400 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



SECOND REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES Of 



WISCONSIN. 



The second annual report of the Commissioners of Fisher- 

 ies of the State of Wisconsin for 1875 has been published. 

 It opens with the mention of some interesting facts in con- 

 nection with the fisheries of Lake Michio-an, and suo-o-ests 

 the appointment of Dr. Hoy, one of the Commissioners, to 

 prosecute similar inquiries on a large scale during the present 

 year. The fisheries of the lakes, in the opinion of the Commis- 

 sioners, have fallen off in 1875 by at least one fourth; and if 

 this rate be continued but a few years, this great interest of 

 Wisconsin will become practically exhausted. They there- 

 fore urge strongly the necessity of immediate action in re- 

 gard to measures for the protection of the various species of 

 fishes of the state for a few years, and the importance of ef- 

 forts to multiply them and add new ones on the largest pos- 

 sible scale. 



The Commissioners, owing to the scanty funds at their dis- 

 posal, have been unable to accomplish much in the way of 

 the active prosecution of their duties beyond the laying of 

 foundations for future judicious work. One of their enter- 

 prises was the collecting of the eggs of the Mackinaw trout, 

 of which it was found impossible to secure ripe spawn in 

 any considerable quantity. Some eggs of the whitefish, 

 however, were taken, as well as of the lake herring, which 

 were hatched out at a temporary hatching-house improvised 

 by the Commissioners at Pensaukee, on Green Bay. 



SECOND REPORT OF THE FISH COMMISSIONERS OF MINNESOTA. 



The Fish Commissioners of Minnesota have presented their 

 second annual report, through Dr. R. O. Sweeney, the chair- 

 man, giving an account of what they have done in the way 

 of hatching out the eggs of California salmon, the Atlantic 

 salmon, and the land-locked salmon, furnished to them by the 

 United States Fish Commission, specifying also the localities 

 in which the young were planted after being developed. 



They propose to continue the work, if suitable j^rovision 

 can be made, until every lake and stream in the state shall 

 be made to yield its full proportion of food. They estimate 

 the water surface of the state to be over 1,600,000 acres; 



