REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 7 



Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific and Arctic oceans, as 

 well as types of historical interest showing the development of fishing 

 craft. This section was also materially improved by the addition of 

 pictures of fishing operations, as well as statistical charts. 



The aquarium contained marine fishes and plants obtained along the 

 east and west coasts and the Gulf of Mexico, while the fresh-water 

 supplies were secured from the Potomac, Mississippi, Great Lake basins, 

 and the hatching stations of the Commission. 



In the aquarium the salt water reached the very high temperature 

 of 70° early in July, as it had done in the preceding month, and con- 

 tinued very warm, with an occasional fall of a few degrees, until about 

 the middle of August. In September, again, the same difficulty was 

 encountered, but the appliauces for perfect aeration and circulation of 

 the water prevented serious loss. In the fresh-water tanks the diffi- 

 culty was very much greater, the high temperature being accompanied 

 by an outbreak of a fungous disease and a scourge of parasitic proto- 

 zoans. The fungus destroyed large numbers of catfish, trout, black 

 bass, crappie, pike perch, and other species, while the protozoan was 

 particularly fatal to trout and catfish. Notwithstanding all the draw- 

 backs, the aquarium was one of the most frequented places in the Expo- 

 sition, and the exhibit was in every way highly creditable. 



Immediately after the close of the Exposition such of the aquarium 

 contents as were not required by the Commission were, upon the direc- 

 tion of the Commissioner, transferred to Prof. S. A. Forbes for the State 

 Laboratory of Natural History at Champaign, 111. 



The preparations for the World's Fisheries Congress began shortly 

 before the opening of the Exposition, and were actively continued 

 during the summer. The Commissioner associated with himself Dr. G. 

 Brown Goode, Prof. S. A. Forbes, Dr. T. H. Bean, Mr. E. G. Blackford, 

 Mr. A. Booth, Mr. N. K. Fairbank, and Mr. R. E. Earll as members of 

 a general committee, and upon the invitation of Mr. 0. C. Bonney, 

 general chairman of the World's Congress, a large number of men 

 prominent in fish-cultural investigations in various parts of the world 

 were invited to form an advisory council. Invitations were sent out 

 requesting attendance at the sessions of the congress and the prepara- 

 tion of papers to be read at the meetings. Numerous responses were 

 received, and the communications brought together were of a very 

 important character. They form the entire volume of the bulletin of 

 this Commission for 1803. 



The formal sessions of the congress were opened in a hall in the 

 Memorial Art Palace, Chicago, October 16, 1893, the Commissioner 

 making the opening address as chairman of the congress, Dr. G. 

 Brown Goode, Hon. E. G. Blackford, and Dr. Hugh M. Smith acting 

 as chairmen of the principal sections. The meetings were brought to 

 a close on December 19 by a fish banquet in the banquet hall of the 

 New York State building, Jackson Park. 



