8* EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



In the building as erected from the appropriation, a space of G,000 feet 

 'was assigned for the exhibit of the Fish Commission ; but this proving 

 insufficient, a portion of that granted to the Smithsonian Institution was 

 utilized, the entire surface occupied being about 15,000 square feet. 

 iSTothing was shown on this occasion but what was ijurely American in 

 character, and much admiration was expressed by foreign visitors at the 

 completeness of the collection. 



Mr. T. B. Ferguson, the Maryland Commissioner of Fisheries, also 

 exhibited his peculiar apparatus for the hatching of fishes, model of shad 

 fishery operations, and special illustrations of the oyster industry, which 

 were duly appreciated. In his jars were hatched out large numbers 

 of the eggs of California salmon, furnished him by the United States 

 Fish Commission for the purpose, which operation constantly attracted 

 a large crowd of observers. 



A noteworthy feature of the exhibit of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission was a series of casts in plaster and papier macho of the principal 

 food-fishes of the United States, and also of the cetaceans, marine tor- 

 toises, etc. 



No special exhibits of fish culture were made at the Centennial other 

 than by the United States and the State of Maryland, although a very 

 complete series of the apparatus and the products of their fisheries were 

 shown by Ilolland, Norway, Sweden, Japan, China, and some other 

 countries. It is with much gratification that I am enabled to say that, 

 with scarcely an exception, these foreign objects were all presented to 

 the United States Government at the close of the exhibition, and are 

 now stored in Washington awaiting that opportunity of display for 

 which a new building has been asked. 



A noteworthy feature of the exhibition was a meeting of the State 

 Fish Commissioners, held on the 5th of October. In a subsequent j^art 

 of the report the character and i)roceedings of this convention \Yill be 

 further indicated. 



C— THE PEOPAGATION OF FOOD-FISHES.* 



4. — GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The operations of the United States Fish Commission during the year 

 have, in the main, been satisfactory. Some disappointment has been 

 experienced in not obtaining a sufficient stock of young fish of certain 

 species to meet all applications, but steady progress has been made, and 

 there is every reason to hope that the problem of restoring depleted 

 waters to their former abundance, or of furnishing an aniple supply of 



* It has beeu fonnd impossible, to coutiue the account of operations to any one cur- 

 rent year, the record relating more particularly to the interval from April to April. 

 The previous report brouo:ht the history of the propagation of food-fishes to the close 

 of 1875 (in part into April of 187G), with the exception of that relating to California 

 salmon, of which the statistics for the season of 1874-'75 were the latest. 



But little reference has heretofore been made to carp, Avhitefish, and landlocked 

 salmon, which now constitute an important element in the operations. 



