1398 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



date and can be had upon request. Most of the earUer numbers are now out of 

 print, some of the most valuable works unfortunately being no longer obtain- 

 able from any source unless from secondhand-book dealers. Of some important 

 recent works an edition of 2,000 was exhausted within a year, and several docu- 

 ments of particular public interest have run through eight or ten editions. It 

 is now possible to supply only a few odd back volumes and some 300 different 

 pamphlets. 



The permanent mailing list, which is steadily growing, includes at present 

 some 1,500 addresses, representing various national and state government 

 departments, fishery organizations and biological societies, public libraries and 

 museums, colleges, newspapers and magazines, numerous fish culturists, edu- 

 cators, students, sportsmen, and other persons with related interests. It is in 

 the daily requests for particular papers, however, that the public interest in 

 the Bureau's work is most manifest. During the past year, which has shown 

 an especially marked increase in this respect, 25,423 documents were sent out 

 in response to special requests. 



As already stated, the Bureau distributes its publications free upon request. 

 The Commissioner's Annual Report and the Bulletin (but not the independent 

 pamphlet reports) can also be obtained free from Members of Congress, each 

 United States Senator and Representative receiving a quota from the edition 

 provided for this purpose. The bulletin in this edition is the cloth-bound vol- 

 ume, delivered annually. All of the documents can be purchased in pamphlet 

 form from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, D. C, at a price representing 10 per cent more than actual cost. 



SOME RESULTS OF THE WORK. 

 FISH CULTURE. 



Much evidence can be adduced to show that the fish-cultural operations of 

 the General Government are of direct financial benefit to the country at large. 

 The results in the case of some species have been so striking and so widespread 

 that it would be almost as supererogatory to refer to them as to discuss the 

 utility of agriculture; in the case of other species there can be no doubt of the 

 value of the work, although it may be possible but occasionally to distinguish 

 the effects of human intervention on the fish supply from the effects of natural 

 causes. The outcome of the Bureau's efforts to increase the food supply is 

 naturally most evident in the case of small streams, lakes, and ponds, of which 

 thousands have been successfully stocked with the most desirable food and 

 game species. It is not necessary to refer further to this work, but a few of the 

 important results of operations in public waters may appropriately be mentioned. 



The leading river fish of the eastern seaboard is the shad. No other 

 anadromous species has been more extensively cultivated and none is now so 



