24 BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Errors have doubtless crept in during the copying and tabulating of the records. 

 It will be readily appreciated that the clerical work herein involved was enormous and 

 that it was necessary to intrust much of it to assistants. Although methods of cor- 

 roboration and verification were commonly employed, and while we believe the records 

 to be reasonably free from errors of this sort, instances have been discovered of regret- 

 table carelessness on the part of certain assistants employed during the earlier stages 

 of the work. But the total number of such cases is in all probability proportionately 

 very small; and they commonly can not seriously vitiate the results, since the most fre- 

 quent errors made have been the transpositions of the records of adjacent stations. 

 In no case can such a mistake have resulted in assigning to the fauna of our region a 

 species which has not been found here, or even in the confusion of records from widely 

 different points within the area dredged. 



And, finally, it must be pointed out that even our highest authorities are not infal- 

 lible and that they do not in all cases appear to have been consistent in the determina- 

 tion of species. 



But after making all these admissions — and honesty demands that they should be 

 made — we insist emphatically upon the substantial accuracy of the results herein pre- 

 sented. We have made due allowance for the various sources of error and have, in many 

 cases, been able to correct them by supplementary work. Indeed, during every season 

 since the conclusion of the original survey dredging trips have continually been made 

 with a view to rectifying specific errors. To what degree these supplementary dredg- 

 ings confirm the earlier results and to what degree they reveal inaccuracies or omissions, 

 will be pointed out later. We have been most fortunate in having the active coopera- 

 tion of more than a dozen systematic naturalists of high standing, without whose assist- 

 ance, indeed, this work would have been utterly impossible. 



While, then, more and better work could have been done under ideal but impossible 

 conditions, we think that no apology is necessary in offering the results already accom- 

 plished. We are able to portray with a fair approach to accuracy the detailed distribu- 

 tion of a large number of species of plants and animals and are able to portray with less 

 completeness the distribution of a much greater number. We have been able to correlate, 

 in a large number of cases, the peculiarities of distribution with peculiarities in the 

 character of the bottom or with the temperature of the water, and to compare in an inter- 

 esting way the distribution patterns of closely related species. And, finally, we believe 

 that we have laid a foundation upon which others may build in the future. And here a 

 few words as to the needs of the future may not be out of place. As it does not seem 

 likely that those who have been most active in the present undertaking will be able to 

 devote much more of their time to it, we venture to offer the following tentative program 

 to our possible successors : 



(i) A repetition of this entire dredging work after the lapse of 10 or 20 years 

 would be highly desirable. We should recommend relatively less attention to Vineyard 

 vSound and relatively more to Buzzards Bay. This later work could doubtless be accom- 

 plished more rapidly than was done in the present case. The mistakes and failures of 

 the present report could perhaps in considerable measure be rectified. Such a repe- 

 tition of the present survey would not improbably reveal interesting changes in the 

 occurrence of various species, and it doubtless would result in supplementing and cor- 

 recting our rather experimental labors. 



