814 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
of surface salinity is only about one-fourth as wide (about 1 per mille) as in the Bay 
of Fundy — half as wide as at the mouth of Massachussetts Bay. The surface off 
Mount Desert then salts again slowly right through the summer and early autumn, 
its salinity increasing from about 31.5 per mille on May 11, 1915 (station 10275), to 
to 32.66 per mille on October 9 (station 10328) ; and while we lack data for No- 
vember and December it is probable that the surface is near its saltest here during 
the late autumn and early winter, for readings for January 1, 1921, and March 3. 
1920, were somewhat lower and almost precisely alike (32.3 and 32.2 per mille). 
The seasonal fluctuation associated with land drainage is strictly confined to 
the superficial stratum off this open coast, probably because the more saline water 
in the trough of the gulf tends to bank up along this part of the coastal slope here 
at all times of year. Thus the highest and the lowest salinities yet recorded at the 
40-meter level near Mount Desert are only about 0.4 per mille apart (32.16 per mille, 
July 19, 1915, station 10302, and 32.6 per mille, August 13, 1913, station 10099). 
About the same range and the same maximum and minimum values were recorded 
near bottom at 80 meters, though the water at this depth proved most saline in 
January (station 10497, January 1, 1921, 32.6 per mille); least so in May (station 
10274, May 10, 1915, 32.23 per mille). 
GERMAN BANK 
The seasonal cycle on German Bank appears from the following summary: 
Date 
Station 
Salinity 
at the 
surface 
Salinity 
at 40 
meters 
Date 
Station 
Salinity 
at the 
surface 
Salinity 
at 40 
meters 
Mar. 23, 1920 
Apr. 15, 1920 
Apr. 28, 1919.. 
May 7, 1915 
May 30, 1919 
June 19, 1915 
20085 
20103 
2 22 
10271 
2 38 
10290 
Per mille 
‘ 32. eo 
32. 74 
31. 70 
81. 89 
31.67 
32. 07 
Per mille 
32.63 
32. 79 
31.70 
31. 94 
31.70 
32. 10 
Aug. 14, 1912... 
Aug. 12, 1913 
Aug. 12, 1914 
Sept. 2, 1915 
/ 10029 
1 10030 
10095 
10244 
10311 
Per mille 
j 32. 70 
32. 75 
32.84 
32.23 
Per mille 
32.80 
32.97 
32. 90 ± 
32.50 
1 Probably. 2 Ice Patrol station. 
A seasonal variation of at least 1 per mille is thus to be expected there, with 
the whole column of water least saline sometime between the last of April and first 
of June, the exact date depending on the flow and ebb of the Nova Scotian current. 
Data for this part of the gulf during autumn and winter are desiderata. 
WESTERN SIDE OF THE BASIN 
The extent to which the salinity of the basin of the gulf is affected by the out- 
rush of river water in spring depends more on the tracks of the latter than on the 
distance offshore. Consequently, the considerable variations that have been re- 
corded in the salinity of the surface of the basin in the offing of Cape Ann from summer 
to summer no doubt reflect corresponding variations in the volume and direction 
of the drift from the north past Cape Ann. 
In the summers of 1912 and 1914 this drift appears to have been turned sharply 
offshore by the jutting cape, so that the surface water of the neighboring parts of 
the basin was about 1 per mille less saline in July and August than the mean value 
