AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY. 15 



deep red, and emitted an almost unbearable odor. Fish were 

 killed, even eels sought Ihc shore, and dead shrimp were 

 washed up in windi-ows. The nc^'d of a sj)eeialist was keenly 

 felt, for the cause of th<' bloody water was (juite unknown. 

 Witli the advice of my colleajiues on the Khode Island Com- 

 mission. Dr. A. I). Mead, a man si)ecially trained in micro- 

 scopical Avork, was employed to investif^ate the matter. A 

 epecies of Peridinium was found to have caused the mischief. 

 We were advised that the trouble would probably be only tem- 

 porary, and manufacturers who are obliged to pour waste dye- 

 ing material into the waters of the bay were exonerated. Now 

 comes the further economic bearing. 



Soon after the enemy was really known, word was received 

 at Wasliington that the oysters in the Chesapeake were turn- 

 ing a deep red color, and cautious dealers were disinclined 

 to buy. It was an easy matter to show that the red oyster had 

 been feeding upon Peridinium, that the flesh was not impaired 

 thereby, and that the discoloration would in all probability 

 last for only a brief period. 



It will be remembered that in 1880 and 1881 Professor Baird 

 was greatly interested in the develojnnent of a tilefish indus- 

 try, the tile having been discovered in great numbers off the 

 shore of southern New England, but a few hours' sail from 

 the markets of New York, Boston and Newport. In the spring 

 of 1882 these fish were practically exterminated, their dead 

 bodies covered hundreds of square miles of the ocean surface, 

 and subsequent efforts to find the fish resulted only in the dis- 

 covery of scattered individuals. Last summer a body of 

 scientific men sailed from Woods Hole in the schooner (} ram- 

 pus, for the purpose of again testing the tilefish ground. The 

 very firsh haul of the trawl brought several beautiful speci- 

 mens to the surface. Thus encouraged, the Grampus continued 

 her work through the summer, capturing hundreds of the fish, 

 and never once setting the trawls in vain. The tile is an 

 exccHf^nt food fish, rivaling the lialibut in flavor and keeping 

 (lualities, and the establishment of a tilefish industry will more 

 than pay for what the Commission may have expended for 

 scientific work. 



The oyster culturists of the north are sadly persecuted by 

 the starfish. The pest ai)pears in countless numbers, and de- 

 stroys thousands of dollars' worth of property. That the 

 wholesale seining of the menhaden has a direct bearing upon 

 the oyster industry was never susix'cted until the researches of 

 Professor Mead, carried on in Narragansett Bay and at 

 Woods Hole, proved beyond perad venture that the young of 

 the starfish, at times so abundant that they actually color the 

 water, are tlie natural food of the menhaden, the schools of 



