NO. I FORAMINIFERA IN LONG ISLAND SOUND BUZAS 27 



in August 1961 had 417 and 681 living individuals respectively. 

 Phleger (1956) has reported that in San Antonio Bay, Tex., the 

 largest living populations are located near the entrance of the Guada- 

 lupe River, where two stations contained 2,579 and 302 specimens 

 respectively. Lank ford (1959) has found very large living popula- 

 tions in the deltaic marine environment of the Mississippi Delta. 

 The average number of living individuals in this area was 2,500. 

 Phleger has suggested that very large living populations near the 

 entrance of river mouths are due to high production of organic 

 matter in these areas. The largest rivers entering L.I.S. are the 

 Housatonic and Connecticut Rivers. Unfortunately, none of the sta- 

 tions in this study is located near the entrances of these rivers. Riley 

 (personal communication) has indicated that at the entrances of 

 these rivers the concentration of phytoplankton is about the same as 

 in other areas of the Sound. He suggested that the mortality of 

 fresh-water phytoplankton as they enter marine waters might consti- 

 tute an additional source of food. At any rate, the large living popula- 

 tion in New Haven Harbor, which has several small rivers entering it, 

 and at the entrance to the inside of Huntington Bay is consistent 

 with similar observations in other areas. 



Walton (1955) based his estimate of the standing crop in Todos 

 Santos Bay, Calif., on seasonal samples. Most of his samples were 

 from deeper water, but he has given averages for every 10 fathoms 

 of depth in the 0-50-fathom range. His average living population 

 per sample in the depth range of 10-20 fathoms is 66. The average 

 living population in the comparable depth range of 20-40 m. in the 

 present study is 62. In the 0-10- fathom range, however, Walton 

 found less than 40 individuals per sample. In L.I.S. this depth 

 range would have over 200 individuals per sample. 



Distribution of the Total Population 



Figure 1 1 shows the distribution of the three most abundant species 

 in percent of the total population for the 13 grand stations of 

 traverse 3. The distributions are similar to those of the living popula- 

 tion. However, the maxima of Buccella frigida and Eggerella advena 

 are much less pronounced. Elphidium clavatum is still most abun- 

 dant at the ends of the traverse, but it is relatively more abundant 

 in the central area than it was in the living population. Figures 12 

 and 13 show the distributions at traverses 2 and 4 respectively. 



The areal distribution of Elphidium clavatum in percent of the 

 total population is shown in figure 14. The distribution pattern is 



