368 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



atlantic brethren. The separate States prosecute it, and in 1882 spent 

 £24,000 in its promotion. The Imperial Government spent nearly 

 £30,000 on the same object. The scale on which this is done may be 

 indicated by the fact that the Government at Washington provided 

 the fishery commission with two steamers, commanded by officers of the 

 navy, and specially designed for scientific research and for fish propa- 

 gation. The Albatross, of 1,300 tons, is a model of what a ship should 

 be for the first purpose ; the Fish Hawk, of 850 tons, is not good in 

 heavy seas, but is well fitted for the latter purpose. There are seven- 

 teen hatching stations, of which the head is at Wood's Holl, in Massa- 

 chusetts. Having paid a short visit to Professor Baird there this year, 

 I am tempted to enlarge upon it; but I will only say that there is an 

 excellent house for the staff, containing thirty beds, laboratories for 

 research, and hatching ponds for 2,000,000 young cod. Much of the 

 work is done by volunteer agency. The various universities send their 

 naturalists, and the Smithsonian Institution devotes money for special 

 researches and publications. 



There is an essential difference between the mode of proceeding of the 

 Government of the United States and that of our own country in relation 

 to fisheries. We have had commissions without end, on some of which 

 I have served. Vast bodies of contradictory evidence have been ob- 

 tained from fishermen, who, I* agree with Huxley, know less about fish 

 than the community. Our commissions have led to little useful result. 

 The American commissioners act in a different way. They put ques- 

 tions directly to nature and not to fishermen. They pursue scientific 

 methods, and not those of " rule of thumb." They make scientific inves- 

 tigations into the habits, food, geographical distribution of fishes, and 

 into the temperature of the seas and rivers in which they live or spawn. 

 Practical aims and experiments are always kept in view. As an ex- 

 periment, they tried to introduce shad on the Pacific coast and succeeded ; 

 they tried to introduce California salmon to the Atlantic slope and 

 failed. As an instance of a practical aim, they have restocked the 

 Sacramento and its tributaries so effectually, that the annual increase 

 each year, for the last few years, has been o, 000,000 pounds. 



The object of my" letter is to show that, while the private propagator 

 may cultivate young fish by thousands, aquaculture can only be under- 

 taken by a government, for its statistical results must be counted up by 

 hundreds of millions. In the United States, all the departments of the 

 government cordially co-operate in fish-culture; the railways assist, 

 and provincial bodies are active. In Scotland we have a fishery com- 

 mission, willing and able to make experiments, but the Admiralty can- 

 not find a vessel to make dredging experiments, and the Treasury can- 

 not find £1,000 to carry out important researches only half complete. 

 Biological stations in England and Scotland are being formed slowly on 

 account of deficient public support, 



London, S. W,, 1884, 



