EXPLORATION OF THE GULF OF MAINE. 145 
ant, with now and then a bar sinister, of the wild breed, and the 
domesticated races of the country are likewise their ' descendants, 
but with an ancestry hopelessly confused and intermixed by out- 
side crosses and influences. ` ; 
EXPLORATION OF THE GULF OF MAINE WITH 
THE. DREDGE 
BY A. S. PACKARD, JR.* 
Tuoven it was the original intention to devote the month to 
an exploration af George’s Bank, it was decided on account of 
the ‘“‘ Bache’s” defective boilers to work nearer shore and ex- 
tend farther from land the work of the U. S. Fish Commission, 
for the season located in Casco Bay ; the dredging operations being — 
conducted. under the charge of Professor Verrill. This involved an 
examination of certain unexplored portions of that great indenta- ` 
tion lying between Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and Cape Cod, and 
which is laid down on the charts as the ‘*Gulf of Maine.” 
Through the researches of Messrs. Stimpson, Verrill, meg 
and others in the Bay of Fundy, and of Drs. Gould, Wheatland 
Stimpson and others in Massachusetts Bay, together with ey very 
thorough examination of Casco Bay and vicinity pursued during 
the past summer by Professors Baird and Verrill, we had attained a 
very complete knowledge of the coast fauna of New England 
‘north of Cape Cod. Moreover, the explorations of George’s 
Bank made. by Messrs. Smith, Harger and myself last year in the 
« Bache,” had given us some idea of the nature of the sea bottom 
there, dredging having been carried on at a depth of four hundred 
and thirty-two fathoms by Messrs. Smith and Harger, and in one 
hundred and fifty fathoms by myself. 
.  *Report of Explorations with the Dredge on the U. S. Toast Survey Steamer 
“Bache,” in the Gulf of Maine, during September, 1873, under the direction of Prof. 
Baird, U.S. Fish Commissioner, made to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey and 
to the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries. In all the work I had the invaluable aid of 
owe C. Cooke, with his great experience iu dredging, a sige much to the ready 
. Office: H. Jaques, and Lieuts. — 
Hagerman, Jacob, Rush, Bradbury, and Dr. Dickson. rons of bottom water were 
token up’ at nearly every station n, the water bottle being used. For the identifi- 
oe AMER. NATURALIST, wor 0. 
