REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 115 



111 ridding their l)eds of startishes the oystermeu generally make 

 use of the commo]i oyster- dredge, which also brings np everything 

 from the bottom, and the living oysters mny then be transplanted to 

 other grounds if desirable. This inotliod is necessarily laborions and 

 expensive, as well as destructive, as many oysters are often damaged 

 by the dredge, especially if they are young and thin-shelled. A spe- 

 cial dredge, invented by Mr. Landcraft, of Xew Haven, and designed 

 to remove (mly the starfishes, has been employed with some success, 

 but its use does not seem to have become very general. Other devices 

 having the same object in view have recently been patented, but noth- 

 ing has been learned regarding their effectiveness. The tangles, sug- 

 gested some years ago for this purpose by the Fish Commission, have 

 been tried occasionally, but they are said not to work the ground clean, 

 and it is difficult to extricate the startishes after the apparatus has 

 been lauded on the deck. The lirst of these troubles also manifested 

 itself in the trials made by the Fish Ilatvlc with the beam trawl, but it 

 was partly overcome by attaching a drag chain between the runners 

 slightly in advance of the net. This appliance would not, however, 

 present any advantage over the oyster dredge, and, as a whole, might 

 be regarded as very inferior to it, its expense and the difficulty of 

 working it from a small steanier also operating to its disfavor. 



Baited traps a\ ere experimented with in 18S1) umler the direction of 

 Dr. Hodge, but (udy with negativx^. resnlts. They were made of iron 

 rings, 2 feet in diauieter, lillod iu with a shallow bag of netting, and 

 when in use Avere suitably weighted, and their positions marked with a 

 small wooden buoy, ^inuy different kinds of l>ait were employed, and 

 they were as thoroughly tested as was possible at the time in the ln^ov- 

 A\ alk district, but no stariishes were secured on any trial. This experi- 

 ment is not, however, to be regarded as conclusive, because traps have 

 been and are still being used for this jmrpose with some success in 

 Providence lliver. They are there made box-shaped, of laths, some- 

 thing after the pattern of the rectangular h)bster pots. It is not ex- 

 pectetl that any devices of this sort will prove etlectual where stariishes 

 are very abundant, but under some circumstances they might serve a 

 good purpose, and further tests should be made whenever the oppor- 

 tunity occurs. 



Physical inquiry. — The following preliminary report by Mr. E. E. 

 Haskell, upon the results of his cnrrent observations in Long Island 

 Sound, has been transmitted by the yuijerintendent of the U. S. Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey. 



