CXLIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



attendance during most of the year and give personal direction to 

 the investigations. The laboratory was opened on March 14, and Dr. 

 H. 0. Bumpus, professor of comparative anatomy in Brown University, 

 was appointed director. Correspondence was entered into with the 

 principal universities and colleges, notifying them of the opening of 

 the laboratory and stating that nominations of a limited number of 

 persons to represent them would be received. During April fourteen 

 investigators availed themselves of the privileges of the laboratory, 

 and by the 1st of June accommodations for the ensuing summer had 

 been assigned to the full capacity of the station. 



During a period of six weeks in May and June the work of the labo- 

 ratory was facilitated by the courteous action of the trustees of the 

 Marine Biological Laboratory in placing their steam launch at the dis- 

 posal of the Commission. 



Reports on the aquatic life present in the vicinity of the station 

 during March, April, and May were published in the current issues of 

 "Science," by Dr. Bumpus and Dr. A. D. Mead, for the guidance of 

 those who may desire to pursue studies at the laboratory in the spring 

 months. In an article on "The breeding of animals at Woods Hole 

 during the month of March, 1898," Dr. Bumpus stated : 



The water has swarmed with animal life, and many forms rarely or never cap- 

 tured (luring the warmer months have been found in abundance. Breeding animals 

 have yielded rare embryological material, and all forms of life have had great vitality, 

 due probably to the low temperature of the water (38° to 43° F.). 



MORTALITY AMONG BROOD COD AT WOODS HOLE. 



During the cod-hatching season of 1897-98 at Woods Hole there 

 was a very large death rate among the adult cod retained in live-cars. 

 In previous seasons numbers of the brood cod had died, but the mor- 

 tality during the present year was greater than heretofore. These fish 

 were caught with hand-lines on Nantucket Shoals and brought to the 

 station in welled-smacks. Between October and February 3,507 were 

 received, of which 2,696 died, or more than 76 per cent; 1,977 dying in 

 November, 315 in December, 203 in October, 143 in February, and 

 58 in January. 



In November 14 cod, each weighing 5 or 6 pounds, that had died 

 in the live-cars, were sent to Washington in ice and there carefully 

 examined. In 11 cases there was no doubt of the cause of death, in 2 

 the cause was not positively made out, and in 1 it could not be deter- 

 mined. Cerebral meningitis, due to hook wounds, was responsible for 

 the death of 5 fish ; the same condition, resulting from injuries to the eye, 

 led to the death of 2 others; cerebro- spinal meningitis, induced by a 

 blow on the side, caused the death of 1 fish; marked degeneration of the 

 heart muscle was found in two cases, and inflammation of the heart or 

 pericardium existed in 2 fish, being complicated with meningitis, due 

 to hook wound in one of them. In one of the doubtful cases there was 

 slight meningitis traceable to a hook wound, and in the other there 

 seemed to be a rupture of the abdominal aorta. 



