EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 79 



Third. By sending special agents to make personal inquiries in 

 every part of the United States where the fisheries are of considerable 

 importance. 



The last-named method has of course been by far the most important 

 and the most successful, and it is unfortunate that the length of time 

 and the amount of money available have not permitted the employment 

 of a larger number of assistants in this branch of the work, and have 

 not allowed them to devote as much attention to working out specihc 

 questions as has in many cases seemed imi^eratively necessary. 



Tlie fishery iadustry is of such great importance and is undergoing 

 such constant changes that a visit of a few days, even by the most com- 

 X^eteut experts, has invariably iiroved unsatisfactory. They have been 

 able to collect only the more important facts, leaving mauy subjects of 

 interest untouched. 



The field work has been carried on by the following special agents; 

 (1.) Coast of Maine, east of Portland, E. E. Earll and Capt. J. W. Col- 

 lins. (2.) Portland to Plymouth (except Cape Ann) and eastern side of 

 Buzzard's Bay, W. A. Wilcox. (3.) Cai)e Ann, A. Howard Clark. (4.) 

 Cape Cod, P. W. True, (o.) Provincetown, Capt. IST. E. Atwood. (G.) 

 Rhode Island and Connecticut, west to the Connecticut Piver, Ludwig 

 Kumlien. (7.) Long Island and north shore of Long Island Sound and 

 west to Sandy Hook, Fred. Mather. (S.) New York City, Barnet Phil- 

 lips. (9.) Coast of New Jersey, E. E. Earll. (10.) Philadelphia, C. W. 

 Smiley and W. V. Cox. (11.) Coast of Delaware, Capt. J. W. Collins. 

 (12.) Baltimore and the oyster industry of Maryland, P. H. Edmunds. 

 (13.) Atlantic coast of Southern States, E. E. Earll. (11.) Gulf Coast, 

 Silas Stearns. (15.) Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington, Prof. 

 T>. S. Jordan and C. H. Gilbert. (10.) Puget Sound, James G. Swan. 

 (17.) Alaska seal fisheries. Dr. T. n. Bean. (18.) Great Lakes fishery, 

 Ludwig Kumlien. (19.) Eiver fisheries of Maine, C. G. Atkins. (20.) 

 The shad and ale wife fisheries, Col. Marshall McDonald. (21.) Oyster 

 fisheries, Ernest Ingersoll. (22.) Lobster and crab fisheries, Eichard 

 Eathbun. (23.) Turtle and terrapin fisheries, P. W. True. (21.) The 

 seal, sea elephant, and whale fisheries, A. Howard Clark. 



In addition to the field assistants already mentioned, a staff of assist- 

 ants from the beginning have been at work in the office of the division, 

 carrying on correspondence, searching past records, and i)repariiig the 

 report for publication. Mr. C. W. Smiley, Mr. Jas. Temple Brown, and 

 Mr. George S. Hobbs have been connected with the work from its start, 

 and from a later date Mr. J. E. Eockwell, Mr. C. W. Scudder, Mr. E. I. 

 Geare, Mr. G. P. Merrill and others have been thus employed. A num- 

 ber of clerks have also been detailed for this work by the Superintendent 

 of the Census, at one time as many as eight. A large part of the clerical 

 force is under the direction of Mr. C. W. Smiley, who has in special 

 charge the correspondence and the statistical and compiling work. 



Mr. Wilham H. Dall, of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 



