VIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



was placed in charge of the vessel, and a suitable crew furnished from 

 the navy-yard. 



Various alterations were made in the vessel to better adapt her for the 

 purposes to which she was to be applied. A pilot-house was erected on the 

 upper deck, the old one being converted into a laboratory, and a small 

 donkey-engine placed on the forward part of the deck to work the 

 dredge and trawl. Leaving Washington in charge of her commander 

 on the 28th of June, the Blue Light reported at Peak's Island for duty 

 on the 8th of July. She proved to be everything that could be desired 

 for her purposes ; her light draught (about 7 feet) enabling her to run 

 into the bays and harbors along the coast, and her seaworthiness to go 

 off considerable distances to the outer banks. As on previous occa- 

 sions, Professor Verrill, of Yale College, took the more immediate- 

 charge of the researches into the invertebrates, while numerous special- 

 ists were also members of the party for a greater or less length of time, 

 among whom were Prof. Sidney J. Smith, of New Haven ; Prof. J. E. 

 Todd, of Tabor College, Iowa ; Prof. E. T. Nelson, of Delaware Col- 

 lege, Ohio ; Prof. E. N. Rice, of the Wesleyan University, Middletown ; 

 Dr. P. P. Carpenter, of Montreal ; Dr. J. B. Holder, of the American 

 Museum, Central Park, New York; Mr. G. Brown Goode, curator of 

 the museum of the University of Middletown, Conn. ; Prof. Theodore 

 Gill and Dr. E. Palmer, of Washington ; Mr. J. E. Thacher, of New 

 Haven ; Mr. C. B. Puller, of Portland ; Mr. Spencer F. Biddle, of Phila- 

 delphia, and others. 



The work of investigation into the general and economical histoiwof the 

 fishes and other marine animals was prosecuted with unremitting energy, 

 and resulted in the acquisition of many important collections and ob- 

 servations. According to a rough estimate, 62 species of fishes, 130 of 

 articulates, 145 of worms, 215 of mollusks, 34 of radiates, 50 of acalephs, 

 30 of sponges, and 50 of plants, or about 750 in all, were identified ; 

 while the number of minute crustaceans, and other diminutive objects, re- 

 quiring further investigation, will probably amount to nearly as many more. 

 The present history and statistics of the mackerel, cod, herring, alewives, 

 menhaden, &c, was well worked out as far as peculiar to the coast. 

 The contents of the stomachs of all the fishes taken, under different 

 circumstances, were examined and recorded, and important generaliza- 

 tions reached as to the relationships between the fish, their food, and 

 the differing regions of the sea-bottom. Among other collections made 

 by the Commission were numerous specimens of a species of flounder, 

 Pleuronectes glaber, known heretofore by only a single specimen de- 

 scribed by Storer in his great work on the " Pishes of Massachusetts." 



The collection of invertebrates embraced very many extremely inter- 



' esting species, some of them entirely new, and others found for the first 



time on this coast. Among these may be mentioned a species of Hya- 



lonema, Holtenia, and some other very remarkable siliceous sponges which 



have lately attracted much attention from naturalists. Some very rare 



