336 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



learning of the success of their efforts, the strictest censorship was 

 imposed, but word was also quietly sent out to appropriate State 

 officials that an intact balloon must be recovered at all costs, so that it 

 could be carefully examined. One was fortunately secured by an 

 Oregon sheriff. The resulting identification of the sand ballast that 

 the balloon carried, along with some of the remains of microscopic 

 plants that were found in the sand, pointed to five possible launching 

 sites. Armed with this information, our Air Force promptly bombed 

 all five sites and, in so doing, must have hit the right one or ones, for 

 soon thereafter this menacing offensive ceased. 



FISHERIES BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION 



I do not have space to tell of many examples in other fields of study 

 in which the name of a species or organism solved a biologic problem. 

 But because of their special pertinence I should like to cite three little 

 instances that bear on the economics of fisheries. 



Some months ago an American specialist on sipunculid worms was 

 asked for copies of his technical publications by an Alaskan cod 

 fisherman who had found that where these worms occurred he always 

 made good hauls of fish. He wanted to plot the distribution of the 

 worms in order to do better and to extend his operations. 



A matter of weeks ago an ardent sport fisherman brought in a 

 mantis shrimp about which he wanted to know its mode of life, its 

 distribution, and where it could be obtained in quantity. Of course, 

 to make a search for information, the species had to be identified. 

 In turn, we learned something also — that this stomatopod was the 

 favorite food of certain desirable panfish much sought after by fish- 

 ermen in the Chesapeake Bay area. 



In the Carolinas, where shad enjoy a certain amount of legal pro- 

 tection, the State conservation agent must be able to distinguish be- 

 tween four or five species of fish, all superficially more or less alike, 

 if he is to catch the violators of the law and avoid congesting the 

 courts with the innocent. So, even in the enforcement of conserva- 

 tion laws, a knowledge of the species involved must be had. 



SOME BOTANICAL APPLICATIONS 



Eecently I was discussing some of these things with a friend of 

 mine who is a systematic botanist. He spoke of cortisone and yams, 

 and mentioned how much and how often the plant taxonomists are 

 being called upon these days for information regarding not only the 

 names of plants, but also their phylogeny and systematic relation- 

 ships. If a plant contains a rare alkaloid or drug, what about its 

 relatives? Knowledge of kinship has facilitated many such 

 investigations. 



