XL REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



shed were finished during the summer, completing the principal struct- 

 ures required at this locality for the purposes of the Fish Commission. 

 The final work upon the stone pier was also completed during this year 

 by the Engineer Corps of the Army, and an appropriation of $14,000 

 was made by Congress to enable the Revenue Marine Bureau to con- 

 struct a coal shed and wharf adjacent to the buildings of the Commis- 

 sion. This work, however, was not begun until the following year. 



The system for supplying salt water to the laboratory building was 

 entirely reorganized by the substitution of wooden and hard rubber 

 pipes for the iron oues previously in use, thus obviating the inconven- 

 iences resulting from the accumulation of iron rust in the water. In 

 the present arrangement wooden mains, having a 0-inch bore, lead from 

 the harbor to the water tower, and thence to the lower story of the 

 laboratory, the distributing pipes from this point being entirely of hard 

 rubber with brass fittings. A standard Gardner clock, connected by 

 telegraph wire with the Naval Observatory at Washington, was placed 

 in the headquarters building for the convenience of Government vessels 

 touching at the station, and a time ball, working in the same circuit, 

 was arranged on top of the water tower where it could be seen by the 

 many vessels passing through Vineyard Sound. Wood's Holl having 

 been selected as one of the principal stations of the Signal Service, and 

 the shore terminus of the Government cable connecting the main-land 

 with the Elizabeth Islands, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, the 

 necessary accommodations were furnished that Bureau by the Commis- 

 sion. An office room in the laboratory building was assigned to their 

 use, the exposed instruments were placed upon the roof of the store- 

 house, and permission was given to use the flag staff for displaying the 

 usual weather signals. 



Saint Jerome, Md. — This station is located on the west shore of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, about miles above the mouth of the Potomac River. The 

 experiments in oyster culture, described in former reports, were con- 

 tinued here during a large part of the year, under the direction of Mr. 

 W. de C. Ravenel, and upon a much larger scale than in previous years. 

 Careful observations relative to the temperature and density of the 

 water were made in connection with the work. 



B. — Stations fou Propagation of the Sai.moxid.e. 



Maine. — The two stations located in this State, one at Bucksport, the 

 other at Grand Lake Stream, are operated conjointly by the United 

 States, the State of Maine, and one or two other of the New England 

 States. They are both in charge of Mr. Charles G. Atkins as superin- 

 tendent. At the Grand Lake Stream Station, under the direction of 

 Assistant Superintendent W. O. Buck, 855,500 schoodic or land-locked 

 salmon eggs were obtained in good condition. Of this number 377,500 

 were allotted to the United States, and were distributed in March, 

 1SS7, while, 214,000, reserved by the State of Maine, were hatched and 



