REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XCI 



introduced into this country, it was thought that a study of the 

 subject could not fail to furnish many valuable suggestions which 

 would be appreciated by American oyster-growers. Arrangements were 

 accordingly made with Dr. Bashford Dean, of Columbia College, New 

 York, Avho went to Europe in the summer of 1891 on private business, 

 to undertake this work, which he has already completed with respect 

 to France, Spain, and Portugal, and his report upon the methods prac- 

 ticed in the first-mentioned country has been received and published. 



The physical inquiries respecting the waters off" the southern JSTew 

 England coast, begun in 1889 by the schooner Grampus and conducted 

 the next year by the same vessel in conjunction with the Coast Survey 

 steamer BlaJic, were continued during the summer of 1891 by the 

 Grampus alone. The work was carried on, as in previous years, under 

 the direction of Prof. William Libbey, jr., of Princeton College. Just 

 before the close of the fiscal year the schooner Grampus was detailed 

 to commence upon a systematic investigation relative to the bottom 

 fishes in the lower part of Chesapeake Bay and the adjacent waters of 

 the ocean, which it was proposed to continue during a large part of the 

 summer. 



Although the attendance at the Woods Holl laboratory during the 

 summer of 1891 was not as large as usual, much effective Avork was 

 accomplished, and very important results were also obtained through the 

 efforts of Mr. V. N. Edwards, who has been the resident collector at 

 that place since 1871. Tlie most noteworthy of his observations have 

 been those respecting the breeding habits of the menhaden, which, it 

 seems now to be quite definitely decided, spawns in the coastal waters 

 instead of at sea, as was originally supposed. 



The practical utility of the inland or fresh-water investigations, first 

 systematically taken up in 1888, was well demonstrated during the past 

 year, when this division was called upon to determine, under a special 

 act of Congress, the advisability of establishing hatching-stations 

 in the Rocky Mountain region of Montana and Wyoming and in the 

 Gulf States. Although only a small amount of money was available 

 for this purpose, yet entirely satisfactory results were accomplished, 

 owing in large part to information acquired through previous inquiries 

 conducted partly in the same region and partly in other waters hav- 

 ing corresponding features. It is expected that in the course of not 

 many years these researches will have covered the different parts of the 

 United States so completely as to furnish the groundwork for a more 

 thoroughly comprehensive system of fish-culture than it has been possi- 

 ble to establish hitherto. The conduct of the inland work has been 

 mainly under the immediate direction of Prof. B. W. Evermann, the prin- 

 cipal assistant in this division. His inquiries in Montana were supple- 

 mented by Prof S. A. Forbes, director of the Illinois State Laboratory 

 of Natural History. Investigations on a smaller scale were also carried 

 on in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana, 

 Ohio, and New York, 



