REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISTIElilES. 151 



WOODS HOLL LABORATORY. 



Nearly all of the imiiortaiit food-fislies occnrriiig in the Vineyard 

 Sound region spawn during the spring or winter months, and as the 

 Woods Holl Station has not generally been occupied for scientific 

 purposes until about July 1 of each year, the study of their breeding 

 habits and of the development of the young has, for the most part, been 

 neglected. The pressing demands of fish-culture have been met from 

 time to time by the temporary employment of specialists in the proper 

 seasons for such investigations, but nothing in the way of a thorough 

 and continuous series of observations relative to these subjects has 

 hitherto been attempted. Among the forms respecting which informa- 

 tion is most urgently desired at x)resent are the cod, sea bass, scup, 

 tautog, mackerel, menhaden, lobster, and oyster, but there is not a 

 food species common to this coast an account of whose life history and 

 spawning habits would not contribute something to the Avelfare of the 

 fisheries by suggesting either methods of propagation or suitable 

 measures of protection. 



In order that scientific studies bearing upon these subjects might be 

 continued at all seasons, Dr. H. V.^Wilson, a graduate of Johns Hop- 

 kins University, was appointed in May, 1888, resident naturalist at the 

 Woods Holl Station, in charge of the biological laboratory. Within 

 the past two years Dr. Wilson has completed a very imi)ortant mono, 

 graph on the embryology of the sea bass, and has also collected much 

 material illustrating the development of the egg and larval stages of 

 the cod, scup, tautog, and other species of fishes as well as of some 

 crustaceans. He has also made some j)rogress in the study of the 

 development of sponges, preliminary to a proposed visit to the coast of 

 Florida, where it is intended to investigate the life history of the commer- 

 cial forms. A complete series of the eggs and embryos of the Atlantic 

 salmon, obtained at the Maine station of the Fish Commission, has 

 likewise been i)repared by Dr. Wilson for future examination. The 

 surface nets have been in constant use in the vicinity of Woods Holl, 

 under his direction, and Mr." H. G. White, a draftsman, has been 

 employed during a portion of eacih year to make drawings of the larval 

 fishes secured by this means. A more comi^lete account of the results 

 of Dr. Wilson's inquiries is given under the heading of " Special Inves- 

 tigations." 



Mr. V. I^T. Edwards has continued his field observations respecting 

 the dift'erent fishes which inhabit the Vineyard Sound region, keeping 

 a carefnl record of the time of approach and disappearance of the 

 migratory species, of the l)reeding and feeding habits of all fin'uis, and 

 of the growth of the young from day to day. He has also experimented 

 successfully with the hatching of several common fishes, and has demon- 



