a i, 
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 151 
WOODS HOLL LABORATORY. 
Nearly all of the important food-fishes occurring in the Vineyard 
Sound region spawn during the spring or winter months, and as the 
Woods Holl Station has not generally been occupied for scientific 
purposes until about July 1 of each year, the study of their breeding 
habits and of the development of the young has, for the most part, been 
neglected. The pressing demands of fish-culture have been met from 
time to time by the temporary employment of specialists in the proper 
seasons for such investigations, but nothing in the way of a thorough 
and continuous series of observations relative to these subjects has 
hitherto been attempted. Among the forms respecting which informa- 
tion is most urgently desired at present are the cod, sea bass, scup, 
tautog, mackerel, menhaden, lobster, and oyster, but there is not a 
food species common to this coast an account of whose life history and 
spawning habits would not contribute something to the welfare of the 
fisheries by suggesting either methods of propagation or suitable 
measures of protection. 
In order that scientific studies bearing upon these subjects might be 
continued at all seasons, Dr. H. V. Wilson, a graduate of Johns Hop- 
kins University, was appointed in May, 1888, resident naturalist at the 
Woods Holl Station, in charge of the biological laboratory. Within 
the past two years Dr. Wilson has completed a very important mono. 
graph on the embryology of the sea bass, and has also collected much 
material illustrating the development of the egg and larval stages of 
the cod, scup, tautog, and other species of fishes as well as of some 
crustaceans. He has also made some progress in the study of the 
development of sponges, preliminary to a proposed visit to the coast of 
Florida, where it is intended to investigate the life history of the commer- 
cial forms. A complete series of the eggs and embryos of the Atlantic 
salmon, obtained at the Maine station of the Fish Commission, has 
likewise been prepared by Dr. Wilson for future examination. The 
surface nets have been in constant use in the vicinity of Woods Holl, 
under his direction, and Mr. H. G. White, a draftsman, has been 
employed during a portion of each year to make drawings of the larva] 
fishes secured by this means. A more complete account of the results 
of Dr. Wilson’s inquiries is given under the heading of “‘ Special Inves- 
tigations.” 
Mr. V. N. Edwards has continued his field observations respecting ~ 
the different fishes which inhabit the Vineyard Sound region, keeping 
a careful record of the time of approach and disappearance of the 
migratory species, of the breeding and feeding habits of all forms, and 
of the growth of the young from day to day. He has also experimented 
successfully with the hatching of several common fishes, and has demon- 
