REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XV 



was made by Dr. Hugh M. Smith in January, 1898. The second inves- 

 tigation emphasized the necessity of action on the part of the State 

 to prevent serious injury to the fisheries. During the past few years the 

 aggregate quantity of sponges taken has steadily increased, but the 

 increase has resulted from more extended fishing as well as from 

 the taking of sponges of less than the legal size. The present catch 

 is also made up of comparatively large quantities of inferior varieties, 

 as is shown by the fact that in 1895 the output of sheepswool sponges, 

 the best variety and that of most commercial value, comprised 76 per 

 cent of the total catch, while in 1897 it had fallen to 47 per cent. 

 Though the sponge-grounds have been seriously affected by excessive 

 and illegal fishing, they may yet be renewed and become capable of 

 yielding large returns by the adoption of remedial measures, as sug- 

 gested in Dr. Smith's report, published in the Bulletin for 1898. 



From time to time during recent years reports have been received of 

 the capture of shad in the tributaries of the Mississippi. Beginning 

 with the spring of 1896, these fish had been taken each year in some 

 numbers at various points in the Mississippi, Ohio, and Kanawha 

 rivers. An opportunity was afforded of examining specimens taken 

 in May, 1898, and a visit was made by Dr. B. W. Evermann to the 

 localities where the capture of the fish was reported, and interesting 

 observations were made. The fish were found to be a species of true 

 shad, apparently resembling, though not identical with, the shad of 

 the Atlantic coast rivers and the species of shad found in Alabama. 

 They are apparently indigenous to the rivers of the Mississippi Valley, 

 and not the results of plants of shad formerly made in those waters. 



During the summer of 1897 the biological surveys in the Northwest, 

 which have been in progress for several years, were carried on by field 

 parties, chiefly under the direction of Dr. B. W. Evermann. In con- 

 tinuation of the studies of the spawning habits of the redfish in the 

 lakes of the Northwest, a comprehensive investigation was made of 

 Wallowa Lake in Oregon. An examination was also begun of a series 

 of isolated lakes lying along the southern border of Oregon, about 

 whose fauna nothing has been known. A party visited these lakes in 

 July and August to study their physical and biological features and to 

 make collections of fishes and other animals inhabiting them. With 

 the completion of these investigations and a study of the collections 

 much light will be thrown on the characteristics of the isolated fish 

 fauna and the origin of the fauna of these and similar lakes of Oregon, 

 California, and Nevada. 



Explorations were made of the principal coastal streams of California, 

 Washington, and Oregon, and biological examinations carried on to 

 determine their physical characteristics, the nature of their fish fauna, 

 and the abundance and habits of the different species of fishes fre- 

 quenting them. 



The studies of the movements, habits, growth, etc., of young shad 

 in the Potomac, and of young salmon in the Sacramento, have been 



