148 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



because of the long delay in the manufacture of the heating apparatus for the fresh- 

 water circulation, which was, in fact, not ready for use until all need of it had long 

 passed by. As the water of the lake was but a few degrees above freezing when our 

 southern collections arrived, they could not be made to grow in place, and presently 

 perished. Experiments were made by the gardener, engaged for this purpose, at 

 starting these plants in water warmed by the direct introduction of steam, and also 

 in the conservatories of the city parks, but all practically failed, and it is evident that 

 the shock of the transfer and change of condition was too great. After the season 

 opened at the North a new embarrassment arose, due to repeated attacks of fungous 

 fish disease, with the germs of which we found the Lake Michigan water supply to be 

 continuously loaded. As the only practical method of combating this disease required 

 the frequent use of salt in the aquarium tanks our water plants perished almost as 

 fast as they were introduced, and we were finally obliged to give up all attempt at 

 plant decoration. 



Our organization for fieldwork was completed by the assignment of cars and men 

 for collections at Quincy on the Mississippi and at Meredosia on the Illinois; at Put- 

 in Bay on Lake Erie; at Beaufort, N. C; and, later, at Woods Holl, at Tampa Bay,] 

 Fla., and at* Monterey, San Francisco, and Puget Sound on the Pacific coast. The 

 Fish Commission stations at Leadville, Colo.; Neosho, Mo.; Northville, Mich.; Green 

 Lake, Me., and the Central station at Washington, were also repeatedly laid under 

 contribution during the season. A lot of magnificent specimens of bred trout was 

 sent us from the New York Fish Commission station at Caledonia, N. Y., and large 

 and valuable contributions of superb aquarium material were accumulated for us 

 from time to time at Spirit Lake, Iowa, by Mr. T. J. Griggs, fish commissioner of 

 Iowa. The three regular cars of the U. S. Commission were placed under the orders oil 

 Dr. S. P. Bartlett, at Quincy, and of Mr. J. J. Stranahan, at Put-in Bay, and a new 

 car, intended for transporting marine material, was bought by the Commissioner and 

 equipped with large tanks and an aerating apparatus. 



Our special purpose in making our marine collections was somewhat different 

 from that governing our fresh-water work. For the former we sought objects of 

 popular interest; examples of well-known food-fishes (as the salmon, red snapper,' 

 sheepshead, and pompano); animals especially attractive because of their size, their 

 extraordinary forms and actions, their beauty, or their peculiar habits and modes of life 

 (sharks, sea-anemones, starfishes, hermit crabs, and remoras, for example); finally,' 

 the oddities and monsters (skates, flounders, toadfishes, burrfishes, sea-robins, and the 

 like). We wanted, in short, the food fishes, the beauties, and the wonders of the seaJ 



The fresh- v water collections, on the other hand, were planned primarily to give to* 

 the uninstructed visitor a fair general idea of the fish fauna of our interior waters, not 

 preferring any class or kind over another, but reproducing, as nearly as practicable 

 under our conditions, a symmetrical picture of the fish life of the lakes, rivers, and 

 smaller streams of the interior United States. A few specially brilliant exotic species 

 were introduced to relieve the otherwise too somber effect of the fresh-water exhibit; 

 and as an accessory object we undertook also to illustrate, to some extent, the results 

 of scientific fish-culture, as carried on at the stations of the U. S. Fish Commission. 



In the assignment of tanks the smaller ones were used as a rule to display species 

 and varieties so grouped and labeled that the observer could distinguish kinds and 

 learn their names; the larger ones to exhibit groups, either natural families or mere 



