96 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [94] 



rests on and partially inside of the main sieve. It is intended to be 

 hung over the vessel's side by means of a rope bridle attached to iron 

 straps on the end pieces. 

 In use it has been superseded by the table sieve. 



DIMENSIONS OF CRADLE SIEVE. 



Length, 3 feet. 



Breadth, 1 foot 6 inches. 



Depth, 1 foot. 



Width of side pieces, 3| inches. 



Thickness of side pieces and ends, 1 inch. 



Depth of inner sieve, 8 inches. 



THE STRAINER. 



The strainer, Plate LII, Fig. 3, was introduced by Mr. James E. Ben- 

 edict, resident naturalist of the Albatross, for the purpose of passing 

 all water used for washing the mud out of the table sieve through 

 strainers fineeuough to retain minute annelids, foraininifera, &c, which 

 would otherwise be lost. 



Its construction is very simple. An oil barrel was cut down until it 

 would slide under the table sieve. Three iron drain pipes are inserted 

 in the side, one diagonally over the other, and attached to them are three 

 strainers, a, &, and e, Fig. 3, made of linen scrim, through which the 

 water is drained as it rises successively to the level of each. The com- 

 bined areas of the three are sufficient to carry off the water supplied 

 by the steam hose under ordinary circumstances. When it is to be used 

 in connection with the table sieve the long chute e is removed, and a 

 short one about a foot in length substituted, the water being discharged 

 directly into the strainer. 



DREDGING QUADRANT. 



The dredging quadrant, Plate XXVIII, was devised by the writer 

 for the purpose of ascertaining approximately the position of the trawl 

 when working in deep water by observing the angle of the dredge rope. 

 The instrument was improvised while working in over 2,500 fathoms in 

 the Gulf Stream, where the necessity for a guide of some sort was seri- 

 ously felt. 



It is made of black walnut, 2 feet in length and three-quarters of an 

 inch in thickness ; the arms are 2 inches in width and the graduated 

 semicircle or double quadrant is 8 inches in diameter. The graduation 

 is on the periphery from 0, when the instrument is held vertically, to 

 90 degrees to the right and left. The pointer is made of lead one-six- 

 teenth inch in thickness, and swings freely on its pivot. 



The figures were stamped with ordinary dies and the depressions filled 

 with white lead. The original instrument is still in use, it having an- 

 swered the purpose so well that we have had no disposition to replace it. 



