ccxxiv GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



other than that coming from, the fats in the food, is formed 

 from albuminoids or carbo-hydrates. The general drift of 

 opinion is away from the old theory of Liebig that the fats 

 are formed from (carbo-hydrates) sugar and starch, and 

 toward the view advanced by Voit that the albuminoids of 

 the food are the sources of the fats in the body. This lat- 

 ter opinion is strengthened, though not confirmed, by late 

 researches by Weiske and Wildt. 



PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 



The Fisheries. We are without the data necessary for a 

 summary, or a general expression of the results of the fish- 

 eries of the world at large, for 1875; but for the United 

 States we have to record that the shore and lake fisheries 

 have furnished large yields; although, in view of the con- 

 tinued increase in the number of nets and in the force of 

 men necessary to work them, it may be questioned whether 

 there has not been an actual diminution in the supply of fish 

 at certain points. It is a well-established fact that stations 

 for taking the whitefish of the lakes are readily exhaust- 

 ed, and that given localities become poorer and poorer 

 successively, until, in a comparatively few years, they very 

 greatly decrease in value as fishing stations. In this connec- 

 tion the measures, to be described hereafter, for renewing 

 the supply by artificial propagation are of the utmost 

 importance. 



The Atlantic shore fisheries, for such species as the scup, sea- 

 bass, etc., have been poorer than usual ; while the catch of 

 shad, especially on the whole southern coast, as far east as the 

 Chesapeake Bay, was much less than for many years past. 

 On the contrary, farther east in the Delaware, Hudson, and 

 Connecticut the number taken has been unusually large. 

 The explanation of this is found, by some, in the occurrence 

 of a very late spring, with a high, cold state of the water, 

 which is thought to have deterred the fish from entering the 

 southern rivers, and probably caused them to extend their 

 migrations farther to the east. 



The mackerel fishery for the year has also been inferior 

 to that of the previous season, while that of the cod has 

 been about as usual. The menhaden fishery, on the eastern 

 coast, is now rapidly becoming one of the most important 



