386 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
inclosed by Bogue and Shackleford Banks, consisting of long, narrow strips of land, 
usually referred to merely as the “banks.” Wherever the designation “banks” is 
used in the present paper, without further qualification, it refers to Bogue and Shackle- 
ford Banks. 
During the winter of 1926 and 1927 the collection of specimens off Beaufort Inlet 
also was undertaken. From that time, until near the end of 1929, offshore collecting 
trips at weekly intervals, the weather permitting, were made. Although the course 
was varied from time to time, the most usual one followed extended from Beaufort 
Inlet to Cape Lookout. From Cape Lookout a west-southwest course was held for 12 
to 15 miles, and from thence a due north course was taken until comparatively shallow 
water was reached off Bogue Banks, about 6 miles west of Beaufort Inlet. Thereafter, 
the shore of the bank was followed back to Beaufort Inlet. Generally five to seven 
stations were made during the course of each trip. 
During the early months of the investigation eggs and fry were collected with 
small plankton nets. Other collecting was pursued with an otter trawl and with 
small collecting seines. A small dragnet about 12 feet long and 3 feet deep, made of 
bobbinet, was found especially useful for collecting young fish in shallow water from 
their favorite hiding places in eel grass and other vegetation. This net was very 
useful also in collecting young fish in small brackish creeks and ditches and was used 
to good advantage from time to time throughout the investigation. 
In January, 1927, 1 -meter townets, made of bolting silk with a suitable ring for 
hauli n g at the surface and a frame for dragging the bottom, were acquired. This 
apparatus was used exclusively in the offshore collecting until the autumn of 1929. 
It was used regularly for a couple of years in the inshore waters also to supplement 
the collecting done there with other gear. 
Meter townets were by far the most useful gear used. They are excellent for 
collecting the eggs and the fry. However, after the young fish reach a length of 
about 10 millimeters and more, they are not readily caught in 1 -meter townets. 
Certain species may then be collected in shallow water with a fine-mesh seine, such 
as is described in a preceding paragraph. Others do not enter shallow water and 
can be taken only with nets that may be hauled in somewhat deeper water. Because 
no apparatus suitable for taking the young after considerable growth had been 
attained, some of our series remained incomplete for a long time. In some cases 
numerous fry, as well as fish large enough to be caught in ordinary collecting seines 
and trawls, were at hand, but intermediate sizes were missing. 
During the last year of the investigation considerable success in catching inter- 
mediate or missing sizes was attained by covering the cod end of an otter trawl with 
a sack of bobbinet constructed like a 1 -meter townet, except that it was found advan- 
tageous to make it longer in order to cover more of the trawl. To attach the bobbinet 
to the trawl, a heavy cord is run Through the meshes of the large net, and the smaller 
net is fastened to the cord with harness snaps or with strings. It was feared that the 
bobbinet would be torn. This difficulty has seldom been experienced. By placing 
the bobbinet on the outside instead of the inside of the trawl — another method 
considered — the small fish are “screened” from the big ones. The catch in the 
bobbinet may be washed into a container, without hand picking, like a townet 
collection, preserved, and sorted at leisure in the laboratory. 
It will be seen from the frequency tables presented in this paper that fewer 
measurements generally were made of certain intermediate-sized specimens than of 
smaller and larger ones of the same year class. The reason is that the method devised 
