PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 25 



in a conference relative to the protection of fresh-water mussels. 

 Actino^ upon tho authority provided by recent concurrent legisla- 

 tion, it was dotorniined to close against commercial shelling for a 

 period of five years certain sections of the Mississippi River oorder- 

 ing the two States represented in the conference. Tlie purjwse is to 

 alk)w opjwrtunity for natural recuperation of the beds and to create 

 favorabk* conditions for the artificial propagation of mussels. 



After several years of earnest etfort by various persons and agencies, 

 in which the Bureau of Fisheries has played a leading part, concurrent 

 legislation for the protection of fresh-Avater mussels lias been enacted 

 in the four States which control the principal mussel-producing por- 

 tions of the jSIississippi River. It is hoped that the practical steps 

 now being taken to give effect to that legislation will result in a 

 marked recuperation of mussel beds wdiich have been exhausted or 

 seriously depleted. 



PUBLICATION OF REPORTS. 



In the course of the fiscal year there has appeared a document of the 

 Bureau describing in detail the commercial fresh-w^ater mussels, the 

 implements and practices of the mussel fishery, and the machinery 

 and methods of manufacture of buttons from the shells." There has 

 also been completed and submitted for publication a general account 

 of the natural history and propagation of the mussels.^ These papers 

 are issued in response to a regular demand for the varied informa- 

 tion contained in them, and wdth a view to disseminating such knowl- 

 edge of the resources and industries and the conditions of their per- 

 petuation as will stimulate the adoption of measures and practices 

 whereby unnecessary waste may be avoided and the future, as well as 

 the present, may be served. 



OCEANOGRAPHIC AND LIMNOLOGICAL STUDIES. 

 WORK OF THE ALBATROSS. 



The oceanographic and fishery work of the steamer Albatross had 

 been entirely abandoned for the period of the war, and the vessel 

 was engaged exclusively in the service of the Navy Department. 

 Some changes in the vessel had naturally been made to adapt her 

 to military service, but, before the return of the vessel, that depart- 

 ment restored such features of plan and equipment as were desired 

 by the Bureau. At the same time the Bureau, at its own expense, 

 developed the fixed equipment of the vessel, so that she is now better 

 fitted than ever before for fishing trials. The new equipment con- 

 sists principally of a more powerful steam winch and other necessary 

 fixtures for operating fishing trawls. There have also been pur- 

 chased and placed upon the boat a series of otter trawls and other 

 fishing gear. 



<■ Coker, R. E. : Fresh-Water Mussels and Mussel Industries of the United States. 

 Bulletin, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. Vol. XXXVI, 1917-18, pp. 11-89. Washington, 

 1919. 



f" Coker, R. E.. Shira, A. P., Clark, H. Walton, and Howard. A. D. : Natural History 

 and Propagation of Fresh-Water Mussels. Bulletin, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Vol. 

 XXXVI 1. 1919-:i0. In press. 



