14* REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The work of thehatcliiug of shad on the Connecticut Eiver has been 

 prosecuted with the moral co-operation and support of the fish commis- 

 sioners of Connecticut and Massachusetts, although no funds have been 

 contributed by them. In the hatching of shad in the Susquehanna, 

 very effective and important assistance has been experienced from Mr. 

 Ferguson, commissioner of Maryland. 



Inter-State relations and co-operation. — A very satisfactory feeling has 

 been manifested by the commissioners of adjacent States in regard to 

 mutual co-operation. The l^^ew England commissioners have for several 

 years past had annual meetings for the exchange of experiences and 

 for the promotion of the cause which they represent, all action in ref- 

 erence to the fisheries of the Connecticut beiug decided upon by the 

 commissioners of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hamp- 

 shire, and all relating to the Merrimack, by those of Massachusetts and 

 New Hampshire. 



The commissions of several adjacent Western States have also main- 

 tained a similar relation to each other. In not a few instances the eggs 

 destined for States without State commissioners or without State hatch- 

 ing establishments have been hatched out for them by their more for- 

 tunate neighbors. 



Eelaiionto the Government hnreaus. — For the purpose of facilitating the 

 operations of the Commission in the hatching of shad in the Potomac 

 Eiver, Captain Patterson, Superintendent of the United States Coast 

 Survey, had special tables prepared of the variations of the tide in the 

 Potomac Eiver for the months of March, April, May, and June, 1875 

 and 1S7G. These were found to be of great service. 



Relation of United States and State Commissions to private individuals. — 

 Private means have in a few instances been used disinterestedly for pub- 

 lic purposes, well illustrating the existence of a generous appreciation of 

 the work and the great faith entertained in its ultimate results. A 

 noteworthy instance of public spirit in advancing a common interest 

 has been exhibited by Mr. IST. K. Fairbank, of Chicago, who has ex- 

 pended several thousand dollars in stocking with fishes to its utmost 

 capacity Geneva Lake, a body of water in Southeastern Wisconsin, 

 spring-fed, deep, and remarkably full of invertebrate life, and with an 

 area of from 10,000 to 11,000 acres. His object was to determine "as 

 soon as possible, by planting a very large number of fish in a lake per- 

 fectly adapted by nature — so far as any small fresh-water lake can be — 

 the practicability of stocking small lakes with the better varieties of 

 food-fishes." 



In the appended table is given the number of young fishes introduced 

 into this lake in 1875 and 1876, the two years during which Mr. Fair- 

 bank has continued his enterprise. The California salmon and the laud- 

 locked salmon were furnished by the United States Commission. 



