86 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



As far as prizes are concerned the United States has been eminently 

 successful. The number of awards made to this country is far greater 

 than was expected. Eighteen gold and four silver medals were given 

 to the Fish Commission and one gold medal to the National Museum. 

 The total number of awards that came to this country was one hun- 

 dred and fifty-one. 



Fishery branch of Census of 1880. — The reports for several years past 

 have contained detailed reference to the work prosecuted under the 

 direction of the United States Fish Commission, and with the assistance 

 of funds from the census of 1880 in connection with the preparation of 

 an exhaustive series of reports upon the present condition and past 

 history of the fisheries of the United States. 



Most of the special reports of the fishery experts have been completed, 

 and the force, with the exception of that permanently connected with 

 the Institution and the Fish Commission, has been disbanded. Although 

 there is still much work to be done, in the absence of an appropriation 

 for the purpose, this must be accomplished by the Fish Commission at 

 its leisure. A number of reports have been published, and large quan- 

 tities of the manuscript are now in the hands of the Superintendent of 

 the Censns. A summary of the statistical results of the inquiry was 

 printed in the Compendium of the Tenth Census, pp. 1402, 1403. 



In view of the vast material to be printed directly by the Census 

 Office, application was made to Congress for authority to print the 

 more purely natural history and biological articles in a separate series 

 under the auspices of the Fish Commission, aud the first volume of this 

 series, relating to the natural history of the useful animals of the sea, 

 especially of fishes, cetaceans, and invertebrates, has all been put in 

 type during the year, and it is hoped that it will be published early in 

 1884. 



This volume forms Part I of the proposed work, and contains 900 

 pages of text and 270 plates. It will be followed by other parts ap- 

 proximately in the order below : 



Part II. Fishing Grounds and the Geographical Distribution of Food 

 Fishes. 



Part III. A Geographical Eeview of the Fisheries. 



Part IV. The Apparatus of the Fisheries. 



Part V. Fishery Vessels and Boats. 



Part VI. The Methods and History of the Fishery Industry. 



Part VII. The Preparation of Fishery Products. 



Part VIII. Commerce in Fishery Products. 



Part IX. Fish Culture and Fishery Legislation. 



Part X, A Dictionary of American Fish aud Fisheries. 



Eespectfully submitted. 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



