LXXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Cisco, Cal., with carp for tLe supply of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, 

 California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington Territory. 

 The following summary of distribution will be of interest : 

 Carp were sent into two hundred and ninety-eight of the three hun- 

 dred and one* Congressional districts, and into 1,478 counties. There 

 were 200,000 carp distributed, in lots of 20, to 9,872 applicants, resid- 

 ing at an average distance of 916 miles from Washington, the extreme 

 points supplied being Southern California, Oregon, and Washington 

 Territory, which were reached by special messenger from San Fran- 

 cisco. The total mileage traversed, counting all as single shipments 

 from Washington to destination, was 9,045,000 miles. The distance 

 traversed by the cars in making this distribution was 34,502 miles, of 

 which car No. 1 traveled 20,601 and car No. 2, 13,901 miles. Details 

 of this work will be found in the report of Col. M. McDonald, chief 

 of division of distribution. 



k. The Codfish {Gadus morrhua). 



The Fulton Market [New YorTc) Station. — The experiment of hatching 

 cod at Wood's Holl, Mass., having been seriously interfered with by 

 the extreme cold of the winter of 1881, it was deemed advisable to make 

 Fulton Market, New York, an experimental station. To this point con- 

 siderable numbers of cod are brought alive by the fishing smacks, which 

 capture them in the neighborhood of Block Island, 



Mr. E. G. Blackford, one of the commissioners of fisheries of the State 

 of New York, and a large fish dealer of Fulton Market, having every 

 opportunity of observing the condition of the fish arriving at this mar- 

 ket, and informing himself of the occurrence of spawning fish, was re- 

 quested to notify us when ripe fish appeared, and arrangements were 

 made to send on expert fish culturists for the purpose of establishing 

 an experimental station. 



As this was impracticable of accomplishment in the immediate vi- 

 cinity, on account of the foulness, audits lack of proper salinity, in the 

 water around the docks of New York, it was necessary to collect the 

 eggs at Fulton Market and transfer them to some other jjoint. It was 

 therefore decided to try first the experiment of bringing the eggs to 

 Washington, and using sea water brought from Chesapeake Bay, and 

 also artificially prepared water from the sea salt, in their development 

 at the Central Station ; second, if this did not prove feasible, another 

 experiment was deemed worthy of test, viz, after collecting the eggs 

 in New York, to transfer them to the hatching steamer Fish Hawk, 

 which would be stationed for the purpose in the lower part of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, where the dangers from encountering ice would be comj^ara- 

 tively small. 



If either of these experiments should result favorably, the multiplica- 



* Those not supplied were the second district of Rhode Island and the sixth and 

 seventh of New Jersey, from which no applications were entered. 



