598 



NA TURE 



\_Oct. 2 1, i8So 



The fauna of the Grand Banks and other off-shore fishinc- 

 grounds has been partly explored. In 1872, 1S73, ^nd 1874 

 dredging was carried on from the Coast Survey steamer Bache 

 by Prof Packard and Mr. Cooke, Prof Smith, Mr. Harger, and 

 Mr. Rathbun. In 1 879 Mr. H. L. Osborne spent three months 

 in a cod-schooner collecting material on the Grand Banks, and 

 Mr. N. P. Scudder as long a time on the Holibut Grounds of 

 Davis's Straits. 



A most remarkable series of contributions has been received 

 from the fishermen of Cape Ann. When the Fish Commission 

 had its head-quarters at Gloucester, in 187S, a general interest 

 in the zoological work sprang up among the crews of the fishini;- 

 vessels, and since that time they have been vying with each other 

 in efforts to find new animals. Their activity has been stimulated 

 by the publication of lists of their donations in the local papers, 

 and the number of separate lots of specimens received to the 

 present time exceeds Soo. Many of these lots are large, con- 

 sisting of collecting-tanks full of alcoholic specimens. At least 

 thirty fishing-vessels now carry collecting-tanks on every trip, 

 and many of the fishermen, with characteristic superstition^ 

 have the idea that it insures good luck to have a tank on board' 

 and will not go to sea without one. The number of specimens 

 acquired in this manner is at least 50,000 or 60,000, most of 

 them belonging to species otherwise unattainable. Each holibut 

 vessel sets, twice daily, lines from ten to fourteen miles inlencrth, 

 with hooks upon them six feet apart, in water 1,200 to 1,100 

 feet in depth, and the quantity of living forms brought up in 

 this manner, and which had never hitherto been saved, is very 

 astonishing. Over thirty species of fishes have thus been added 

 to the fauna of North America ; and Prof. VerriU informs me 

 that the number of new and extra-limital forms thus placed upon 

 the list of invertebrates cannot be less than fifty. 



A permanent collector, Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, has been 

 employed at Wood's Holl and vicinity since 1S71, and many 

 remarkable forms have also been discovered by him No 

 dredging has yet been attempted by the Commission south of 

 Long Island. Dr. Yarrow, Mr. Earll, and others, have col- 

 lected from Cape May to Key West. The Gulf States Coast 

 was explored last winter by a party conducted by Mr. Silas 

 Stearns, who spent nine months in studying the food-fishes and 

 useful invertebrates in behalf of the Commission and the Census. 

 The entire Pacific coast has been scoured by Prof. Jordan for 

 the Commission and the Census, and the ichthyology of that 

 region has been enriched by the discovery of sixty species new 

 to the fauna, forty of them being new to science. A similar 

 investigation on the great lakes has been carried over a period of 

 several years by the late Mr. Milner and Mr. Kumlien. The 

 ichthyology of the rivers of the country has received much 

 attention from the many experts employed by the Commission in 

 fish-cultural «orl<. 



In ad.iition to these local studies may be mentioned the general 

 explorat.ons such as are now being carried on for the oy'ster by 

 Mr lir„est LigersnII and Mr. John F. Ryder, for the shad by 

 Col. McDonald, for the smelt and the Atlantic salmon by Mr. 

 C. G. Atkins, and the Quinnat salmon by Mr. Livingston 

 Stone. 



A partial indication of what has been accomplished may be 

 found in the number of species added to the various faunal lists. 

 Take, for instance, the cephalopod mollusks of New England, in 

 Prof. Veml's recently published mon. .graphs; twenty species 

 are mentioned, thirteen of which are new to science. Ten years 

 ago only three were known. 



I am indebted to Prof. VerriU for the following estimate of 

 the number of species added within the past ten years to 

 the fauna of New England, mainly by the agency of the 

 Commission : — - 



Crustacea 



Pycnogonida ... . 



