REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 81 



liaman Islands, where she was engaged for several months in making 

 soundings, dredgiugs, temperature observations, &c. 



The '' tish-culture" work of the Commission has also been carried on 

 on a very extensive scale, thcv different stations having all been engaged 

 in the work to the measure of their capacity, and many hundreds of 

 millions of eggs have been taken, hatched out, and distributed to va- 

 rious points, among them being whiteiish, salmon, laud-locked salmon, 

 California trout, brook trout, lake trout, grayling, shad, fresh-water her- 

 ring, codfish, Spanish mackerel, lobsters, &c. 



The princii)al station of the Commission — that at Wood's Holl, Mass. — 

 has been adapted especially for the hatching of sea tisii, chietly of the 

 cod and of the lobster; and while considerable work has been done 

 there during the past winter, preparations have been under way through. 

 the summer lor the })urpose of renewing the work on a wholesale scale 

 the coming winter. 



The completion of tlie schooner Granqms now allows its use in bring- 

 ing spawning fish from the distant banks, and it is hoped that the in- 

 terruption last winter in the supply of parent lish will not again occur. 



An additional function of the Wood's Holl Station is that of furnish- 

 ing the means of biological investigation and research to specialists, 

 many of whom availed themselves of the advantages afforded them 

 durijig the past fiscal year. 



Another subject that has largely occupied the attention of the Com- 

 mission of late years is the artificial production of the oyster, and ex- 

 periments already made have shown that the general principles of fish, 

 culture may be applied to this animal to great advantage. W^ork in 

 this direction is now in i)rogress at the sea-coast station at Saint Je- 

 rome's, Md., near the mouth of the Potomac liiver, as well as at Wood's 

 Holl, and with quite satisfactory results. 



liespectfullv submitled. 



SrENCEE F. BAIRD, 

 Secretary /Smithsonian Institution. 



Washington, December 1, 188G. 



H. Mis. 170 G 



