REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 125 



advancement. It has, therefore, seemed advisable to undertake a care- 

 ful stndy of the modern European methods for the information of the 

 oystermen of this conntry, and to i^uide them in any efforts they may 

 desire to make for the improvement of this fishery. In providing- for 

 this investigation it has been deemed important to secure the services 

 of some one who is thoroughly conversant with the Ameri(;an oyster 

 and oyster-grounds, in order that his observations shall be conducted 

 with due regard to the requirements of our own coast. 



Dr. Bashford Dean, of Columbia College, New York, who was intend- 

 ing to visit Europe for tlie purpose of scientific study, offered to cooper- 

 ate in this matter, and his services have been accepted. Dr. Dean was 

 an assistant of Mr. E. G. Blackford in the oyster surveys of New York 

 State during several years, and was also naturalist and physicist on the 

 steamer Fish SaivTc during the oyster investigations on the coast of 

 South Carolina in 1890. He is, therefore, well qualified to undertake 

 the proposed inquiry, and has been given explicit instructions regard- 

 ing the matters deemed of most importance. Dr. Dean left New York 

 in June, 1891, and will be absent over a year. Ho will visit the oyster- 

 fishery centers of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Holland, 

 and Great Britain. 



PHYSICAL INQUIRIES. 



0^ the Southern New England coast. — The iihysical investigation of 

 the waters in the mackerel region off the southern coast of New Eng- 

 land, the preparations for which were described in the last annual re- 

 port, was taken up by the schooner Grampus in the latter part of July, 

 1889, and was continued actively until early in September, when stormy 

 weatlier put a stop to further operations for the season. Prof. William 

 Li])bey, jr., of Princeton College, was in charge of the inipiiry, assisted 

 by Prof. Wm. F. Magie and Prof. C. G. Eockwood,jr., of Princeton Col- 

 lege, and Prof. M. McNeill, of Lake Forest University. The Grampus, 

 commanded by Capt. A. C. Adams, was furnished with a small boiler, 

 engine, and reeling apparatus for working the wire cable used in taking 

 the serial water temperatures, and with a complete outfit of physical 

 appliances suitable for the examinations Avhich it Avas proposed to 

 make. The principal instruments supplied for the water observations 

 were a large series of Negretti and Zambra reversible thermometers for 

 the intermediate and bottom temperatures, Wilder protected ther- 

 mometers for the surface temperatures, Hilgard salinometers and water 

 bottles for obtaining samples from any depth; and for the observations 

 regarding the conditions of the atmosphere, standard air, dew point, 

 minimum and maximum, and solar radiation thermometers, marine 

 barometers, air meters, rain gauge and ozonometer. 



The area selected for examination lay south of Massachusetts and 

 Rhode Island, extending coastwise from the eastern end of Nantucket 

 to Block Island, and seaward a distance of about 130 miles. Through 



