FOOD OF MARINE FISHES. 399 
The ‘‘ Summer Flounder” (Cheenopsetta ocellaris) contained abun- 
dance of shrimp (Crangon vulgaris and Mysis Americanus).. In 
one specimen we found a full-grown Gebia affinis Say. 
The Spotted Flounder (Lophopsetta maculata Gill) feeds largely 
upon crustacea of various kinds. any specimens contained large 
quantities of shrimp and prawns (Crangon vulgaris, Palemon vul- 
garis and Mysis Americanus). The latter often made up the bulk 
of the contents of the stomach. In addition to these Gammarus 
mucronatus Say and Gebia affinis Say were sometimes found. ‘The 
Gebia we obtained in considerable numbers by digging them out 
of their long, crooked burrows at low-water mark, near Mr. Pea- 
cock’s hotel at Beesley’s Point. The burrows, which are made in 
a tenacious clay soil, often with decaying sea-weed beneath, are 
from half an inch to nearly an inch in diameter, with smooth walls. 
They are several feet in depth and very long and tortuous. The 
Gebia has a distant resemblance to a young lobster about two or 
three inches long. The real lobster was not found on the New 
Jersey coast. The other species of crustacea found in the fishes 
above named, are all common in the shallow waters of the bay 
among eel-grass, with the exception of the Crangon vulgaris, 
which frequents the open sandy bottoms, living half buried in the 
sand, with which its color exactly accords, furnishing an excellent 
illustration of imitative adaptation for protection.* 
Ophidium marginatum DeKay. This species appears to be 
very rare and its habits little known. We dug two specimens out 
of the sand near low-water mark, where they burrowed to the 
depth of a foot or more. When placed upon moist sand they bur- 
rowed into it tail foremost with surprising rapidity, disappearing 
in an instant. : 
At Fire Island on the southern side of Long Island, Mr. S. I. 
Smith observed last August a species of worm (Heteronereis) of 
a reddish color and two or three inches long, swimming in large 
numbers at and near the surface. These were at that time the 
favorite food of the Blue-fish (Temnodon saltator). 
* Many other crustacea of our coast afford seen instances. Palemon vulgaris by 
its transparency and peculiar tints is scarcely distinguishable among eel-grass; Ido- 
tea irrorata imitates in allits varied patterns of color the eel-grass and sea-weeds on 
which it lives; I. ceca imitates the color of sand; two species allied to imi- 
tate the colors of the rocks and white a ‘aa which they live; Crangon bo- 
reas of the northern coast, imitates the colors of the red Nullipores among which it 
seeks concealment, as do also several species of Hippolyte, Chiton ruber and C. mar- 
moreus, Ophiopholis aculeata and Ophioglypha robusta. Numerous other instances 
might be given. 
