308 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



5. Elementary practical teaching of deep-sea dredging and specimen collecting; 

 sounding, to determine nature of sea bottom and probable character of fish; use of 

 collecting tanks for live and museum specimens; preservation of fish and other 

 aquatic animals and plants for local museums; observations of the habits and growth 

 of fishes, etc., in nature and in aquaria. 



6. Preparation of fish by drying, smoking, salting, canning, etc.; preparation of 

 oils, extracts, fish meal, manures, etc.; cooking offish; determination of edible quali- 

 ties of fishery products now little used or neglected. 



7. Fish-culture; mutual relations of inland fishing, farming, and forestry; studies 

 of methods in other countries. 



8. Storing, transportation, and distribution of fish; construction of fish markets, 

 stores, vehicles; construction of refrigerators, refrigerator cars. 



9. Comparative rudimentary anatomy and physiology of typical aquatic animals 

 and plants; their diseases and parasites. 



10. Consideration of questions concerning the fisheries. 



11. Fish inspection; naked eye, chemical and microscopical detection of unwhole- 

 some fish; detection of trade frauds, substitutions, and adulterations. 



CARRIER-PIGEON AND TELEGRAPHIC SERVICE FOR THE SEA FISHERIES. 



Fishing fleets should signal by means of carrier pigeons for the refrigerator steam- 

 ers to come out from the harbors to remove the catch. These carrier pigeons, dis- 

 patched at intervals, especially if repeated to allow for accidents, would be useful to 

 the smacks in case of accident and distress, and could also be employed by the fisher- 

 men to send messages, weighing up to 2 ounces, to the steamers, as giving orders 

 to bring out any articles required by the fishermen, including food, medicines, fishing 

 nets, tackle, bait, and other requisites. 



Alighting on the platform of the pigeon-house, connected with an electric bell for 

 day and uncovering a colored light for night work, the pigeon announces its own 

 arrival. At a trifling cost fishermen and sailors would soon learn to train and breed 

 these carrier pigeons. After a while, probably, no fishing smack would put to sea 

 without a few carrier pigeons. 



To effectively encourage fishermen to carefully and extensively rear, train, and 

 breed these carrier pigeons, the Admiralty and the Board of Trade should offer a series 

 of local prizes for the best birds at the various fishing districts and villages of the 

 dinted Kingdom, in which contests the local coastguards and naval reserve should be 

 allowed also to compete. 



Night and day, along the chief Norwegian fishing fiords and grounds, special 

 local telegrams inform the fishing fleets as to the location, the probable destination, 

 and expected time of arrival of observed shoals of fish. Doubtless much might be 

 done on our own coasts'by combining and collecting information for telegraphic pur- 

 poses brought by these carrier pigeons as to the probable course of various migratory 

 shoals of fish. Like the Chinese, the Norwegians, through centuries of acquired 

 observation, are shrewd, trained experts in noticing the habits offish. In 1888, while 

 visiting the Norwegian fishing towns from Christiania to the North Cape and back, I 

 was informed that the Norwegian Government gratuitously circulated these trade 

 messages for the benefit and advantage of their fishermen. The Government of the 

 United Kingdom should initiate similar plans on behalf of our neglected fishermen, as, 



