OOO.-LISTS OF THE DREDGING STATIONS OF THE UNITED 

 STATES FISH COMMISSION FROM 1871 TO 1879, INCLUSIVE, 

 WITH TEMPERATURE AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS. 



[Arranged for publication by Sanderson Smith and Richard Eathbun.] 



The following lists include all the recorded dredging stations made 

 by, or in connection with, the United States Fish Commission, from 

 its organization up to date. The stations are, for the most part, arranged 

 chronologically, and are designated by four series of numbers or letters, as 

 follows : One series of numbers, from 1 to 87, with letters appended, repre- 

 .sents the stations for 1871. The 1872 stations (in the Bay of Fundy) are 

 designated by letters from t to s. Those for 1873 are indicated by a sec- 

 ond series of numbers, from 1 to 212, with B. (Bache) or Bl. (Bluelight) 

 added, according as the dredgings were carried on from the steamers 

 Bache or Bluelight. In this series, however, are also included the sta- 

 tions of the Bache for 1872 and 1871, as well as those for 1873. The last 

 series combines all the stations from 1874 to 1879, inclusive (omitting 

 187C, during which year sea-work was suspended), in numbers running 

 from 1 to 7G9. For the sake of obtaining greater uniformity in recording 

 the stations on charts, as explained further on, the stations for 1874 and 

 1875, originally numbered separately, have been united with those from 

 1877 to 1879, and given numbers following 1879. The numbers for these 

 later years run as follows: 1874, from 400 to 580; 1875, from 600 to 7G9; 

 1877, from 1 to 128; 1878, from 129 to 238; 1879, from 239 to 378. 



A chart has been prepared by Mr. Smith to illustrate the dredgings of 

 the Commission north of Cape Cod, exclusive of those of 1872 in the Bay 

 of Fundy; those of the Bache, on the Banks, in 1872; and of the Speed- 

 well, off the coast of Nova Scotia, in 1877. On this chart the stations of 

 the Speedwell for 1877, 1878, and 1879 are indicated by numbers only, 

 and are readily distinguished from those of the Bache and Bluelight, 

 which have B. or Bl. af&xed to them. In such of the following*tables 

 as refer to this chart, the localities given are taken from the original 

 record books, whenever such exist (<". e., for all the work of the Speedwell 

 and much of that of the Bluelight — 101 Bl. to 16G Bl.), with some other 

 notes added to facilitate the finding of the localities on the chart. In 

 many cases the positions were marked, at the time, on the steamers' 

 charts by the commanding officer, and all such j)Ositions have been 

 adopted, even though differing somewhat irom those given by the record 

 books. From the nature of the operations of dredging and trawling, it 

 becomes almost impossible to estimate exactly the changes of position 

 caused by currents, &c., especially when out of sight of land, and in a 



