12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Your Commission is also collecting data upon the occurrence, 

 distribution, breeding habits, and economic value of the various 

 animal forms found in the bay. One of the most interesting and 

 important sections of this work is that relating to the fishes, for 

 here is brought out in the clearest manner the complex relations 

 between the occurrence and abundance of fishes and the physical 

 and biological factors governing their breeding, rate of growth, 

 methods of feeding, and migration. The observations bearing on the 

 natural history of fishes are placed on record and published at such 

 times as seem desirable. In 1905 was published "A List of the Fishes 

 of Rhode Island." This contained a record of all the fishes known to 

 have been taken in the waters of the State, together with such data 

 regarding them as had been collected by your Commission and a 

 summary of the most important facts of their natural history. 

 This list of fishes proved to be so generally useful, not only as a 

 matter of record but also for reference purposes, that the edition of 

 reprinted copies has now for some time been exhausted. A new list 

 of the fishes, which includes all the information available up to the 

 year 1910, has been prepared for publication. Particular attention 

 has been paid to the collection of information regarding eggs and 

 young stages of the different species of fishes, since our knowledge of 

 these phases of the natural history of fishes is widely scattered through 

 a great number of special papers and has never previously been 

 brought together and arranged in an easily acessible form. Into 

 this list are also incorporated observations made by the Commission 

 upon the rate of growth of some of our common fishes. 



With respect to its marine fish fauna, this State is situated in an 

 exceptionally favorable location. Cape Cod forms the general 

 boundary between the Arctic and the temperate faunoe of the 

 Atlantic coast, and therefore most of the species common to both are 

 found in greater or less abundance in our waters. The Gulf Stream, 

 also, runs within a hundred and fifty miles of the Rhode Island coast, 

 and therefore many tropical and subtropical species are common, and 

 sometimes abundant, within the limits of the State. At a compar- 



