REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. *17 



in the trnTis]-)ortation of California salmon to EMro])0, That f,n'ntl( inan 

 was instructed to proceed to Liveii)ool and obtain a siip])l.y of the tnil)ot 

 and sole, suitable for transfer, to be brouj^ht back to J>oston on the 

 Cunard steaiucr, with such facilities as he could obtaiu on that occasion. 

 A correspondence had been entered ui)on some time before with Mr. F. 

 Moore, the accomplished curator of the Free Public Museum of Liver- 

 pool, Avho made many inquiries as to the proper localities and the best 

 mode of obtaining" these lish. 



Mr. Mather reached Liverpool on the 17th of November, and, report- 

 ing- himself to Mr. Moore, found that gentleman had invoked the assist- 

 ance of the authorities of the great aquarium of Southj^ort. Proceeding 

 to this place, Mr. Mather was received very cordially by Mr. John Long, 

 the superintendent of the aquarium ; but owing to the inclemency of the 

 weather it was impossible to obtain any number of tish, and in order to 

 have a proper suj^ply it was necessary to secure the further services of 

 some of the fishermen. Unfortunately the weather, after Mr. ]\Tather's 

 arrival, proved to be exceptionally stormy, and the few lish obtained 

 were so badly bruised that they died shortly after being introduced into 

 the tanks of the iSouthport aquarium. There was some question in re- 

 gard to Mr. Mather's free passage in the shiiiment of the lish, and it was 

 not until the 3d of January that the shipment was actually' made. This 

 consisted of six turbot and twenty-six soles, the vessel upon which they 

 were placed being the Siberia, of the Cunard line, Captain McKay com- 

 manding. Mr. Mather, with his precious charge, experienced a series of 

 accidents on tlie voyage homeward. In the first place the tanks were 

 found to have been placed in such proximity to the steam heating pipes 

 that the water soon rose to a ten)])erature of 72°, much higher than is 

 suited to this lish. On arriving within sight of Cai)e Cod, on the IGth 

 of January, only two soles survived, and after consultation with the 

 captain as to a suitable x>hice of deposit, it w^as concluded to i)lace them 

 overboard, and they were accordingly left at a point on the Stelwagen 

 Bank, two miles olf Nahant, in 18 fathoms of water, the surface tem- 

 l)erature be ng 31°. 



It is hoped that, as in the case of the shipment of California salmon, 

 the exjierience thus gained T\ill enable us to avoid a failure on another 

 occasion. Mr. Mather is of the opinion that by keeping the temperature 

 at as low a degree as possible one of the most serious dangers may be 

 avoided. He does not recommend anything in the way of gravel or 

 sand in the tanks, as the fish would be liable to abrasion, in the motion 

 of the vessel. He also recommends that the fish, before such trans- 

 portatioii, should be kept in captivity and fed for at least one month, as 

 this will show ■\\'hether the act of capturing has in any way injured the 

 fish. 



Anticipating the occasion of taking these fish from the wharf at Bos- 

 ton for deposit at some suitable point in the harbor, application was 

 made to the Treasury Department for the service of the re^'euue-cutterJ 



