Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the U. S. Fish Commission 
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 
BIOLOGICAL NOTES. 
(No. 1. Issued July, 1900.) 
For the purpose of providing a repository for current observations aud a means 
for the prompt publication of useful notes on the marine life of southern New England, 
special papers will be issued from time to time containing brief articles presented by 
persons pursuing investigations at or near Woods Hole. Communications embodying 
new observations on the habits, spawning, migration, distribution, abundance, struc- 
ture, etc., of the animals of the surrounding waters are solicited, aud notes on the 
aquatic vegetation of the region are also desired. Due credit for the contributions 
will be given. 
Phoca vitulina, Harbor seal. 
Seals are found regularly in the vicinity of Woods Hole, appearing about the middle of Octcber 
and remaining until about the first of May. They are usually first noticed at the bead of Buzzards Bay, 
on Scraggy-neck Ledge, where a herd of 100 or 150 may be seen off and on through the winter. A 
smaller herd frequents Lackey Bay. Several seals are caught each year by Mr. Edwards in fyke nets 
set at the head of Great Harbor; the record for the past two seasons being one in each of two fykes 
on January 21, 1899, and one on March 20, 1900. In the winter of 1898-99, one was taken with the 
iron ring from the end of a lobster pot tightly encircling its neck; the ring had cut its way through 
the soft tissues and partly severed the trachea. The seals enter the fykes almost always at night, 
and are dead when found, with their heads forced through the first funnel. In 1887, during two 
weeks in January, 21 were taken by Mr. Edwards in gill nets set in the harbor, 8 being obtained 
alive; all were caught at night, mostly during stormy weather. Of late, the seals have not entered 
the gill nets. They weigh from 80 to 90 pounds, and dissection has shown that they subsist chiefly 
on dinners. (H. M. Smith.) 
Pseudopleuronectes americanus, TVinte) Flounder. 
Mr S. R. Williams, of Harvard University, has furnished the following data: The young of the 
winter flounder were abundant from the time of his arrival at Woods Hole, June 4, 1899, until June 
16 and 17, after which they were less frequently taken. There are apparently two sizes at which 
metamorphosis takes place. The smaller “turns ” when about 8 mm. in length ; the larger when nearly 
twice as long, 14 or 15 mm. iu length, and there seem to be no fishes of intermediate length undergoing 
metamorphosis. All young fish over 8 mm. in length may be depended upon to reach a length of 14 
mm. before turning. This interesting fact is based upon an examination of 1,000 small fish, of which 
about two-thirds were of the smaller variety and one-third of the larger. The young fish were much 
more abundant in 1899 than at any time during the summer of 1898. (H. C. Bumpus.) 
Pseudopleuronectes americanus. 
During the winter of 1897-98 my attention was called to the large number of flat-fish bearing 
blotches of color on the lower side, which were on sale in the Providence market. These ‘•black- 
bellied” flat-fisli were quite abundant in Greenwich Bay, Rhode Island, and during March, 1898, an 
assistant succeeded iu collecting from them a quantity of eggs and milt. The fertilized eggs were 
sent to the hatchery at Woods Hole, where they were hatched, and the fry were planted at Waquoit 
F. G. 15. 1899—20 305 
