EE1>0RT 01" COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. Llli 



teuor of their statements was Mghly satisfactory, indeed fully up to 

 the claims which the Commission had from time to time made concern- 

 ing the carp as a food-fish. A few criticisms and uncomplimentary re- 

 marks were elicited by this correspondence, but in nearly every case 

 there was internal evidence that the critics had undertaken to eat carj) 

 during the spawning season, had spoiled the fish in cooking, or that 

 the fish had been kept in very foul water without efforts being made 

 to purify the flesh thereafter. 



These publications are forwarded to correspondents requesting them, 

 and in reply to letters of inquirj^, thus saving a large amount of letter- 

 writing. 



Mr. Charles W. Smiley, Chief of the Division of Eecords, during the 

 year has had entire charge of the iDreparation of all matter for the 

 printer, the correcting of the proofs of text and plates, and all else 

 relating to the proper presentation of the several volumes, pa-mj)hlets, 

 and circulars, as well as of their distribution to correspondents and 

 applicants. 



10. — THE wood's HOLL STATION. 



One of the most important directions in which the work of the Com- 

 mission can be extended is in the multiplication, by artificial xDropagatiou, 

 of the sea fishes, which constitute by far the most valuable element of the 

 American fisheries in general. In this, we of course include the shell-fish 

 and lobster. In the report for 1878 will be found a full account of the 

 first experiments in this direction made by the Commission upon the cod 

 at Gloucester, Mass. The results were very satisfactory as far as they 

 went, and it was shown that all the various problems in the case coukl 

 readily be solved with favoring circumstances. Several difSculties, 

 however, existed at Gloucester ; first, the absence of facilities for pen- 

 ning up the live fish until their eggs became ripe and ready for impreg- 

 nation ; second, the impurity of the sea- water, which caused a constant 

 deposit of mud upon the eggs, destroying them in large part 5 third, the 

 inclemency of the winter, involving the stoppage of the circulation of 

 the water by freezing, and the killing of the fish if kept in floating cars 

 at the surface ; fourth, the inability to find, at reasonable cost, a suita- 

 ble wharf or building in which the work could be prosecuted. 



In spite of all these obstacles, however, a large number of codfish 

 were hatched out and placed in Gloucester Harbor, without much ex- 

 pectation of hearing further from them. The fish used for the purpose 

 were the gray variety, believed to come from the off-shore banks to the 

 coast of the mainland for the i^urpose of spawning, the winter season 

 being the period of this migration. During the following summer, how- 

 ever, small cod of the gray or off-shore variety were met with around 

 the wharves in the harbor, and at once attracted attention, such an 

 occurrence being quite unheard of before. Again, the next year, these 

 fish were found outside of the harbor, and of considerably larger size, 



