794 



UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



commission, and houses for use for scientific 

 and fish-cultural laboratories, and where the 

 propagation of sea -fishes will be continued 

 on a larger scale than has hitherto been at- 

 tempted. 



For several years, steamers were lent for the 

 summer work by the Secretary of the Navy, the 

 Coast Survey, and the Eevenue Service. In 

 1880, however, a steamer of 450 tons, the Fish- 

 Hawk, was built for the commission. This be- 

 ing needed for fish-hatching purposes, another 

 large steamer, of 1,000 tons, the Albatross, 

 was built and put into commission in 1883. 

 At the time of writing this article the Alba- 

 tross is detailed in the service of the Hydro- 

 graphic Office of the Navy, making a series of 

 deep-sea soundings in the Caribbean Sea. Her 

 trial trips have been very fruitful in results to 

 science. 



Hundreds and even thousands of specimens 

 of a single species are often obtained in a 

 summer's work. After those for the National 

 Museum have been selected, a great number 

 of duplicates remain. These are identified, 

 labeled, and made into sets for exchange with 

 other museums, and for distribution to schools 

 and small museums. Several specialists are 

 employed solely in making up these sets and 

 in gathering material required for their com- 

 pletion. Within three years fifty sets of fishes 

 in alcohol, including at least 10,000 specimens, 

 have been sent out, and fifty sets of inverte- 

 brates, embracing 175 species and 250,000 speci- 

 mens. One hundred smaller sets of represent- 

 ative forms intended for educational purposes, 

 to be given to schools and academies, are being 

 prepared. 



The arrangement of the invertebrate du- 

 plicates is in the charge of Richard Rathbun ; 

 of the fishes, in that of Dr. Tarleton H. Bean. 

 Facilities have also been given to many insti- 

 tutions for making collections on their own 

 behalf. 



In addition to what has been done at the 

 summer station, and by the vessels of the com- 

 mission at sea, investigations have been carried 

 on by smaller parties everywhere in our coast 

 and interior waters. 



The co-operation of the Superintendent of 

 the Life-saving Station has been of areat impor- 

 tance in obtaining knowledge of the occurrence 

 of unusual marine animals on remote portions 

 of the coast. The patrols of the life-saving 

 stations visit nearly every part of the Atlantic 

 coast daily, and report by telegraph to Wash- 

 ington the stranding of whales, porpoises, 

 sharks, etc. When the importance of the case 

 seems to warrant it, naturalists are sent to 

 study and bring in these animals for preserva- 

 tion. 



One important feature in this work has been 

 the preparation of life-histories of the princi- 

 pal fishes, great quantities of material having 

 been accumulated relating to almost every spe- 

 cies. A portion of this has been published, 

 including biographical monographs on the blue- 



fish, the scup, the menhaden, the salmon, the 

 white-fish, the shad, the mackerel, and the 

 sword-fish ; and others are being printed. 



The temperature of the water, in its relation 

 to the movements of fish, has from the first 

 received special attention. Observations are 

 made regularly during the summer work, and 

 at the various hatching- stations. At the in- 

 stance of the commissioner, an extensive series 

 of observations has for several years been 

 made under the direction of the Chief Signal- 

 Officer of the Army, at lighthouses, light-ships, 

 life-saving and signal stations, carefully chosen, 

 along the whole coast. One practical result of 

 the study of these observations has been the 

 demonstration of the cause of the failure of 

 the menhaden-fisheries on the coast of Maine 

 in 1879 a failure on account of which nearly 

 two thousand persons were thrown out of em- 

 ployment ; another, the explanation of the 

 variations in the shad-fisheries of the Potomac 

 from 1881 to 1883. 



A series of analyses is being made by Prof. 

 W. O. Atwater to determine the chemical com- 

 position and nutritive value of fish as compared 

 with other articles of food. (See page 342 of 

 this volume.) 



In connection with the work of fish-culture 

 much attention has been paid to embryology. 

 The breeding-times and habits of nearly all of 

 our fishes, and their relations to water-tem- 

 peratures, have been studied. The embryo- 

 logical history of a number of species, such as 

 the cod, shad, alewife, salmon, smelt, Spanish 

 mackerel, striped bass, white perch, and the 

 oyster, have been obtained under the auspices 

 of the commission, by Messrs. Ryder, Brooks, 

 and others. 



The second branch of the work, the investi- 

 gation of the statistics and history of the fish- 

 eries, has perhaps assumed greater, proportions 

 than was at first contemplated. It has been 

 said above that one of the immediate causes of 

 the establishment of the commission was the 

 dissension between the line and net fishermen 

 of southern New England with reference to 

 laws for the protection of the deteriorating 

 fisheries of that region. The first work of Prof. 

 Baird, as commissioner, was to investigate the 

 causes of this alleged deterioration, and the re- 

 port of that year's work included much statis- 

 tical material. In the same year a zoological 

 and statistical survey of the great lakes was 

 accomplished, and various circulars were sent 

 out in contemplation of the preparation of 

 monographic reports upon special branches of 

 the fisheries. 



In 1877 the commissioner and his staff were 

 summoned to Halifax, to serve as witnesses 

 and experts before the Halifax Fishery Com- 

 mission, then charged with the settlement of 

 the amount of compensation to be paid by the 

 United States for the privilege of participating 

 in the fisheries of the provinces. The infor- 

 mation available concerning the fisheries was 

 found to be so slight and imperfect that a plan 



