an opportunity to extend the operations farther offshore between 

 Mount Desert and Cape Cod. 



As in previous years many visitors, including several 

 scientists who attended the Portland, Maine, meetings of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, Maine 

 Commissioners of Fisheries, representative of the New York 

 Tribune, and others came to see Baird's explorations. 



For marine investigations in 1874, Baird selected a 

 locality in the village of Noank, Conn, at the mouth of the Mystic 

 River on Fishers Island Sound. The place was sufficiently 

 remote from the previously explored areas of New England 

 waters to permit the notice of some important zoological 

 differences. In addition to the waters adjacent to Noank, the 

 Bluelight visited Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long 

 Island^ Gardiners and Peconic Bays, Block Island Sound, and 

 the eastern part of Long Island Sound. Verrill and his associates 

 reported that over 100 species of invertebrates new to the fauna 

 of New England were found. They also reported that some of 

 the more southern species of animals were discovered in 

 localities which had a higher sea-water temperature than others. 

 In addition, the party conducted experiments in artificial 

 propagation of sea bass and attempted to introduce young shad 

 into salt-water rivers. Valuable background information 

 necessary for selecting a place for the permanent location of 

 the laboratory and hatchery was obtained through the four years 

 of studies of the abundance, habits, and distribution of the more 

 important species of fishes and invertebrates. The final 

 decision had to be postponed until later years. 



Baird, with his assistants, returned to Woods Hole in 1875 

 with the idea that a second survey of local waters would provide 

 a means for determining the variation in the abundance of fishes 

 as compared with the conditions recorded four years previous, 

 in 1871. The need for a more permanent field accommodation 

 for the Commission became acute. It was solved by the authori- 

 zation of the Light-House Board to convert the large shed on the 

 banks of Little Harbor into a two-story laboratory (fig. 9) and to 

 construct a 5, 000-gallon reservoir and a windmill for pumping 

 sea water. The regular appropriation of the Commission provided 

 funds necessary to cover the cost of the alteration, but laboratory 

 equipment, including tables, shelves, tanks, aquaria, and 

 plumbing, for which Government funds were not available, was 

 purchased with the liberal contributions made by Mr. and Mrs. 

 John F. Forbes of Naushon Island and Robert L. Stuart of New York. 

 This laboratory greatly facilitated the work of sorting, identi- 

 fication, and preservation of the material collected at sea and 

 made it possible to observe the behavior of various animals, and 

 to study their spawning and the hatching of eggs. The opportunities 



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