APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, 147 



In 1877, the Commissioner and his staff were summoned to Ilalifax to 

 serve as witnesses and experts before the Halifax Fishery Commission, 

 then charged with the settlement of the amount of compensation to be 

 IDaid by the United States for the privilege of participating in the lish- 

 eries of the Provinces. The information at that time available concern- 

 ing the fisheries was found to be so slight and imperfect that a plan for 

 systematic investigation of the subject was arranged and partially un- 

 dertaken. The work was carried on for two seasons with some financial 

 aid from the Dei)artment of State. In 1879 an arrangement was made 

 with the Superintendent of the Tenth Census, who agreed to bear a. 

 part of the expense of carrying out the scheme in full. Some thirty 

 trained exi^erts are now engaged in the preparation of a statistical report 

 on the .present state and the past history of the fisheries of the United 

 States. This will be finished next year, but the subject will hereafter 

 be continued in monographs upon separate branches of the fisheries, such 

 as the halibut fishery, the mackerel fishery, the shad fishery, the cod 

 fishery, the herring fishery, the smelt fishery, and various others of less 

 importance. 



Hundreds, and even thousands, of specimens of a single species are 

 often obtained. After those for the National Museum have been selected, 

 a great number of duplicates remain. These are identified, labeled, 

 and made into sets for exchange with other museums for distribution to 

 schools and small museums. This is in accordance with the time-hon- 

 ored usage of the Smithsonian Institution, and is regarded as an im- 

 portant branch of the work. Several specialists are employed solely 

 in making np these sets and in gathering material required for their 

 comx)letion. Within three years fifty sets of fishes in alcohol, including 

 at least t«n thousand specimens, have been sent out, and fifty sets of 

 invertebrates, embracing one hundred and seventy-five sjiecies and two 

 hundred and fifty thousand specimens. One hundred smaller sets of 

 representative forms intended for educational purposes, to be given to 

 schools and academies, are now being i^repared. 



The arrangement of the invertebrate dui^licates is in the charge of 

 Mr, Richard Rathbun ; of the fishes, in that of Dr. T. H. Bean. 



Facilities have also been given to many institutions for making col- 

 lections on their own behalf. 



Six annual reports have been published, with an aggregate of 5,650 

 pages. These cover the period from 1871 to 1878. Many j)apers relat- 

 ing to the work have been published elsewhere — particularly descrip- 

 tions of new species and results of special fauual exploration. 



AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF THE COMMISSION. 



1871. — The Commissioner, with a party of zoologists, established the 

 first summer station at Wood's Holl, Mass., other assistants being en- 

 gaged in a similar work at Cape Hatteras and the Great Lakes. He 

 also personally investigated the alleged decrease of the fisheries in 

 southern New England, taking the testimony of numerous witnesses. 



