SPENCER F. BAIRD. 725 



investigations into tbc causes of (liniiiiiition, if any, in nnnil)ers of the 

 food-fishes of the coast and the hikes of the United States, and to re- 

 l)ort whether any and wliat protective, prohibitory, or precautionary 

 measures shoukl be adopted in the premises. 



No man more suitable for this important and responsible position 

 than Professor Baird could have been selected. He was at once 

 appointed b^- President Grant and confirmed by the Senate as the 

 Commissioner, In his first report he announced, as the result of a 

 most careful and thorough examination, that the decrease ot the shore 

 fishes of the New England waters during the preceding twenty years 

 was fully substantiated, and that it had been much more rapid since the 

 year 1865. 



In furtherance of his great work the resources of the Smithsonian 

 Institution were freely i)laced at the disposal of the Commissioner, 

 and in the same report he gratefully acknowledges this hearty co- 

 operation by saying : " 1 am indebted to Professor Henry for permis- 

 sion to use the extensive collection of apparatus belonging to the 

 Smithsonian Institution in the way of nets, dredges, tanks, etc., and 

 thus saving the considerable outlay which would otherwise have been 

 necessary." 



The new studies into the life-history of the principal shore fishes, 

 into the character and range of their enemies, and into their approjiri- 

 ate means of subsistence, requisite to an intelligent consideration of 

 the conditions most favorable to their propagation, — involved investi- 

 gations embracing the entire marine fauna of the coast, vertebrate and 

 invertebrate. These extensive and varied researches necessarily de- 

 manded the aid of skilled assistants, — of a corps of eminent specialists 

 in marine biology, and a corresponding division of labor. 



The results of these investigations have been given to the world in 

 hundreds of memoirs, published in the reports and bulletins of the 

 Commission, and in the proceedings and bulletins of the National 

 Museum. And it is quite within bounds to say that in importance, in 

 variety, and in extent of original information thus communicated no 

 such quantity of contribution to our knowledge of zoology has ever 

 emanated from any other organization within the same interval of 

 time. Many species of fishes entirely new to science have been dis- 

 covered and carefully described, and the number of invertebrate forms 

 known to inhabit the waters explored has probably been fully doubled. 



It^was shown, from the abundance of the lower forms of life, that the 

 decline of the useful fishes had not resulted from any lack of their ac- 

 customed food supply, nor had it resulted apparently from any less 

 favorable conditions of environment, nor from the prevalence of any 

 epidemic diseases. It was therefore a consequence of excess in their 

 destruction. 



Among all the ravages of predaceous fishes it was found that the 

 "bluefish" was the most voracious and devastating pirate of the 



