XI 



THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION OF FISH 



AND FISHERIES 



BAIRD had evinced an interest in fishes very early in 

 his career, as indicated in a previous chapter. The 

 tentative understanding with Prof. Louis Agassiz, 

 looking toward a monograph of the fishes of North Amer- 

 ica, still further stimulated his interest and his collections 

 grew rapidly. In the summer of 1854, a vacation was taken 

 at Beesley's Point, New Jersey, primarily in the hope that 

 the climate would benefit Mrs. Baird. The Professor 

 collected with great success, as indicated by his Report 

 on the fishes observed. 1 A second summer at the same 

 locality was chiefly devoted to collecting fishes. In the 

 summer of 1863, he visited Wood's Hole, Mass., for the 

 first time and the richness of the fauna, due to the 

 mingling of the fishes and other animals from the warm 

 waters of the Gulf Stream with those characteristic of 

 the colder northern waters, 1 was vividly brought to his 

 attention. Miss Lucy Baird observes: 



''My father had begun making collections of fish for 

 several years previous to his coming to Washington. At 

 first the interest was simply that of making acquaintance 

 with the subject; and of course when he had once begun 

 to make a collection, his natural tendency was to try to 

 make it as complete as possible. This latter motive was, 

 of course, greatly strengthened when he ceased to collect 

 simply for himself and began to bend his energies towards 



1 Smithsonian Report for 1854, Washington, 1855, 40 pp., 8. 

 416 



