REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 185 
nated from such distinguished ichthyologists as Dr. Franz Steindachner 
and Professor Agassiz, under the editorship of Col. Theodore Lyman. 
The article is a catalogue of the ‘t Fishes taken in the Waquoit weir, 
April 18 to June 18, 1871,” and was published in the Sixth Annual 
Report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries (pp. 41-58, pl. 1-2). 
We are told that ‘‘most of the nomenclature is by Dr. Franz Stein- 
dachner; and some notes by Professor Agassiz are added, marked A.” 
Only 44 species were obtained. The nomenclature for the most part 
is that prevalent during the previous half century, and not that which 
had been in general use for the preceding decade and is prevalent now. 
Some interesting statistical and biological data are given. No species 
previously unknown to the state or region in question were added. 
This was the last authoritative faunal contribution of Massachu- 
setts naturalists. The labors of the excellent ichthyologists of the 
state, chief of whom, for many years, has been S. E. Garman, have 
been with excellent judgment devoted to the elucidation of questions 
of embryology, morphology, and taxonomy. The greater facilities 
enjoyed by the United States Bureau of Fisheries have been recog- 
nized and the task of formal registration has been left to those directly 
or indirectly connected with that organization. 
iV Tile 
Before Storer’s History was completed and before the Waquoit weir 
ras examined Prof. Spencer F. Baird visited Woods Hole and spent 
part of several summers there with his family. His first visit was 
made in 1863. He then found 47 species, and among them, for the 
first time, the very young of 7rachynotus carolinus and T. ovatus (fal- 
catus). ‘These as well as Cyprinodon variegatus were recorded by Gill 
in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences for 1863 (p. 322), 
and later, with other material, served as the basis for the reduction of 
three genera of earlier American ichthyologists to one species, and of 
the generalization respecting the mode of development and growth of 
the carangids and scombroideans generally. 
The United States Fish Commission was established in 1871, and the 
village that the commissioner had proved as a private was selected by 
the officer as a station of the new commission. With government 
means for exploration, many species previously unknown to the coast 
were added, and up to 1873 not less than 23 species, new to the 
region, were found, exclusive of those already referred to. These 
were enumerated in a ‘* List of the Fishes Collected at Wood’s Hole, 
by 5. F. Baird,” published in the Report of the United States Com- 
mission of Fish and Fisheries for 1871-72 (pp. 823-827). The list was 
one of names (scientific and popular) only, arranged in accordance 
with Gill’s ‘Catalogue of the Fishes of the Eastern Coast of North 
America” printed just in advance of it. 
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