REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. d 
ological observations to the west side of the Bay. Asa temporary 
expedient an old scow was purchased, and upon this a small house 
was built, largely out of waste material given by the University, 
several students assisting in the construction. The scow was 
towed to Wickford on May Ist, where it has since remained. It 
is a miserable old craft, a disgrace to the State, and now beached 
to prevent its sinking; but the scientific work that it has enabled 
the Commission to carry on has far more than paid for its construc- 
tion and the annoyance of its maintenance. Moreover, it has proved 
that a house-boat is the most practical design for a shore labora- 
tory, and that it affords the most convenient means for carrying 
on the work of artificially increasing the marine products of the 
Bay. 
Your Commission has inquired into the probable cost of con- 
structing a suitable floating laboratory, and finds that a house 10 x 
10, supported upon two pontoons each 50 ft. in length and giving 
a breadth of beam of 16ft.,can be built and equipped for about 
$1,000. Such a structure, enclosing an open well 46 ft. in length, 
and 8 ft. in width, will serve not alone for investigation, but will 
make an excellent hatchery in which millions of eggs now annu- 
ally wasted may be artificially hatched, and it will also provide ap- 
propriate enclosures for partially rearing lobster fry. 
The properties that have come into the possession of the Com- 
mission, and that are now in its custody, are not inconsiderable. 
There is a small open sailboat, 15 ft. in length, purchased in 1899, 
and two small skiffs, one at the Kickemuit, the other at Wickford. 
All these boats are in excellent repair. The small laboratory at 
the Kickemuit is provided with instruments, glassware, collecting 
sieves, nets, fish-cars, and implements for work along shore; and 
the larger scow at Wickford is equipped with mooring chains, two 
heavy mushroom anchors, a complete camping outfit, laboratory 
glassware, instruments, and the more ordinary pieces of collecting 
and retaining apparatus. 
The receipts and disbursements of the Commission have been as 
follows: 
