REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. 



A.— GEiTEEAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



1. — INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



It is proposed to give in the present report (the twelfth of the series) 

 an account of the plans and results of the work of the U. S. Fish 

 Commission during the calendar year 1884. This, with the preceding 

 reports, covers thirteen years of activity— from the year 1871 to 1884, 



inclusive. 



It is to be borne in mind that the work of the Commission at its com- 

 mencement, in 1871, was limited to investigations into the causes of, and 

 remedies for, the decrease of the food-fishes on the sea-coast and in the 

 lakes of the United States, and that in 1872 the work of propagation of 

 • food-fishes was added to the functions of the Commissioner. Giving 

 the fullest interpretation to these requirements, the work of the Com- 

 mission is now divided into the two divisions of inquiry and of propaga- 

 tion, certain additional subjects of attention connected with the history 

 and condition of the inhabitants of the waters that do not come specific- 

 ally under either of these heads forming a third section. 



Under the head of inquiry are prosecuted researches, not only into 

 the habits and characteristics of the fishes themselves, but into their 

 general relationships to each other and to man ; the statistics and 

 methods of their capture ; the influences exerted upon their movements 

 by physical and other causes ; and, in short, whatever information is 

 necessary for a satisfactory and proper treatment of the general sub- 

 ject. It was in connection with this matter that co-operation was ex- 

 tended to the work of the United States Census of 1880, by which the 

 Fish Commission took charge of the collecting of all the statistics of 

 the fisheries considered desirable by the Superintendent of the Census, 

 and carried the work to a satisfactory termination, resulting in the pro- 

 duction of a series of valuable reports which are now being printed 

 under the auspices of the Census Bureau or by the Fish Commission, 

 under authority of Congress. 



The phrase "propagation of food-fishes" covers all the methods by 

 which new varieties of fishes, moUusks, &c., are introduced into given 

 waters or increased in their native localities; this being done either by 

 transfer and colonization or by artificial propagation. ^^^ 



