natural economy of Gulf of Maine wa- 

 ters. 



Huntsman (1952) discussed the regional 

 variations in productivity in relation to physi- 

 cal and biological conditions determined during 

 the 1931-32 Passamaquoddy surveys. He pre- 

 sented data on the relative productivity of 

 various parts of the Bay of Fundy in terms of 

 the pounds of herring landed per acre. He 

 concluded that the abundance of herring in the 

 Passamaquoddy Bay area resulted to a con- 

 siderable extent from the transport and con- 

 centration of fish and zooplankton food organ- 

 isms by the circulation of the water. 



Observations were made from the Atlantis 

 on the vertical distribution of copepods and of 

 submarine irradiation at four stations in the 

 deep water of the Gulf of Maine in August 

 1931 and July 1932. The vessel towed five 

 closing nets in series in depth strata from 

 the surface to 50 m. and 50 to 100 m., and the 

 researchers determined the temperature, 

 salinity, pH, oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, 

 and irradiation at the sampling depths. Clarke 

 (1933, 1934a) reported on the vertical dis- 

 tribution of various sex- and age- groups of 

 Metridia lucens , Centropages typicus, and 

 Calanus finmarchicus in relation to tempera- 

 ture, light, and time. Using the same methods 

 in July 1933 that were used in 1931 and 1932, 

 he more carefully tested the influence of 

 temperature on the vertical distribution of 

 Calanus finmarchicus and Metridia lucens at 

 two stations, one in the deep water of the Gulf 

 of Maine and the other on Georges Bank. He 

 determined variations with depth of light 

 intensity, temperature, chemical constituents, 

 and phytoplankton, and observed marked areal 

 and species differences in vertical distribution 

 and diurnal migration. The vertical migration 

 of these two species was found to be more 

 closely correlated with changes in submarine 

 irradiation than with changes in hydrographic 

 conditions or phytoplankton (Clarke, 1934b). 

 Braarud (1934) reported on the abundance, 

 species composition, and vertical distribution 

 of the phytoplankton at these two stations. 



In August 1932, the Atlantis occupied nine 

 stations in the deep basin of the Gulf of Maine 

 and on Georges Bank. Although the coverage 

 was limited in time and space, informationfor 

 three detailed reports on the biology and 

 chemistry of the waters in these two areas 

 was obtained. The first report (Rakestraw, 

 1933) concerns the nutrients in the two areas 

 and presents data on the horizontal and ver- 

 tical distribution of phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, 

 and dissolved oxygen. The second report 

 (Gran, 1933) includes an analysis of the 

 species composition of phytoplankton and its 

 horizontal and vertical distribution, and the 

 relation of the abundance and distribution of 

 phytoplankton to chemical and physicalfactors. 

 The third report (Waksman, Reuszer, Carey, 

 Hotchkiss, and Renn, 1933) presents data on 



total bacterial plate counts at the surface, 

 50 m. and bottom; on the occurrence of spe- 

 cific bacterial groups; and on the relation 

 of the abundance of bacteria to the abundance 

 of phytoplankton and zooplankton. 



Reuszer (1933) reported on the distribution 

 and abundance of bacteria in the water and 

 muds in Cape Cod Bay and over the continental 

 slope east of Cape Cod. He presented bac- 

 terial plate counts of samples of water and 

 mud collected during September 1932 and 

 during the Atlantis cruise in August 1932. The 

 well-mixed sea water in shallow regions 

 contained a greater abundance of bacteria 

 than offshore water, and this was associated 

 with a higher nutrient and richer plankton 

 content of the inshore water. Bacteria were 

 much more numerous in the bottom deposits 

 than in the overlying water, and muds con- 

 tained many more bacteria than sands. The 

 number of bacteria decreased regularly with 

 distance from land. Reuszer discussed the 

 variation in the number of bacteria with 

 distance from shore, depth of water, depth 

 in the mud, and carbon content of the mud. 



In August 1934, a dredging trip was made 

 aboard the Atlantis to the three recently charted 

 canyons (now known as Oceanographer, Gilbert, 

 and Lydonia Canyons) which cut the southern 

 edge of Georges Bank. Specimens of material 

 and fossils of which the continental margin is 

 composed were obtained in order to fix at least 

 the maximum age of the topographic features. 

 Four papers report the geological and paleonto- 

 logical results of this survey: geology (Stetson, 

 1936), Foraminifera (Cushman, 1936), mollusks 

 and echinoderms (Stephenson, 1936), and Bryo- 

 zoa (Brassier, 1936). They describe in detail the 

 geology and paleontology of these canyons and 

 show that Georges Bank is a submerged exten- 

 sion of the coastal plain, covered with a mantle 

 of glacial debris. To supplement the 1934 dredg- 

 ing trip observations, researchers on the Atlan- 

 tis in July 1936 measured velocities of bottom 

 currents in Gilbert and Lydonia Canyons. They 

 made the measurements to estimate the im- 

 portance of currents (both tidal and nontidal) 

 in producing submarine canyons. They used 

 an Ekman current meter suspended in a frame 

 to make current measurements at 1 stations 

 in the canyons as well as on the flat surface 

 of the shelf beyond the canyon rims. The 

 velocities recorded in the canyons were similar 

 to those on the shelf and Stetson (1937) con- 

 cluded that these currents merely flow inpre- 

 exi sting cuts and are not the cause of them. 



A study was made of the sediments of Cape 

 Cod Bay from the Asterias during the summer 

 of 1935 as part of the program of the Woods 

 Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) relating 

 to the investigation of sediments of the Con- 

 tinental Shelf and coastal waters of the eastern 

 United States. Bottom samples were taken 

 in series at 1-mile intervals, and beach and 

 cliff samples were obtained at specific 



