14 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



prime importance that the fish culturist should be acquainted 

 with the entozoa wliich may invade the hatchery, but it is still 

 more important that the public should be acquainted with the 

 life-history of animals that may also infect man. 



The sea traps, just mentioned, have also provided Professor 

 Ralph W. Tower with the abundant material necessary for his 

 observations on the causes of decay in fish, and methods of 

 arresting decay without the use of ice. Professor Tower's 

 work has been carried on under the direction of the Rhode Is- 

 land Commission of Inland Fisheries. He has shown con- 

 clusively that fish carefully handled will keep absolutely fresh 

 for twenty-four hours, under the most trying climatic condi- 

 tions without the use of ice. When we consider the large sums 

 of money that the commercial fisherman is obliged to pay for 

 ice, and the heavy charge for expressage on the same, the im- 

 portance of these investigations becomes more evident. 



Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay are tracts of water of 

 about equal area, lying side by side along the southern coast 

 of New England, and having very similar physical characters. 

 The Commissioners of Massachusetts have seen fit to prohibit 

 the use of fish-traps and weirs in Buzzards Bay, while the 

 Commissioners of Rhode Island allow free fishing privileges 

 to the inhabitants of the state. The launches of the station at 

 Woods Hole have been used to secure data relative to fish- 

 eries conditions prevailing in the two bodies of water, and 

 while several years may be needed to definitely settle the mat- 

 ter, it must be admitted that line fishermen are quite as suc- 

 cessful in Narragansett Bay as they are in Buzzards Bay, for 

 all that they compete with one hundred and fourteen traps in 

 the one locality and none in the other. 



The Woods Hole Laboratory has furnished Professor C. J. 

 Herrick of Dennison University with material that has enabled 

 him to trace with accuracy the origin and distribution of the 

 cranial nerves, and Dr. Ira van Gieson of the New York Path- 

 ological Institute has been provided with material of use in 

 elucidating certain problems relating to the structure and func- 

 tions of nerve cells. While these neurological researches have 

 no bearing upon fish culture, and only a remote bearing upon 

 the scientific problems ordinarily studied at the station, it is 

 a narrow view that would limit the scope of research to that 

 only which deals with fish for food and fish for sport. If the 

 wealth of marine life that is brought to a laboratory can be 

 of use in the solution of biological problems, and if the study 

 thereupon does not interfere with the immediately practical 

 work of the station, it should be encouraged, for the efficiency 

 of the Commission is thereby increased. 



Last fall the water of Narragansett Bay suddenly turned a 



