EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XIX 



The Navy Department. — From its first organization the United 

 States Fish Commission has been more closely related to the Navy De- 

 partment thau to any other branch of the Government, and the facili- 

 ties extended by it, in compliance with the law as well as in accordance 

 with the kindly feeling of the Secretaries and of the chiefs of bureaus, 

 have been of the utmost importance. This aid has been shown in the 

 detail of several steamers, fully manned and equipped, for service; the 

 loan of launches; the execution of work and of repairs at the navy- 

 yards, and in many other ways. 



The experiences of 1881 have been in the same general direction ; the 

 most important occasion being the loan of two steam launches, one a 

 Herreshoff, No. 62, and the other a naval launch. No. 55, both render- 

 ing admirable service in their respective avocations; this, of course, in 

 addition to furnishing officers and men to the Fish Hawk, the Lookout, 

 and the launches. 



The United States steamer Despatch being under orders for service 

 in the West Indies was likely to be delayed unseasonably by waiting 

 for the completion of repairs on her steam launch. In this emergency 

 it gave me great pleasure to accede to a request from the chief of the 

 Bureau of Construction and Repair to supply the Despatch with the 

 Fish Hawk's launch and take the other in exchange when completed, 

 as both were of the same character. No inconvenience resulted to either 

 vessel by the exchange, 



Post-Office Department. — At various times during the year Mr. 

 W. L. Nicholson, the topographer of the Department, furnished post- 

 route maps. 



Interior Department. — The Commissioner of Patents has fur- 

 nished copies of specifications of patents relating to the fisheries and 

 fishery apparatus. 



Department of Justice. — The Attorney-General, Hon. Wayne Mac- 

 Yeagh, instructed the district attorney of Massachusetts to advise with 

 the Commissioner with reference to the interests at Gloucester and also 

 to the acquisition of land at Wood's Holl. 



Commissioner of Public Buildings and Grounds. — May 20, Col. 

 A. F. Eockwell furnished the Commission with a quantity of iron fenc- 

 ing to be used at the carp ponds. 



District Commissioners. — The District Commissioners, May 31, 

 issued a permit for extending a raikoad track from the Baltimore and 

 Potomac line to the Armory. Major Brock, Chief of Police, gave direc- 

 tions for removing squatters from the river front near the carp ponds. 

 Dr. Smith Townshend, health officer, has furnished each month reports 

 of the inspection of fresh fish for the District of Columbia. 



Railroads. — At the close of this report will be found a list of rail- 

 roads that have granted the privilege of carrying fish in their baggage 

 cars during the year, in continuance of a custom which had been estab- 

 lished for several years. The Fish Commission car having been com- 



