REPOKT OF COSrMISSIONER OF I'ISH AND FISHERIES. LIII 



In 1867, the attention of the New England commissioners of fisheries 

 was directed to the possibility of increasing by artificial means the 

 abundance of the shad, the enormous diminution of which was felt to be 

 a serious evil. It is to Seth Green, of New York, that we owe the idea 

 of the possibility of reproducing shad and the initiation of the steps 

 necessary to carry it into effect. While the methods of stripping the 

 parents and of impregnating the eggs were essentially the same, the 

 devices emx)loyed for hatching out the eggs of the trout were all found 

 to be unavailable, not only mifit in themselves, but powerless to accom- 

 plish the work on a sufficiently large scale to make it of any economical 

 value. A floating box with a wire-cloth bottom first suggested itself to 

 Mr. Green. This was filled with impregnated eggs, and anchored in the 

 river, where it occui)ied a horizontal position, and a partially successful 

 result obtained. It was found, however, that in a horizontal box the 

 eggs were not sufficiently exposed to the action of the water and that 

 they collected in the ends and corners, where the larger number i)erished. 

 The idea then occurred to Mr. Green that by nailing two parallel strips 

 of wood obliquely across the opposite sides of the box, the bottom would 

 be maintained obliquely to the water. The experiment worked like a 

 charm, and from that time until very recently the Green floating box 

 has been the apparatus almost universally employed for this purpose. 



It is impossible here to go into any further account of the numerous 

 modifications of fish-hatching api3aratus for special cases and particular 

 kinds of fish, although I shall refer hereafter to certain improved devices 

 now employed by the United States Fish Commission as superior to all 

 others known to it. 



As already stated, the successes of Drs. Garlick and Ackley induced 

 great numbers of people to take part in the work, but it was not until 

 about the time that Seth Green obtained a patent for his invention that 

 any State action was brought into play on a large scale in hatching shad, 

 although something had previously been done with salmon. It was about 

 this time that the New England States appointed commissioners of in- 

 land fisheries to see that certain legislation was enforced, and to take 

 measures for the improvement of the general supply. Other States fol- 

 lowed, and now there are nearly thirty having fish commissioners ap- 

 pointed to attend to the subject. 



9. — OPEBATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES FISH C0M3IISSI0N. 



A new era in the history of fish culture was entered upon in the es- 

 tablishment of the United States Fish Commission in 1871. Its origi- 

 nal object, as authorized by law of Congress, was an investigation into 

 the causes of the alleged decrease of the fishes of the sea-coast and 

 lakes, and the recommendation of measures for their restoration. The 

 Commission was organized by the appointment of Spencer F. Baird, 

 then assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as Commis- 

 sioner, and his first work was jirosecuted during the summer of 1871, 



