706 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 



At 12.15 p. ni. sounded in 49 fathoms, hard bottom; latitude 13° 05' 

 N.j longitude 65° 15' W. ; put out 5 hand-lines and caught 17 cod, mostly 

 of small size, and one haddock. These were all put into the well, but 

 9 of the cod soon died. Their ovaries and spermaries were very small, 

 apparently not at all advanced in development. Nothing was found in 

 the stomachs of the fish except a few pieces of partially digested squid. 

 Squid were seen in the water following up the fishing gear, but none 

 could be caught on a squid-jig that was put out. 



We lay to fishing one and three-quarters hours, and got under way at 

 2 p. m. Just j>revious to this a school of porpoises came alongside the 

 vessel for a brief time, but did not " play " under the bow when we kept off. 



At 2.45 p. m. spoke schooner Garibaldi,* at anchor in 82 fathoms (ap- 

 proximately), trawling for cod. Her captain came on board. He re- 

 ported having good fishing, and said he caught a halibut that day, 

 which was then on deck among the recently caught codfish. 



Mr. Carswell and I went on board the Garibaldi to ascertain what 

 stage of development the reproductive organs of the halibut were in. 

 It was a male, of about 25 pounds' weight. Its spermaries, though not 

 ripe, were in an advanced condition of development. 



In the evening, as we lay becalmed, about 200 squid were caught, the 

 majority of which were put into the well alive. They seemed to live 

 without any difficulty, but in a few days they nearly all made their es- 

 cape through the holes in the bottom of the well, which are large enough 

 to allow a somewhat bulkier animal to pass through if he chance to hit 

 directly in a hole. 



There was a moderate breeze from SSW. on the morning of the 2Gth, 

 but the wind rapidly augmented in force, blowing a stiff breeze at 3 p. 

 m. and somewhat stronger after that, veering westerly. We rau to the 

 eastward, along the southern border of La Have Bank, making occa- 

 sional soundings and trials for fish with hand-lines, but without success. 

 Only one of the cod put into the well yesterday remained alive to-day. 



At 11 a. m., wiiile we were lying to trying for fish, the schooner Mabel 

 Leightou, of Gloucester, spoke us, and her captain, Charles H. Green- 

 wood, told me that he had a large squid on board which he would give 

 to the Fish Commission. I immediately went on board the Leightou 

 and got the squid. It proved to be the " broad-finned squid" {Stheno- 

 teuthis megaptera Yerrill), of which no perfect specimen had heretofore 

 been obtained in the United States. The only perfect specimen pre- 

 viously known was picked up on Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and it is 

 now in the Provincial Museum at Halifax. 



Captain Greenwood said the squid had been caught on the previous 

 evening by John F. McDonald, oue of his crew, who was fishing with 

 an ordinary squid-jig. The locality where it was taken was off the 

 southern part of La Have Bank, near the meridian of 04° W., and in 

 82 fathoms of water. 



* This vessel was destroyed by fire October 2, near Murder Island, off the west coast 

 of Nova Scotia. 



