J. PISCICULTURE AND THE FISHERIES. 415 



time for seals is absolutely necessary, or they will become 

 exterminated. The time allowed for the destruction of seals 

 it was thought should be from April 5 to May 15, the 25th 

 of March being entirely too early. It is suggested that the 

 line for a violation of the close time be 2000 pounds sterling. 

 2 A, December 19, 1874, 474. 



FISH CONSUMPTION OF WASHINGTON IN 1874. 



The report of Mr. C. Ludington, Food Inspector to the 

 Board of Health of the City of Washington, gives a very in- 

 teresting account of the consumption of animal food in a 

 great city, and it is much to be desired that similar statistics 

 be supplied for such points as New York, Boston, Philadel- 

 phia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, etc. In re- 

 spect to fish, it appears that for the market of Washington 

 alone, during twelve months from Sept. 30, 1873, to Sept. 30, 

 1874, the following numbers were inspected : 



Shad 628,637 



Herring 6,567,240 



Hickory shad, or tailors. . 80,841 



Bunches of fish 567,291 



Sturgeon 919 



Bushels of oysters 569,372 



Number of clams 1 ,163,000 



Number of crabs 297,250 



The fish weighed, in the aggregate, about 11,000,000 

 pounds; and by far the greater proportion were derived 

 from the Potomac River and the lower part of Chesapeake 

 Bay. When we bear in mind the fact that Alexandria, Nor- 

 folk, Richmond, and many other places, were supplied from 

 the same storehouse, to say nothing of the immense quan- 

 tities exported to more distant points, we may realize the 

 importance of the fisheries as bearing upon the question of 

 national economy. 



The larger portion, indeed nearly all, of these fish were 

 anadromous species, or such as live for most of the year in 

 the sea and obtain the greater part of their growth there, 

 and run up into fresh water for the purpose of spawning; 

 among them the shad, the alewife, or fresh-water herring, 

 the rock-fish, or striped bass, etc. 



According to the tables prepared by Mr. Ludington, the 

 shad supply was about one fourth less than that for 1873; 

 but the herring were nearly double in number. In 1874 

 there were 2,261,117 pounds more fish inspected than in 

 1873. In this report the inspector urges very strongly the 



