BIGELOW: EXPLORATIONS OF THE COAST WATERS. 



259 



Also at the following localities : — off Libbey Island ; South West 

 Harbor, Maine (many); off Petit Passage, N. S. (few). 



The largest catches were off the coast of Maine, east of Penobscot 

 Bay, and off German Bank. But no great stress can be laid on this, 

 because the stations in the shallow water near land were not system- 

 atically located; other "rich" areas may well have been missed. 



Our hauls throw very little light on the actual numbers of eggs 

 present, there being no quantitative hauls at several of the stations 

 e. g., 10301, where the horizontal hauls were richest, and their catches 

 as a whole being scanty, usually the minimum possible; (i. e., one egg). 

 But at least it is clear, that in late spring or summer we have never 

 encountered anything comparable, in importance, to the spawning of 

 Haddock in Massachusetts Bay, and along the shore from Cape Ann 

 to Cape Elizabeth, in April and May, which was observed in 1913 by 

 W. W. Welsh (1914b). 



In Norwegian waters newly spawned Cod eggs are most plentiful 

 over the fifty fathom contour (Hjort, 1914). But our results suggest 

 that the distribution of spawning grounds in the Gulf is less depend- 

 ent on depth, the richest hauls of eggs being at localities where the 

 depths were, respectively, thirty meters (Winter Harbor), sixty meters 

 (Station 10285); seventy-five meters, (off Libbey Island), and about 

 200 meters (Station 10270). But the stations were not close enough 

 together, either in time or in space, to allow any precise mapping of 

 spawning areas. 



The great majority of Cod and Haddock eggs taken were either just 

 laid, or at least so young that identification as one or the other species 

 is impossible: the few identified specimens ^ are as follows: — 



Haddock 



Cod 



Thus eggs which can certainly be identified as Haddock occurred 



' For details of pigment, separating Cod and Haddock before hatching, see Elhrenbaum, 

 1905-1909; Murray and Hjort, 1912; Hjort, 1914; Schmidt, 1905, 1906. 



