238 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



reason to complain of having these animals introduced from foreign 

 countries ? 



All that has been said applies still more to the vegetable kingdom. 

 It is doubtful whether rye and oats are indigenous in Germany ; but 

 wheat and barley have certainly been introduced from abroad; the 

 lupine was probably introduced into Greece from Media at the time of 

 Alexander the Great ; pease and lentils are assuredly of foreign origin ; 

 but instead of enumerating all these plants it would simply have sufficed 

 to utter the single word " potato." 



Here — where we speak specially of useful plants — would not be the 

 place to mention the innumerable beautiful flowers which our gardens 

 have received from foreign countries ; but we cannot dismiss this sub- 

 ject without mentioning the number of magnificent trees which we have 

 introduced from abroad ; thus quite recently from the Caucasus : Pinus 

 nordmanniana ; from America: The Wellingtonia, Abies Donglasii, Abies 

 nob His, &c. We have even gone so far as to work out an elaborate 

 plan for planting and cultivating foreign trees in the Prussian Govern, 

 ment forests ; there has also been some talk of a history of plants, which 

 is to give, in systematized shape, the changes which plants have under- 

 gone in their local conditions. 



And should fish be excluded from being artificially transported to 

 and acclimatized in countries far from their home, at a time when we 

 have learned how to safely transport the tender fish-eggs great dis- 

 tances ? 



In Germany fish have for a long time been transported from one 

 province to the other. During the middle ages this was frequently 

 done by the monks, who never failed to make exceedingly practical 

 fish-ponds near their beautifully and favorably situated monasteries; 

 these ponds were so well arranged that even in our days their work has 

 still been used. In South Germany especially the history of the spread- 

 ing of many choice fish, such as the Saibling and the Zander (Amaul), 

 is closely interwoven with the history of the monasteries. 



As far as I know, no fish have of late years been introduced from 

 any great distance into foreign countries. 



If, as I expect to show in the following, I was successful in introduc- 

 ing five new kinds of fish, 1 shall at once give the honor to whom it be- 

 longs, my excellent friend inpiscibus, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of Wash- 

 ington. He is not only at the head of the United States Fish Commission, 

 but also presides over the noble Smithsonian Institution, whose grand 

 object is to increase and diffuse knowledge among men. Truly Profes- 

 sor Baird has fulfilled the duties of his two great offices with this object 

 in view, and our heartiest gratitude is herewith expressed. I am als<fc 

 under great obligations to the North German Lloyd, in Bremen, which 

 has never refused its aid, and which, in the most liberal manner, has 

 gratuitously carried numerous fish and fish-eggs between New York and 

 Bremen. Who, finally, does not know from the circulars of the German 



