PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 11 



elements will be found to fall into series; a pat(?lnvork (jnilt is eventu- 

 ally foiTned which depicts in accurate form and in more or less com- 

 plete detail the interesting and lon^j^-desired story of the migration 

 and feeding and breeding hal)its of one or more species of fish. The 

 studies of life histories of fishes of the sea are, therefore, linked with 

 the oceanographic studies to receive brief reference in another place. 

 W. W. AYelsh, scientific assistant, has been engaged in the study and 

 identification of the large collections of larval fishes now in the 

 Bureau's possession. Collections .were also made while he was 

 engaged upon the Alhafross, and just before the fiscal year closed 

 his field studies were extended to a point on the New Jersey coast 

 offering unusjual facilities for the daily observation of fishes taken 

 alongshore, for experiments in the hatching of such eggs as might be 

 obtained, and for rearing the larval fishes to an advanced stage. Mr. 

 Welsh has devised an ingenious automatic apparatus for holding 

 pelagic fish eggs during incubation so that their development may be 

 studied. 



SARDINE OF NORTHWEST COAST. 



A further inquiry into the occurrence of the pilchard or sardine, 

 Sard mm cannilca, off the coasts of Washington and Oreo-on Avas con- 

 ducted during the past summer by C. L. Anderson, assistant in the 

 Bureau. Observations and inquiries were made near the mouths of 

 the Columbia, Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Coquille Rivers, and at 

 Yaquina, Alsea, and Coos Bays. It is reported that some sardines 

 enter the inside waters every smnmer, but that the run is extremely 

 variable as to abundance, Mr. Anderson suggests that the presence 

 of sardines in the bays is largely controlled by the proportion of 

 fresh water brought into the bays by the rivers, the run being light 

 or wanting when the salinity of the bay water is lowered. Practi- 

 cally none entered these bays during the past summer. While sardines 

 may be present in the ocean beyond the bars at practically all times, 

 as evidenced by statements of trollers and halibut fishermen and by 

 study of the stomach contents of troll-caught sahnon, yet the nature 

 of the bars over which access to the harbors must be had and the 

 severity of weather conditions would make it difficult to operate a 

 regular sardine fisher^'. The evidence now in hand is not favorable 

 to the establishment of an important sardine-packing industry in 

 Northwest States. 



FISHES IN RELATION TO PUBLIC HEALTH. 



It is doubtful if an}' function of the Bureau is worthy of higher 

 public esteem than one which brings it into direct relation with im- 

 l)rovemcnt of the conditions of public health and makes it an effective 

 and indispensable servant in the progressive elimination of a disease 

 that not only produces vast economic losses by disability of laborers 

 and employers, but year by year robs thousands of men, Avomen, and 

 children of energy, ambition, and happiness. The investigations of 

 previous years not only bore abundant fruit when the Bureau could 

 render a substantial service during war times in the protection of the 

 health of soldiers in cantonments, but they have jjlaced the Bureau 

 in position to play an active and continuing jjart in the extensive anti- 

 malarial campaign in Southern States. 



