1 882.] Zoology. 57 



than near the coast. The vast quantities of free-swimming ani- 

 mals continually brought northward by the Gulf stream, and 

 filling the water, both at the surface and bottom, furnish an inex- 

 haustible supply of food for many of the animals inhabiting the 

 bottom, and probably, directly or indirectly to nearly all of them. 



A very large species of Salpa, often five or six inches long, 

 occurs, both at the surface and close to the bottom, in vast quan- 

 tities. These are eaten by star-fishes, actiniae, etc. Pteropods 

 also frequently occur in the stomachs of star-fishes, while Foram- 

 inifera furnish a large part of the food of many of the mud dwell- 

 ing species. The fishes, which are very abundant, and of many 

 species, of which the file-fish is the most notable, find a wonder- 

 fully abundant supply of most excellent food in the very numerous 

 species of crabs, shrimps and other Crustacea, which occur in 

 such vast quantities that, not unfrequently, many thousands of 

 specimens of several species are taken in a single haul of the 

 trawl. Cephalopods are also abundant, and are eagerly devoured 

 by the larger fishes, while others prey largely upon the numerous 

 gastropods and bivalves. Many interesting fishes and mollusks 

 were taken, some new to science, and of great interest ; among 

 the latter, the most remarkable is a new species of the tropical 

 shell Dolium ( D. b.nrdii), taken alive in 202 fathoms. Dolium 

 galea extends northward to North Carolina. This southern 

 form, with a large Marginella, an Avicula, and various other genera, 

 more commonly found in southern waters, are curiously associ- 

 ated, in this region, with genera and species which have hitherto 

 been regarded as exclusively northern, or even arctic ; many of 

 them having been first discovered in the waters of Greenland, 

 Spitsbergen, Northern Norway, Jan Meveii Land, etc. A number 

 of northern, mostly arctic, forms, not previously found south of 

 Cape Cod, were also dredged. 



Does the Crow Blackbird Eat Crayfish ?— Professor Beal, 

 of the Iowa Agricultural C oil ge, asks this question in the No- 

 vember Naturalist, his inquiry having been prompted by fin d- 

 jng twenty-six gastroliths.or stomach-stones in a bird's " gizzard.'' 

 The little incident which I will here record. I think will fairly 

 settle this question with an affirmative answer. Crayfish inhabit 

 many, doubtless most of the sloughs and wet places on our 

 prairies ; but I suppose the species to be identical with that in our 

 nyers and streams, though they are sometimes spoken of as 



" 1; 



md-crabs." Outside of where the 



, watcr cov 'ers the 



til, 



y dig holes into the soil, and in 



carrying out the d 



ho] 



es are frequently built up like littl 



e chimneys, someti 





*ix inches above the surface. In a c 





tg 



descend so far, in order to keep ii 



1 the water which i 



\>u 



Y to their existence, that they pa 



ss through our vc 



ck soil, and bring up the light-coloi 



red sand and fine gf 



tin. 



J way, they do a vast amount of wo 



rk — generally, I be 



