XXXIV.-REPORT OF OPERATIONS AT CENTRAL STATION, 

 UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION, DURING 1882. 



By Marshall McDonald. 



1. ORGANIZATION AND EQUIPMENT. 



The Central Station of the United States Fish Commission is located 

 in what is known as the old Armory Building, corner of Sixth and B 

 streets, southwest, Washington, D. C. For some years under authority 

 of Congress, it has been appropriated for the storage of the collections 

 of the United States National Museum, as also of the reserve material 

 and apparatus of the United States Fish Commission. 



In the winter of 1881, when the distribution of carp by car and ex- 

 press shipment was substituted for the detached messenger shipments, 

 it was found more economical and convenient, instead of drawing the 

 fish directly from the tanks at the carp ponds for shipment, to bring 

 them up in quantities to the Armory Building, and to arrange for the 

 shipments from this point. For the convenience of this work several 

 large tanks were constructed, each capable of holding for some days 

 12,000 to 15,000 carp. An abundant flow of fresh water through the 

 tanks was obtained by drawing upon the city supply; and the fish, 

 although very much crowded apparently, were thus kept in good condi- 

 tion for convenience of shipment. Experiments conducted during the 

 previous season at the barge station on the Potomac E^iver had demon- 

 strated the practicability of transporting shad eggs from stations on the 

 Potomac Eiver 20 miles below Washington, and delivering them in good 

 condition to the hatching station at the navy-yard. 



During the latter part of this season this system, which is now known 

 as the dry method of transportation^ was substituted entirely for the 

 method of transporting in buckets of water, which had been previously 

 in use, the results being so entirely satisfactory as to give assurance 

 that by having recourse to this method we would be no longer restricted 

 to the necessity of establishing our hatching stations at points on the 

 river, which, though convenient to the spawn-takers, are remote from 

 the routes of transportation by which the young fish would have to be 

 moved to distant waters. 



The concentration of the work of propagation on the Potomac at 

 Washington, in a locality convenient for observation and for shipment 

 of the fry, promised important results to the Commission, both in awak- 

 [1] 879 



