REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXVII 



and as tlic Bulletin is ])iil)lislK'<l si^iiatuic by sij^iiatiirc, and distributed 

 in this form, a discovery can be announced within a few weeks after it 

 is made. 



About two linndred copies of the ]>idletin of 1882 were distributed 

 by signatures to sjx'cialists, to State fish commissioners, and to the 

 more important scientific societies, thus giving them the advantage of 

 early knowledge of their contents. The remainder of the edition is 

 distributed by volumes, mostly to tiie parties receiving the Annual Ke- 



l)Olt. 



This work is a public docunient, and from the large edition i)rinted, 

 Congressmen have copies at their disi)Osal for their correspondents. 



A small i)am])hlet containing tin; r(des and regulations of the Fish 

 Commission for the government of its employes, together with a sum- 

 mary of the Treasury and other Government regulations in regard to 

 the keeping of accounts, was i)ublish('d and distiibulcd to all parties 

 interested in 1882. 



Large numbers of circulars required for the current business of the 

 Commission have also been i)rinted and distiibutcd. 



Five fishery bulletins i)repared by the (Commission have been X)rinted 

 by the authorities of the Census Bureau of 1880, and will be found 

 enumerated in another part of this report. These were in continuation 

 of the joint arrangements between tiie Unite<l States Fish Cominission 

 and (icneral F. A. Walker, ►Snperintend(?nt of the Census, to which refer- 

 ence is made in another place. 



In view of the great delay in getting out the Census j)ubli cations, 

 authority was asked of (Jongress to j)rint a special series of rc^ports in 

 quarto that had been contemplated or prepared for the Census, and, 

 accordingly, a joint resolution was passed, as follows: 



RcHolved hy the Senaie [the House of J'cpresento tires concurrinf/)^ That 

 the J^ublic Printer be, and is hereby, instructed to print in <juarto form 

 a rcj)ort t)y the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries 

 upon the food-fishes and the fisheiies of the United Stat«;s, the engrav- 

 ing to be in relief, and to be contract(;d for by the Public Printer, under 

 the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing, and toi'eceive the 'dp- 

 proval of the Commissioiu;r before being accepted ; the work to be ste- 

 reotyped, and 10,()()() exti-a coj)ies ])rinted, of wlii(;h 2,50()sliall be for the 

 use of th(; Senate, 5,000 foi- tlie use of the House;, aixl Ij.^OO for the use 

 of the CominiBsioner of Fish and Fish(;ries. Tln^re shall also be ]>rinted 

 1,000 extra coj)ies for sale l)y tiie. Public Printer, iiiulei- such reguhitions 

 as th<; Joint Committee on Piinting may ])i<'S(;iibe, ut a pvlce equal to 

 the additional cost of jtublication, and 10 piti cent, theieon added. 



Work was immediately begun on tliis s(;ries, and before the end of 

 the year a large ])art of the fiist volume, on tlx; Jiatural history and 

 food-fishes of the United States, was in tiie hands of the i)rint(!r, and 

 to a considerable extent was stereotyped. 



A larg<; number of drawings was also made for the [ilates, and some 

 of them i('i)ro(iuced by tii*' j)hoto-engraving process. 



The volume will i)ro])ably appear in the course of the year 1884. 



Mr. Charles W. Smiley, Chief of the Division of Kecords, has had en- 



