11 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



in this research, aud establishiug ray headquarters at Wood's Hole, 

 Mass., in Vineyard Sound, one of the regions most interested in the 

 inquiry. With the assistance of several eminent specialists, pai;ticu- 

 larly of Prof. A. E. Verrill, Prof. Theodore Gill, and Mr. S. I. Smith, I 

 made an exhaustive inquiry into the subject, with all the means at my 

 command. The results of my labors and of those of my associates have 

 been presented to Congress in the form of a voluminous report, to which 

 reference is suggested for further particulars. 



The fish to which attention was more particularly directed during this 

 first year were the blue-fish, scup, tautog, sea-bass, striped bass, aud 

 menhaden. 



The opportunities furnished by the possession of a very perfect outfit 

 of apparatus for the research in question were embraced to prosecute a 

 general inquiry into the natural history of the deep seas along the coasts 

 of the United States, as it was thought that the history of the fishes 

 themselves would not be complete without a thorough knowledge of their 

 associates in the sea, especially of such as prey upon them or constitute 

 their food. It is well known that the presence or absence of particular 

 forms of animal life in certain localities determines the occurrence of 

 many kinds of fish ; and it was thought best to make an exhaustive 

 inquiry in this direction. 



The temperature of the water taken at different depths, its varying 

 transparency, density, chemical composition, percentage of saline matter, 

 itssurface aud under currents, aud other featuresof its physical condition, 

 were also carefully noted, as likely to throw more or less light upon the 

 agencies which exercise an influence upon the presence or absence of par- 

 ticular fishes ; in other words, the object in view was to make as complete 

 explorations of the physical, natural, and economical features of the sea 

 as those which have been attempted for the Western Territories, under 

 successive congressional appropriations, by Doctor Hayden, Lieutenant 

 Wheeler, and others; the same warrant for an exhaustive research being 

 thought to exist for the one as for the other, especially in view of the 

 fact that the economical results to flow from a satisfactory solution of 

 the various problems connected with the fisheries, might safely be con- 

 sidered as even more profitable in their immediate yield and availability 

 than those to arise from the territorial survey. 



Finally, large collections of specimens of natural history were gathered 

 for the National Museum, embracing duplicates in great number for dis- 

 tribution to the various scientific and educational establishments of the 

 country, 



3. — INVESTIGATIONS IN 1872. 



In arranging for the work of the Commission in 1872, it was thought 

 best to spend the season on the Bay of Fundy, for the purpose of making 

 an especial study of the fish and fisheries belonging to that portion of 

 Maine aud the British provinces; and, the necessary leave of absence 



