XL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



permanent fish-hatcbing and research station, and the donation of a largo 

 tract by Mr. J. S. Fay, were, of course, contingent upon the appropriation 

 by Congress for the adjacent pier, and although this appropriation was 

 made in 1882, it was not considered proper to call in the subscriptions 

 and to definitely acquire possession of the money. 



Mr. C, F. Choate, president of the Old Colony Eailroad Company, and 

 Mr. J. Malcolm Forbes, a summer resident of Naushon, were selected 

 as trustees to whom the land was to be conveyed by the owners, Messrs. 

 Isaiah Spiudel & Co. and Mr. Joseph S. Fay, whenever the circum- 

 stances warranted it, the deeds of cession being made to the trustees 

 with the proviso that on the claim either of the United States Fish 

 Commissioner or of the Secretary of the Treasury there should be a 

 transfer of the proj)erty to the United States. 



As no permanent acquisition of ground can be made or accepted by 

 the United States, unless full jurisdiction over the same (with the usual 

 limitations) is ceded by the State, a resolution to that effect was accord- 

 ingly passed by the legislature, and became a law by the signature of 

 Governor John D. Long on March 30, 1882. 



A general law was already in existence, authorizing the governor, 

 without further formality, to cede jurisdiction over ground acquired by 

 the United States Government for light-house purposes, custom-houses, 

 or post-of&ces, and the Fish Commission was included with the parties 

 specified. Thus, in case of future acquisition of land, it is only neces- 

 sary under the law to make application to the governor for the cession 

 thereof, and compliance with the requirement that a proper designation 

 and plot of the tract be filed within a year of the receipt from the gov- 

 ernor of the necessary documents. It is understood that this jurisdic- 

 tion does not exclude the State officials from entering upon the land to 

 serve a civil or criminal process. 



It was suggested, in view of the expected acquisition and improve- 

 ment of the ground at Wood's HoU for Government purposes, that the 

 buildings which had been erected by Professor Agassiz on the island 

 of Penekese in 1873, and which, since the abandonment of the island 

 to its original owner, Mr. Anderson, had been unoccupied, might be 

 properly transferred to Wood's Holl. I accordingly visited the locality 

 for the purpose of making the necessary examination, but satisfied my- 

 self that, even if the buildings could be obtained free of cost, it would 

 not be expedient to use them in the new station, the general require- 

 ments being so totally different, and the requisites not met by the build- 

 ings in question. 



In order to possess data necessary for intelligent calculation in refer- 

 ence to grading and filling the Wood's Holl property, I secured the serv- 

 ices of Mr. E. W. Bowditch, a well known landscape architect and en- 

 gineer of Boston, to make a cp veful survey of the premises. This he ac- 

 cordingly did and furnished a map on the scale of 20 feet to the inch, 



