EXPORTATION OF FISHES AND HATCHING APPARATUS. 1007 



the fisheries of the Uuited States, and their present condition, and into 

 the causes which tend to afl'ect their abundance and scarcity. No por- 

 tion of this fund is expended for fish culture, being applied more to sub- 

 jects such as are conducted by the sea-coast commission of Messrs. 

 Mayer & Mobius. 



I receive no compensation whatever for my services as commissioner; 

 Mr. Miluer and Mr. Stone receive salaries. A small force of three or 

 four clerks constitutes the permanent staff of the commission. Laborers 

 and experts are employed only for the period during which they are en- 

 gaged. There is no allowance for lodgings, cost of offices, and the like, 

 these being supplied by myself. 



I can hardly give you the statement of the cost of the erection of 

 buildings for the commission, of which there are three of more or less 

 permanence ; one on the McCloud Eiver, in California, for the Salnio 

 quinnat; one on the Penobscot River, in Maine, for the Salmosalar; and 

 another on the Grand Lake Stream, in Maine, for the iSahno sehago or 

 land-locked salmon. These are all temporary, inexpensive structures ; 

 of these the more pretentious one could be erected for $3,000 and the 

 last-mentioned could be erected for $500. 



Many additional data will be found- in the documents which I shall 

 have the pleasure of sending to you, either by mail or through the State 

 Department. 



I have requested Mr. Milner to have made for you at the earliest pos- 

 sible moment such of the apparatus used by the commission as he con- 

 siders to be of value. Some of the articles referred to are not considered 

 by us important. 



I think you will find in Mr. Miluer's communication some matters of 

 interest in reference to the Coregonus. Mr. Hessel tells us that the eggs 

 of /era are smaller than those of the albus, but I do not think this fact 

 will prove any hinderance to our experts.* 



I had hoped to supply eggs of the land-locked salmon to Germany, but 

 the heavy snows in the interior of Maine have prevented their being 

 brought out for shipping. This species is one of the most brilliant 

 promise, as it is scarcely distinguishable, if at all, from the Salmo salar, 

 and is without any migratory instinct. It occupies the small lakes, and 

 furnishes sport to the angler, taking the fly with great eagerness. 



I offered also to his excellency some eggs of the California salmon, 

 through Mr. Bartels, the German commissioner to the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion, but did not get the reply until the distribution had been made. 



These eggs are usually ready to be shipped during the first half of 

 October, and I am quite willing to furnish any number of them at the 

 actual cost of collection and expressage to New York, which might 

 amount to two or three dollars per thousand. They are brought east in 

 a refrigerator-car, and could readily be packed on shipboard so as to 



* A subsequent comparison of the eggs showed those of the European whitehsh to 

 be the larger ones. 



