PROCEEDINGS. XLIX 



Mr. William T. Hornaday read a paper on THE GUACHARO BIRD 

 OF TRINIDAD, Steatornis caripensis, in which he said that this 

 strange bird was sometimes found breeding in almost inaccessible 

 caverns opening on the sea, at the northwestern point of the island 

 of Trinidad, in one of which, a large dome-like cave, he had 

 found about two hundred birds. The guacharo was, perhaps, the 

 only frugiverous bird of purely nocturnal habits, and was closely 

 allied to the goat-suckers. The young birds have a thick layer of 

 fat on the abdominal region, which yields a clear, transparent oil 

 of great purity, highly esteemed by the natives for cooking pur 

 poses. The nest of the guacharo, the speaker said, resembled a 

 small brown cheese, slightly hollowed on the top, being composed 

 of the undigested remains of fruit firmly adhering together. 



Mr. G. Brown Goode read a paper on THE AIMS AND LIMITA 

 TIONS OF MODERN FISH-CULTURE.* Modern fish-culture he defined 

 to be fish-culture carried on under government patronage upon an 

 extensive scale, under the direction of men trained to scientific 

 research, as distinguished from the old and insignificant method of 

 fish-culture carried on by private enterprise. Its aims were shown 

 to be, (i) to arrive at a complete understanding of the life histories 

 of useful aquatic animals and the conditions under which they live; 

 and (2) to apply this knowledge so thoroughly that all fishes shall 

 be brought as completely under control as are now the shad, the 

 salmon, the carp, and the whitefish. The limitations of fish-culture 

 were shown to be the same as those of scientific stock-rearing or 

 agriculture. 



In the discussion which followed, Prof. L. F. Ward remarked 

 that he had been interested in the paper especially on account of 

 the broad general principles in political economy which had been 

 shown to underlie the subject discussed ; that the lessons which the 

 United States, by means of its participation in the London Fish 

 eries Exhibition and its successes in the field of fish-culture, had 

 taught to Europe, and especially to Great Britain, were of great 

 importance. Political economists of the Manchester school need 

 to be shown in just such a way as this that the policy of State con- 



* GOODE, G. BROWN. Article " Pisciculture." ^Encyclopaedia Britannica, 

 Vol. XIX, 1885. 



