REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XLl 



This portion of the work was completed in the spring, and after the water 

 was let in, two-thirds of the fish in Druid Hill Park were brought over and 

 placed in their new abode. For the i)urpose of having a suitable series 

 of hatching ponds, the surface of an island in the west pond was 

 elevated, and the area subdivided so as to form two basins of suitable 

 dimensions. These were fitted uj) properly with reservoirs and ditches, 

 so that they could be drawn off on the same general principle as that 

 adopted for the larger pond. Into these were placed several of the 

 breeding carp, and quite a number of the young fish resulting there- 

 from. In the mean time work was also prosecuted on the westernmost 

 of the two ponds ; but owing to the adverse weather and incessant rains 

 of the spring it could not be completed, as the warm weather suggested 

 the necessity of restoring the water to its place to x)reveut malarious 

 exhalations. This was accordingly done, and further action deferred 

 for the time. A second appropriation for $2,400 was used in comjdet- 

 iug the work, and especially in jjaving the bank to prevent the washing 

 of the wind and waves. As an additional means of i)utting the ponds 

 in proper order for the discharge of the necessary functions, a series of 

 brick tanks were planned (six in number), in which the fish could be 

 classified when the ponds were drawn off, and those taken out that served 

 for shipment, and the ' others returned. These were to be 20 feet long, 

 and respectively 2, 5, and 9 feet in width, with a uniform depth of 5J 

 feet. The work on the ponds was postponed, owing to the fear of en- 

 dangering the health of the city by making the necessary excavations 

 on the island for the walls of the bank, and the completion was delayed 

 by various vexatious causes, so that it was not till the early i)art of the 

 winter that they were completed, and to disturb the fish in then- winter 

 quarters was not considered desirable. The construction, however, is 

 available for service, and it is hoped that in 1879 an extensive distribu- 

 tion of fish may be made. 



Of the fish brought from Germany by Mr. Hessel in 1877, the follow- 

 ing were found alive and in good condition in the Druid Hill Park 

 Pond when drained in the spring of 1878 : 10 mirror carp, 90 leather 

 carp, 80 scale carp, 40 gold orfe, 50 King or Hungarian tench, 20 

 common tench, 2 golden tench. As already explained, the three va- 

 rieties of carp all belong to the species Cyprinus carpio. The gold orfe 

 is a variety of the Idus melanotus, a large, fine Cyprinoid fish of Europe, 

 somewhat resembling in size and shape the fall fish {Semotilus shotheus) 

 of American waters, and of a brilliant red something like that of the com- 

 mon gold fish. The tench ( Tinea vulgaris) like the carp, occurs in several 

 varieties, the best being the king tench. The gold tench is a red form 

 of the species just mentioned. 



Of the fish above enumerated, there were retained in the Baltimore 

 ponds the ten mirror carp, one-fourth the stock of the leather and 

 scale carp, the hungarian tench, and gold orfes, respectively; all the 

 common tench and the two golden tench. There were brought to Wash- 



