. Lat. W. Long. 



37° 26' 74° 19' . 



37 25 74 18 . 



37 24 74 17 . 



37 22 74 29 . 



37 19 74 41 . 



37 10 75 08 . 



56 

 157i 

 300 



57J 



31 



18 



Sand, shells. 

 Sand, mud. 

 Mud. 

 Sand. 



Do. 



Do. 



Our dredgings this year, in deep water, were also made with the 

 Fish Hawk, Lieut. Z. L. Tanner, commander. Mr. A. P. Chapin, of 

 Warsaw, N. Y., made the temi)erature observations and records of 

 soundings, etc. 



The party immediately associated with the writer in the zoological 

 investigations consisted of Prof. S. I. Smith and Mr. J. H. Emerton 

 (artist), of Yale College; Dr. T. H. Bean and Mr. Eichard Eathbun, of 

 the National Museum ; Mr. Sanderson Smith, of New York ; Prof. L. 

 A. Lee, of Bowdoiu College ; Mr. B. F. Koons, Mr. E. A. Andrews, and 

 Mr. H. L. Bruner, graduates and special zoological students of the Shef- 

 field Scientific School, of New Haven, and Mr. Peter Parker, of Wash- 

 ington. Most of these gentlemen had been associated with me in the 

 same way in previous years. 



The off-shore regions explored this year are included between north 

 latitude 39° 40' and 40° 22', and between west longitude 69° 15' and 

 710 32'. 



They occupy a region about 42 miles wide, north and south, and about 

 95 miles long, east and west, or about 105 miles along the 100-fathom 

 line. 



Series of dredgings were also made this season off Cape Cod, in 

 Vineyard Sound, in Buzzard's Bay, and off Martha's Vineyard, between 

 the deep-water and shallow- water localities of former years. 



It is probable that the remarkable richness of the fauna in this region, 

 both in the number of species and in the surprising abundance of the 

 individuals of many of them, is due very largely to the unusual uniform- 

 ity of the temperature enjoyed at all seasons of the year, at all those 

 depths that are below the immediate effects of the atmospheric changes. 

 The region under discussion is subject to the combined effects of the 

 Gulf Stream on one side and the cold northern current on the other, 

 together with the gradual decrease in temperature in proportion to the 

 depth. It is, however, probable that at any given depth below 50 fath- 

 oms, the temperature is nearly the same at all seasons of the year. 

 Moreover, there is, in this region, an active circulation of the water at 

 all times, due to the combined currents and tides. The successive zones 

 of depth represent successively cooler climates more strikingly here than 



