PROGRESSIVE FISH CULTURE. 12r, 



which had already been acquired on the subject, it at once undertook to devise im- 

 proved methods and appliances to expedite the work and extend its scope. Within 

 the interval marvelous apparatus in astonishing variety has been invented ; and each 

 new experience gained has enabled it to improve upon the old styles of boxes and 

 troughs, or necessitated the invention of new devices adapted to special requirements. 

 For instance, heavy eggs, like those of salmon and trout, require one kind of hatch- 

 ing apparatus and a particular mode of treatment: semi-buoyant eggs, like those 

 of whitefish and shad, another kind; adhesive eggs, like those of smelt, herring and 

 perch, another ; floating eggs, including those of cod, Spanish mackerel and moon- 

 fish, a kind so arranged as to utilize the action of the waves. 



Methods of fish culture have advanced equally with devices and apparatus. The 

 most important of these is the building of movable floating hatcheries in the form 

 of barges, and steamers like the Fish Hawk and Albatross, the last named being 

 1,000 tons burthen, and both fitted with every known convenience and appliance. 

 By means of these steamers the results of the work are enormously increased, with 

 a comparatively small increase of cost t for instead of the hatcheries being stationary, 

 and operating at only one point, the}- may be moved from place to place, following 

 the migrations of the fish, as the season advances. Steam is a most important 

 auxiliary, too, for pumping water and w r orking the various kinds of apparatus. 



With regard to transportation, immense quantities of fish and eggs are dis- 

 tributed by means of refrigerator cars built expressly for the purpose, whereas they 

 were formerly carried in small quantities in the baggage cars of ordinary passenger 

 trains. 



Up to the present time thirty principal species have been artificially hatched. 

 These comprise the following: Brook trout, whitefish, lake trout, pike-perch, At- 

 lantic salmon, shad, California salmon, striped bass, land-locked salmon, Oquassa 

 trout, sea bass, grayling, sturgeon, smelt, herring, alewife, oyster, cod, haddock, 

 carp, Spanish mackerel, cero, moonfish, silver gar, gold fish, tench, mountain trout 

 (S. irridea) and soft-shell clams. 



There were thirteen principal hatching stations operated by the United States 

 Fish Commission in 1883, to wit : Grand Lake Stream and Bucksport, Maine ; Wood's 

 Holl, Mass. ; Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York ; Havre de Grace, Mary- 

 land; Washington. D. C. ; Wytheville, Va. ; Point Lookout, Md. ; Avoca, N. C. ; 

 Northville and Alpena, Mich.; Baird, Cal., and Clackamas, Ore. 



Since the year 1877 the entire North Atlantic Coast from Florida to Nova 

 Scotia has been made the seat of the most active operations in marine research. 

 Temporary laboratories are set up along the coast wherever required, and the busi- 

 ness of dredging, seining, collecting, classifying and preparing museum specimens 

 is prosecuted with the utmost vigor. There is a permanent headquarters at Wood's 

 Holl, in Massachusetts, where, in addition to. other scientific work, the propagation 

 of sea fishes is carried on extensively, and there are also stations of observation and 

 labor in every important position of the coast and interior waters, where the breed- 

 ing times and habits and the embryology of a great variety of fishes are studied, as 

 well as special problems of temperature of water, movements of fishes, causes of 

 mortality, the varieties of food, and the nutritive value of fishes, etc. 



But not only does the U. S. Fish Commission undertake this multifarious work 

 through its own designated agents, experts and assistants, but it impresses into its 

 service the whole fishing fleets of the North Atlantic, the signal offices of the army, 

 the lighthouse keepers and lightships, the life saving and signal stations along shore; 

 and it stimulates their exertions and their interest by public praise and by printing 



