XX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



To the Light-House Board of the Treasury Department is due the 

 means of initiating and prosecuting important observations upon water 

 temperatures in the vicinity of various light-houses and light-ships along 

 the coast the necessary blanks being furnished by the Commission. 

 These, when filled, were delivered to the light-house inspectors and by 

 them forwarded through the Light-House Board to the Commission. 



The War Department has furnished eight Springfield rifles and eight 

 hundred cartridges for the purpose of the protection of the United States 

 salmon-hatching station on the McCloud Eiver against lawless depre- 

 dators, white and Indian. General McDowell also supi^lied a detail of 

 men for special service during the critical period of operations. 



The Signal Office of the War Department, under General Myer, has 

 also extended important co-oj^eration, by continuing the series of obser- 

 vations of water temperatures initiated several years ago at the request 

 of the Commission. It has been possible by this means to get a general 

 idea of the variations of temperature in the principal streams of the 

 country, and thus to supply, incidentally, information necessary to 

 judicious action in connection with the iiitroduction of the different 

 kinds of food fish. 



The observations taken at the sea-coast stations of the Signal-Office 

 are also of great importance in determining the conditions of the move- 

 ments of the pelagic fish, such as the mackerel, menhaden, blue-fish, &c.; 

 and the extension of this system promised by the Chief Signal-Officer, 

 by which all the coast telegraph and life-saving stations and light-houses 

 and light-shii^s are to be included in the series of observations and 

 furnished with the best kind of instruments, is also of very great 

 importance. 



Partly for the service of the Commission, and also to assist in the com- 

 merce and fisheries of the coast, the Chief Signal-Officer made Glouces- 

 ter a storm-warning station during the summer of 1878, thus adding 

 greatly to the facilities of the work. The forecasts of weather were also 

 sent daily, arriving some time before the receipt of the Boston papers. 



To the Patent Office of the Interior Department is due, through Dr. 

 Dyrenforth, chief examiner, a list of all the patents relating to fish and 

 fish culture issued in Great Britain and some other countries, as well as 

 in the United States. 



For the purpose of better facilitating the operations at the McCloud 

 Eiver salmon station the Post-Office Department authorized the estab- 

 lishment of the post-office of Baird, in Shasta County, by means of which 

 the station and its vicinity generally are provided with the necessary 

 postal facilities. Previously, the nearest convenient post-office had been 

 at Bedding, a number of mUes distant, and for the receipt of the mail 

 therefrom the station was dependent upon the courtesy of the stage- 

 drivers. 



To Colonel Casey, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds 

 in Washington, the Commission is indebted for the construction and 



