REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXV 



The last-named method has, of course, been by far the most impor- 

 tant and the most successful, and it is unfortunate that the length of 

 time and the amount of money available have not permitted the employ- 

 ment of a larger number of assistants in this branch of the work, and 

 have not allowed them to devote as much attention to working out spe- 

 cific questions as has in many cases seemed imperatively necessary. 



12. — DETAILS OF PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR. 



The fishery industry is of such great importance and is undergoing 

 such constant changes that a visit of a few days to any locality, even 

 by the most competent expert, has invariably proved unsatisfactory. 

 They have been able to collect only the most important facts, leaving 

 many subjects of interest untouched. 



The field-work has been assigned to the following special agents : 



I. Coast of Maine, east of Cape Elizabeth. E. E. Earll and Capt. J. 

 W. Collins. 



II. Cape Elizabeth to Plymouth (except Cape Ann) and eastern side 

 of Buzzard's Bay. W. A. Wilcox. 



III. Cape Ann. A. Howard Clark. 



IV. Cape Cod. F. W. True. 



V. Provincetown. Capt. X. E. Atwood. 



VI. Rhode Island and Connecticut west to the Connecticut Biver. 

 Ludwig Kumlien. 



VII. Long Island and north shore of Long Island Sound and west to 

 Sandy Hook. Fred Mather. 



VIII. New York City. Barnet Phillips. 



IX. Coast of New Jersey. R. E. Earll. 



X. Philadelphia. C. W. Smiley and W. V. Cox. 

 XL Coast of Delaware. Capt, J. W. Collins. 



XII. Baltimore and the oyster industry of Maryland and Virginia. 

 B. H. Edmonds. 



XIII. Atlantic coast of Southern States. B. E. Earll. 



XIV. Gulf coast. Silas Stearns. 



XV. Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. Prof. D. S. Jor- 

 dan and Mr. C. H. Gilbert. 



XVI. Puget Sound. James G. Swan. 



XVII. Alaska seal fisheries. H. W. Elliott. 



XVIII. Great Lakes fisheries. Ludwig Kumlein. 



XIX. River fisheries of Maine. C. G. Atkins. 



XX. The shad and alewife fisheries. Marshall McDonald. 



XXI. Oyster fisheries. Ernest Ingersoll. 



XXII. Lobster and crab fisheries. Richard Rathbun. 



XXIII. Turtle and terrapin fisheries. F. W. True. 



XXIV. The seal, sea-elephant, and whale fisheries. A. Howard Clark. 

 The different districts and departments of research in the preceding 



table are numbered serially. 



