106 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
conditions between the time of tagging and recapture and also for some time previous 
to then. A mean growth curve of the five scales examined from each of these fish 
is given in Figure 31, in which the broken line A sets off the growth of the scales for 
Figure 31. — ' ‘ Mean scale ” curves for three companion cod taken off the Faroes. A, at the time of 
first capture, August 16, 1911; B, at the time of second capture, May 17-25, 1912. (After Winge) 
a time preceding the capture of the fish on August 16, 1911, and B the growth between 
then and May 17 to 25, 1912. The scale of another cod recaptured 6 to 8 miles away 
from the three fish just mentioned showed different fluctuations in growth. 
Winge’s results, just cited, throw so much light on the question of growth, as 
registered on the scales of the cod according to the response of the fish to its environ- 
ment, that I have examined scales from New England tagged cod in order to see 
whether they, too, would exhibit this result. 
The scales were studied of several cod that had been tagged together and which 
were recaptured in the same locality more than a year later. Fish of about the same 
size were selected. Starting from the focus and running along a radius extending to 
the periphery, the distance between the circuli was measured under rather high 
magnification and the results were arranged graphically. But in none of the six or 
eight fish examined was I able to get such a clear-cut agreement in the fluctuations 
of growth as was obtained by Winge. For example, a comparison was made of the 
scales of 2 Nantucket cod tagged May 6, 1927, and recaptured by the Albatross II 
July 19, 1928. These fish were 18)4 and 19)4 inches long, respectively, on the former 
date and both of them were 22 inches long on the latter. Although these cod had 
very likely lived in close association for over a year, one of them gained 1 inch more 
in length than the other; and, although each of them had added an annulus to its scales, 