Annelida 



Vermes 



Mollusca 



Echinodermita 

 Anthozoa or Polyps 

 Hydrozoa or Acalepha 



Tunicata 



Polyzoa 



Brachiopoda 



Sponges 



1,800 



K„^pi%'' v^"'-', •° !t^ *"' "^"y °f "="<^ ^P^'^ies ^^ere obtained 

 by Prof. Verril in the course of his independent explorations in 

 Maine and Connecticut previous to 1871 



A similar estimate for the fishes indicaies the discovery of at 

 least 100 species on the Eastern Atlantic coast within ten years : 

 half of these are new to science. Forty species have been added 

 o the fauna north of Cape Cod ; sixteen of these are new and 

 have been found within three years. Seventeen have been 

 described as new from the Gulf of Mexico. Sixty and more 

 have been added upon the west coast. The results of the 

 summer campaigns are worked in winter in the Peabody Museum 

 ot- V ale College, under the direction of Prof. Verril, and by the 

 specialists of the National Museum. 



.. °"? ,°f ^}^ important features of the work is the prepara- 

 tion of hfe-histones of the useful marine animals of the country 

 and great quantities of material have been accumnlated relatine 

 to almost every species. A portion of this has been published 

 More or less complete biographical monographs have been 

 printed on the bluefish, tlie scup, the menhaden, the salmon and 

 the whitefish, and others are nearly ready. An^.ther monograph 

 which may be referred to in this connection is that of JVIr 

 Starbick on the whalefi-,liei7, giving its history from the earliest 

 settlement of North America. 



The temperature of the water in its relation to the movements 

 ol fish has from the first received special attention. Observa- 

 tions are made regularly during the summer A\ork, and at the 

 various hatching-stations. At the instance of the commissioner 

 an extensive series of observations have, for several years been 

 made under the direction of the chief signal officer of the army 

 at lighthouses, light-ships, life-saving and signal stations, care- 

 fully chosen along the whole coast. This year thirty or more 

 fishing schooners and steamers are carrying thermometers to 

 record temperatures upon the fishing-grounds, a journal of the 

 movements of the fish being kept at the same time. One 

 practical result of the study of these observations has been the 

 demonstration of the cause of the failure of the Menhaden 

 fisheries on the coast of Maine in 1879—3 failure on account of 

 which nearly 2,000 persons were thrown out of employment. 

 Another important series of investigations carried on by Com- 

 mander Beardsley of the Navy shou s the error of the ordinary 

 manner of using the Casel-Miller deep-sea thermometer ; still 

 anjther series made by Dr. Kidder of the Navy, and to be 

 carried out in future, had for its object the determination of the 

 temperature of the blood of marine animals. Observations have 

 alsj been made by Mr. Milner upon the influence of a chan<'e 

 from sea water into fresh water, and from fresh water into sea 

 water upon the young of difterent fishes. Mr. H. J. Rice 

 carried on a series of studies upon the effect of cold in retarding 

 the development of incubating fish-eggs. A series of analyst 

 have been made by Prof. Atwater to determine the chemical 

 composition and nutritive value of fish as compared with other 

 articles of food. This investigation is still in progress. In 

 connection with the work of fish-culture, much attention has 

 been paid to embryology. The breeding times and habits of 

 nearly all of our fishes have been studied and their relatiins to 

 water temperatures. The embryologicai history of a number of 

 species such as the cod, shad, alewife, salmon, smelt, Spanish 

 mackerel, striped bass, white perch, and the oyster, have been 

 obtained, under the auspices of the Commission, by Messrs 

 Brooks, Kyder, Schaeffer, Rice, and others. 



The introduction of new sjiecies in water in which they were 

 previously unknown is of special interest to the student of geo- 

 graphical distribntion. Through the agency of the Commission 

 the German carp has ah-eady been placed in nearly every State 

 and Territory, although the work of distribution has only just 

 begun, and the tench (Tmca vulgaris) and the golden orfe 

 (Idas Di'lanotus) have been acclimated ; the shad has been suc- 

 cessfully planted in the Mississippi valley and on the coast of 

 Calif irnia, and the California salmon in the rivers of the Atlantic 

 slop.e. The lake whitefish of Europe has been introduced into a 

 lake of Wisconsin. As an act of international courtesy, Cali- 

 fornia salmon have been successfully introduced into New Zealand 

 and Germany. The propagation work has increased in import- 

 ance from year to year, as may be seen by the constant increase 

 in the amount of the annual appropriation. A review of the 

 results of the labours of the Commission in increasing the food 

 supjily of the country may be found in the annual reports. The 

 rude appliances of fish culture in use ten years ago have given 

 way to scientifically devised apparatus, by which millions of eggs 

 are hatched where only thousands were before, and the demon- 

 stration of the possibility of stocking rivers and lakes to any 



