Miscellaneous. 479 
Evidence of great Destruction of Life last Winter off the 
New-England Coast. 
“ In a report upon the dredging-operations carried on in the sum- 
mer of 1882 under the auspices of the U.S. Fish Commission, Prof. 
Verrill gives the following account of a remarkable destruction of 
several usually abundant forms of animals. He says :— 
One of the most peculiar facts, connected with our dredging this 
season was the scarcity or total absence of many of the species, 
especially of Crustacea, that: were taken in the two previous seasons, 
in essentially the same localities and depths, in vast numbers, 
several thousands at a time. Among such species were Huprognatha 
rastellifera, Catapagurus socials, Pontophilus brevirostris, and a 
species of Munida. The latter, which was one of the most abun- 
dant of all the Crustacea last year, was not seen at all this season. 
An attempt to catch the “tile-fish ” (Lopholatilus) by means of a 
long trawl-line, on essentially the same ground where eighty were 
caught on one occasion last year, resulted in a total failure this 
year. It is probable therefore that the finding of vast numbers of 
dead tile-fishes floating at the surface, in this region, last winter, 
as was reported by many vessels, was connected with a wholesale 
destruction of the life at the bottom, along the shallower part of 
this belt (in 70 to 150 fathoms), where the southern forms of life 
and higher temperatures (48° to 50°) are found. This great destruc- 
tion of life was probably caused by a very severe storm that occurred 
in this region at that time, which, by agitating the bottom-water, 
forced outward the very cold water that, even in summer, occupies 
the great area of shallower sea, in less than 60 fathoms, along the 
coast, and thus caused a sudden lowering of the temperature along 
this narrow warm zone where the tile-fish and the Crustacea referred 
to were formerly found. 
As the warm belt is here narrow, even in summer, and is not only 
bordered on its inner edge, but is also underlain by much colder 
water, it is evident that even a moderate agitation and mixing up 
of the warm and cold water might, in winter, reduce the tempera- 
ture so much as to practically obliterate the warm belt at the bottom. 
But a severe storm, such as the one referred to, might even cause 
such a variation in the position and flow of the tidal and other 
currents as to cause a direct flow of the cold inshore waters to tempo- 
rarily occupy this area, pushing outward the Gulf-stream water. 
The result would be the same in either case, and could not fail to be 
destructive to such species as find here nearly their extreme northern 
limits. 
In order to test this question more fully, Prof. Baird also em- 
ployed a fishing-vessel, the ‘Josie Reeves,’ to go to the grounds and 
fish systematically and extensively for the tile-fish. On her first 
trip, ending September 25, she did not find any “ tile-fish,” but 
took another food-fish (Scorpana dactyloptera), known on the Euro- 
pean coast, and first taken by us in 1880.—Amer. Journ. Sci., Nov. 
1882, p. 366. 
