XXXII EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



dated September 1, giving the statistics of the fisheries of the Great 

 Lakes, from the material collected by Mr. Ludwig Kumlien. This series 

 of sixteen tables relates to the various kinds of food-fishes which are 

 taken from those lakes, such as whitefish, trout, herring, sturgeon, pike, 

 &c., as well as the caviar, isinglass, and oil prepared in that region. 



3. A larger bulletin (Census No. 278) covering 47 pages quarto was 

 issued under date of November 22, 1881. It was prepared by Mr. R. 

 Edward Earll, and contained the statistics of the fisheries of Maine. 

 He incorporated with his own researches those of Mr. C. G. Atkins, Mr. 

 W. A. Wilcox, and Capt. J. W. Collins. These figures relate to the 

 cod, hake, haddock, pollock, cusk, mackerel, herring, lobster, and clam 

 fisheries, and show the quantity and value of the fresh, dried, pickled, 

 smoked, and canned products. The production of oil and dried sounds 

 is also considered. 



4. Under date of December 1, the statistics of the fisheries of Vir- 

 ginia were published in Census Bulletin No. 281. These were prepared 

 by Col. Marshall McDonald, and include the fisheries for shad, herring, 

 sturgeon, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, gray and salmon trout, sheepshead, 

 crabs, clams, terrapin, and oysters, and the manufacture of oil and fer- 

 tilizers from menhaden. 



5. A monograph entitled "The Oyster Industry," by Mr. Ernest In- 

 gersoll, was issued in the latter part of this year. It covers 250 quarto 

 pages, and contains 13 plates. 



Under the direction of Mr. C. W. Smiley, a series of 1,419 tables were 

 completed and turned over to the Census Office for publication. These 

 related to the imports and exports of fish in the United States from 1731 

 to the jjresent time. This material was drawn fix)m the State papers 

 and other early records of the colonies and of the nation, and, since its 

 organization, from the j^ublications of the Bureau of Statistics of the 

 Treasury Department. 



A large amount of material ready for press, which could not be printed 

 and issued during this year by the Census Office, was held over till 

 another year. 



10. — OCEAN TEMPERATURES. 



The arrangement made with the Light-House Board in 1878, whereby 

 the keepers of the light-houses at selected points upon the Atlantic 

 coast have observed and recorded temperatures of the sea, has been 

 continued during the present year, with instruments furnished for the 

 most part by the United States Signal Ofiice. 



The points selected, as will be seen by the accompanying list, are those 

 most favorably situated for obtaining the mean ocean temperatures 

 along the coast. The work is done by the keepers without extra com- 

 pensation, and too much credit cannot be given to them for performing 

 this duty, in addition to that connected more directly with the Light- 

 House Service. Their records have been of the utmost possible impor- 



