SCI2ENID2E OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES COAST. 
183 
extremes of 12 and 20 cm. (4f and 8 inches). An examination of the scales of a 
small series of New Jersey examples indicates that growth in northern waters 
is about the same. The average increment for the third year, as shown by the 
scales, is about 7 cm., and for the fourth year about 4.5 cm. Thus, the average 
length for the first four winters for this species may be approximated as follows : 
Average length. 
First winter 4 cm. ( 1£ inches). 
Second winter 15 cm. ( 6 inches). 
Third winter 22 cm. ( 8} inches). 
Fourth winter 26.5 cm. (10 \ inches). 
Maturity is reached at the age of 3 or 4 years. 
The lists presented below represent the results from the stomach examination 
of 145 examples of Micropogon undulatus ranging in standard length from 1.7 to 17 
cm. The foods are shown in their relative proportions according to volumetric 
percentages. 
Cape Canaveral Bight, Fla., December J, \, 1919. — Of 24 examples, 9 to 17 cm. 
in length, taken at a depth of from 4 to 6 fathoms, 6 were empty. 
Volumetric 
percentage. 
Shrimps 24 
Echinoderms 25 
Polychset worms 3 
Unidentified material 48 
The echinoderms were composed of the dismembered arms of brittle stars. 
Cape Lookout Bight, N. C., December 13, 1919. — There were taken eight exam- 
ples, 12 to 16 cm. long. 
Volumetric 
percentage. 
Mollusks 20 
Polychset worms 40 
Unidentified material 40 
The mollusks were all small bivalves, mostly of the genus Mya. Probably a 
large part of the unidentified material consisted of the easily disintegrated soft 
bodies of the polychset worms. 
Southport, N. C., December 10, 1919. — Of 31 examples, 12 to 15 cm. in standard 
length, that were taken all were found to be completely empty. 
Chesapeake Bay, Md., December 9, 1915. — There were taken 45 examples, 1.7 
to 4.2 cm. in length. 
Volumetric 
percentage. 
Copepods 17 
Ostracods 22 
Fish 2 
Mollusks 28 
Polychset worms 9 
Unidentified material 22 
The remains of fish consisted only of a few vertebrae found in one example of 
3.9 cm. in length. The mollusks were all small bivalves. Judging from this analysis 
it might be inferred that these fish are chiefly bottom feeders. 
