EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. *5 



The Pole-flounder is rare on the coast of Middle Europe, but per- 

 haps more abundant in the ScandinaYian seas ; but nowhere do they 

 appear in such numbers as on the American coast. Indeed, we may 

 almost assume that they have only straggled in small numbers from the 

 new world to the old. It was found no nearer to the coast than from 

 five to ten miles, in waters not less than about forty to fifty fathoms in 

 depth, consequently belonging to the colder strata. Here, however, it 

 was taken by the trawl in enormous quantities; so great, indeed, that a 

 fifteen to twenty minutes' drag would sometimes furnish as many as 500 

 l)ounds of the fish. 



The reason that this fish has not been known hitherto is due to the 

 fact that the beam-trawl, the only apparatus by which it can be taken, is 

 not in use on the American coast, as it is in Europe, for the supply of 

 sea-fish to the markets. The mouth of the Pole is so diminutive, that a 

 hook sufSciently minute to be swallowed would not sustain the weight 

 of the fish, which, on the other hand, is unable to swallow an ordinary 

 cod or haddock bait. There is every reason to believe that in time this 

 fish will become an important article of food in the Eastern markets ; 

 but for taking it the beam-trawl must be employed. 



ILany fiicts of great scientific interest were also ascertained in regard 

 to the distribution of the marine fishes, and the occurrence ascertained 

 near or on our shores of species previously undescribed, or known only 

 from more northern waters. We have every reason to expect that in 

 time almost all the characteristic fish of the cold waters of Greenland 

 and Scandinavia wiU be taken within two or three hundred miles of the 

 American coast. 



Copious and desirable information was gathered in respect to the oc- 

 currence and geographical disitribution of marine invertebrates and 

 plants, some of them undescribed species, and others very far out of 

 their i)re\iously-known range. 



As already explained, the various questions relating to the history, 

 condition, habits, and peculiarities of our more notable food-fishes have 

 had much light thrown upon them by the labors of the summer. As in 

 previous years, specimens were gathered and preserved in large num- 

 bers, not simply for the purpose of enriching the stores of the National 

 Museum, but also for supplying very important educational cabinets to 

 colleges, academies, and high schools throughout the country. There are 

 no subjects of greater interest at the present day than those connected 

 with the history and development of many forms of marine animals, 

 life in the sea being vastly more varied than that of the corresponding- 

 orders on land ; where, indeed, some are not represented at all. Material 

 of this kind, however, is almost inaccessible to our best apppointed 

 museums, as it is not often that the services of a steamer, with a comx>lete 

 equipment of api)aratus for research, can be commanded. On that ac- 

 count the Commission has considered it a duty to utilize the present 

 opportunities, which cannot be expected to continue indefinitely, in ob- 

 taining enough material to meet all iDresent and expected needs. 



