LII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the stock of carp in the ponds at tlie Arsenal the previous autumn to 

 have been as follows: 



In the large pond : 

 15 breeding scale carp, weighing from 2 to 3 pounds each. 

 1,422 scale carp, of 1879, weighing from 5 to 20 ounces each. 

 In the small pond : 

 C breeding leather carp, weighing from 1 i^ound 10 ounces to 2 

 pounds 1 ounce. 

 242 scale carp, of 1879, weighing 5 ounces each, and 

 G2 mirror carp, of 1879, weighing 5 ounces each. 

 At this date Mr. Jones was ordered from Washington, and Lieutenant 

 Smith, of the Quartermaster's Department, will hereafter, have charge of 

 these ponds. Richard Lynch, the Arsenal gardener, has the personal 

 oversight of them. 



/i. Gourami {Os2)hrome)iuH olfax). 



Ill my last Eeport I presented several reasons why the gourami 

 would be a desirable species to introduce into the United States, and 

 spoke of the efforts of the SociStS (VAccliniatation, with the aid of a 

 French resident of Saigon, Cochin China, to supply the United States 

 Fish Commission with this fish, as also of the arrangement made with 

 Mr. B. B. Ileddiug to place what might thus be obtained in a lake near 

 San Gabriel, Cal. No result has so far been obtained from this effort. 



Monsieur L. Carbonnier, of Paris, having received some specimens 

 from Mauritius, forwarded a pair to the United States through Captain 

 Briand, of the French steamship line, who arrived at 'New York August 

 19. Unfortunately one of the fish had died during the passage. The 

 other was delivered to Mr. E. G. Blackford to care for until suitable 

 arrangements could be made. It died, however, early in September, 

 some ten or fifteen days after its arrival. 



L Cod (dadiis nwrrhna). 



Wood's Holl Station. — In Kovember, 1880, Capt. H. C. Chester went 

 to Wood's Holl, Mass., with a view of continuing experiments in cod- 

 hatching. Later in the season. Colonel McDonald was directed to take 

 charge of the station and to test some apparatus which he had arranged. 

 He was accompanied by Mr. John A. Ryder, who made some valuable 

 experiments upon the embryology of the cod. Mr. Ryder's report, with 

 numerous illustrations, will be published as an Appendix of the Report 

 for 1882. The experiments were somewhat limited, as only a single lot 

 of spawning-fish was obtained in that locality. In one experiment with 

 40,000 eggs, Colonel McDonald hatched 25,000 fry. These fish were sent 

 to Annapolis, Md., and deposited in Chesapeake Bay. An account of 

 his operations and of the apparatus which he used will be found in the 

 Appendix. On the 8th of March the station was closed and the appara- 

 tus returned to Washington. 



