MODERN INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SUBJECT 



single naturalist. Subsequently the necessity for co-operative 

 and continued inquiry was generally recognised, and permanent 

 institutions for the purpose were organised and supplied with 

 funds from public revenues. This happened first in foreign 

 countries, where governments are usually more ready to take 

 action in such matters than in our own. 



The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries was 

 started in 1871. It owed its existence to the knowledge, 

 enthusiasm, and influence of Mr. Spencer Baird, the Secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, who was appointed Commissioner 

 without salary. The first Report was published in 1873, and 

 consisted of evidence concerning the decrease in value of the 

 New England fisheries, with papers on the history of certain of 

 the more valuable fishes. The second Report, dated 1874, 

 describes the commencement of the shad-hatching operations, 

 which have since taken such a large development. 



The Reports have been issued annually up to the present 

 time, and in addition a Bulletin is also now published in 

 separate papers. The two series contain a vast amount of 

 information concerning the history of American fishes, and all 

 matters connected with American fisheries. The Commission 

 has further taken part with other public institutions in the 

 United States in the preparation and publication of a series 

 of quarto volumes containing a systematic and detailed de- 

 scription of the valuable aquatic animals and fishing industries 

 of the United States. In relation to our own sea-fishes and 

 sea-fisheries the results of the American investigations are often 

 instructive, particularly with regard to the kinds of fishes which 

 exist on both sides of the Atlantic. Many British and European 

 kinds, however, are absent from the American side, and therefore 

 the American literature does not supply so much material for 

 the summary which is given in the present work, as British and 

 European publications. 



In 1870 was instituted by the Prussian Minister of Agri- 

 cultural Affairs the Commission for the Investigation of the 

 German Seas, which has its headquarters at Kiel. This con- 

 sisted of a small number of professors of Natural History, who 

 were supplied with funds for the expenses of organised re- 

 searches. They began by making voyages of investigation in 

 the Baltic and the North Sea, and in 1874 to 1876 carried out 



