REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES, 11 



line at the remote and inaccessible station at Baker Lake, Wash. ; the 

 building of retaining- walls to provide against floods, the installation 

 of new pumping machinery, and the erection of a new dwelling at 

 Spearfish, S. Dak.; the preparation of plans and specifications for the 

 repair of the stone basin and wharves at Woods Hole, Mass.; and the 

 construction of a new residence foV emploj'ees at Erwin, Tenn. The 

 new station at Mammoth Spring, Ark., was completed. 



BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 



The broad subject of the biology and experimental culture of useful 

 and coumiercially important aquatic animals and plants, which repre- 

 sents the field of endeavor of the division of scientific inquiry, has in 

 1906, as heretofore, embraced investigations of various waters with 

 reference to the life they support, the habits, food, enemies, diseases, 

 and interrelations of the species, and the physical and chemical prop- 

 erties of the water. An important feature of the work was the con- 

 tinuation of certain experiments which have been in progress for some 

 years addressed to a number of the leading economic species. 



EXPLORATIONS, SURVEYS, AiSD FAUNAL STUDIES. 



Lake McDonald. — A physical and biological survey of this lake 

 and its outlet was made at the beginning of the tiscal j^ear, while the 

 steamer Alhatroi<^ was at Yes Bay, Alaska, assisting in establishing 

 the salmon hatchery at the head of Lake McDonald. An excellent 

 map of the lake has been prepared, and the animal and plant life, 

 including the plankton, was carefullj' studied and a number of impor- 

 tant facts in the life history of young salmon established. In addition, 

 a line of intermediate hauls with tow nets was made around Cleveland 

 Peninsula and into Bradtield Canal. 



Northern Pacljic and Japan. — In May the Alhatross was dispatched 

 upon an extended cr-uise in the northwestern Pacific and Bering Sea 

 to make certain investigations in the interests of the salmon fisheries 

 of Alaska and the general questions of geographic distribution of 

 Pacific fishes and the relations of the faunas of Alaskan and Japanese 

 waters. Extensive and valuable collections vyere made along both 

 American and Asiatic shores, and important data were secured regard- 

 ing the run of salmon in the Aleutian and Couunander islands and in 

 Kamchatka, where a study was made also of the methods of the fish- 

 eries. At the end of June the work had been carried as far south as 

 Hakodate, Japan. 



jFishes of the Phillj)piHe Islands. — The United States Bureau of 

 Insular Affairs exhibited at the St. Louis Exposition a large and 

 important collection of fishes of the Philippine Islands which was later 

 turned over to the Bureau of Fisheries. The collection was made at 

 various places in the islands under the general direction of the Philip- 



