XVI REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



operation of Mr. T. B. Ferguson, Fish commissioner of Maryland. To 

 all these gentlemen I am under great obligations for efficient assistance 

 in carrying out the objects of the Commission. To Dr. Farlow I am 

 indebted for an important research upon the i^eculiar reddening of salted 

 codfish, to which further reference will be made. 



2. — OBJECTS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH C03EVIISSI0N. 



It had been my intention in this report to go into very minute details 

 in explanation of the j)lan of research adopted by the Commission for 

 carrying out its objects and the actual results that have been accom- 

 plished. This, however, will be more convenientlj" deferred until the 

 next report, which will chronicle some important changes ; aud I will 

 here present only a brief synopsis of the subject, in illustration of the 

 extent of the general programme and the amount of labor involved in 

 carrying it out ; as also shadowing forth the benefit to American fisheries 

 to be hoped for as the result of such action. Xot the least important 

 feature in the research is the securing of statistics for the proper treat- 

 ment of international questions connected with the common use, by the 

 United States and the British Provinces, of the waters of the North At- 

 lantic. 



The results hoped for by the inquiries initiated or contemplated may 

 be summarized as follows : 



1. The preparation of a series of reports upon the various groui^s of 

 aquatic animals and i>lants of North America, especially those that 

 have a direct relation to the wants or luxuries of mankind; these to be 

 published as mouograi)hs in successive volumes of the Commission, to be 

 illustrated by wood-cuts and otherwise, as may be necessary for the 

 proi^er comiirehension of the subject. The aim, of course, will be to pre- 

 sent the descriptions of the various species in intelligible phraseology, 

 and to add accounts of the habits and peculiarities of the species, with 

 their relation to each other and the physical conditions of their surround- 

 ings. This will include, among others, an illustrated history of the 

 various food-fishes of the United States, and towards which great 

 progress has bf.en made, especially in the preparation of a large luimber 

 of admirable illustrations, executed by Mr. H. L. Todd. 



2. The utilization of the very extensive facilities at the command of the 

 commission in the interest of educational and scientific establishments in 

 the United States, by securing large numbers of specimens of aquatic 

 animals and plants which, after reserving the first series for the Na- 

 tional ^luseum, will be distributed, properly labelled, to colleges and 

 academies and scientific societies. A vast amount of material of this 

 kind has already been gathered, and is now in the hands of specialists, 

 who are engaged in preparing it for the treatment referred to. It is 

 hoped the coming year to distribute many hundreds of thousands of 

 specimens. 



3. A com]3lete account of the i)hysical character and conditions of 



