XL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
shed were finished during the summer, completing the principal struct- 
ures required at this locality for the purposes of the Fish Commission. 
The final work upon the stone pier was also completed during this year 
by the Engineer Corps of the Army, and an appropriation of $14,000 
was made by Congress to enable the Revenue Marine Bureau to con- 
struct a coal shed and wharf adjacent to the buildings of the Commis- 
sion. This work, however, was not begun until the following year. 
The system for supplying salt water to the laboratory building was 
entirely reorganized by the substitution of wooden and hard rubber 
pipes for the iron ones previously in use, thus obviating the mconven- 
iences resulting from the accumulation of iron rust in the water. In 
the present arrangement wooden mains, having a 6-inch bore, lead from 
the harbor to the water tower, and thence to the lower story of the 
laboratory, the distributing pipes from this point being entirely of hard 
rubber with brass fittings. A standard Gardner clock, connected by 
telegraph wire with the Naval Observatory at Washington, was placed 
in the headquarters building for the convenience of Government vessels 
touching at the station, and a time ball, working in the same circuit, 
was arranged on top of the water tower where it could be seen by the 
many vessels passing through Vineyard Sound. Wood’s Holl having 
been selected as one of the principal stations of the Signal Service, and 
the shore terminus of the Government cable connecting the main-land 
with the Elizabeth Islands, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, the 
necessary accommodations were furnished that Bureau by the Commis- - 
sion. An office room in the laboratory building was assigned to their 
use, the exposed instruments were placed upon the roof of the store- 
house, and permission was given to use the flag.staff for displaying the 
usual weather signals. 
Saint Jerome, Md.—This station is located on the west shore of Chesa- 
peake Bay, about 6 miles above the mouth of the Potomac River. The 
experiments in oyster culture, described in former reports, were con- 
tinued here during a large part of the year, under the direction of Mr. 
W. de C. Ravenel, and upon a much larger seale than in previous years. 
Careful observations relative to the temperature and density of the 
water were made in connection with the work. 
B.—STATIONS FOR PROPAGATION OF THE SALMONID. 
Maine.—The two stations located in this State, one at Bucksport, the 
other at Grand Lake Stream, are operated conjointly by the United 
States, the State of Maine, and one or two other of the New England 
States. They are both in charge of Mr. Charles G. Atkins as superin- 
tendent; At the Grand Lake Stream Station, under the direction of 
Assistant Superintendent W. O. Buck, 855,500 schoodie or land-locked 
salmon eggs were obtained in good condition. Of this number 377,500 
were allotted to the United States, and were distributed in Mareh, 
1887, while 214,000, reserved by the State of Maine, were hatched and 

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