July 9, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



31 



that one English monarch for whom he had a 

 reverential regard was Henry VI. He saluted 

 his statue whenever he crossed the lawn at 

 King's College, Cambridge. In the fifteenth 

 century it was possible to spend money on wars 

 in France or on the founding of monasteries, 

 but Henry chose to found King's College. 

 And to encourage learning was still the surest 

 way to secure that one's name was held in 

 honor through grateful generations. 



FISHERIES OF THE GULF STATES, 1918 



During the past year the Bureau made a 

 statistical canvass of the fisheries of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States for the year 

 1918, and the returns for the latter section 

 have recently been compiled and sent to press 

 as Statistical Bulletin ISTo. 470. The last 

 previous canvass of these states by the Bureau 

 was for the year 1902, and a later canvass was 

 made by the Bureau of the Census for the 

 year 1908. The statistics for the Gulf States 

 cover the fisheries of the west coast of Florida 

 and Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 

 Texas. In 1918 there were 14,888 persons 

 employed in the fisheries of these states; the 

 investment amoimted to $6,537,859; and the 

 products aggregated 130,923,583 pounds, hav- 

 ing a value of $6,510,310. Of this total, the 

 west coast of Florida produced 54,753,639 

 pounds, valued at $3,420,363; Alabama, 

 5,609,219 pounds, valued at $230,567; Mis- 

 sissippi, 20,592,089 pounds, valued at $762,- 

 770; Louisiana, 24,953,876 pounds, valued at 

 $1,419,367; and Texas, 25,014,760 pounds, 

 valued at $677,243. Some of the more im- 

 portant species taken in these states were 

 black drum, 2,011,288 pounds, valued at 

 $49,140; catfish, 851,265 pounds, valued at 

 $40,072; croaker, 714,692 pounds, valued at 

 $43,446; groupers, 5,935,825 pounds, valued 

 at $235,406; menhaden, taken mostly in Texas, 

 14,392,920 pounds, valued at $109,939; mullet, 

 including roe, 28,641,364 pounds, valued at 

 $1,318,379; redfish or red drum, 2,986,180 

 poimds, valued at $175,109; red snapper, 

 9,429,802 pounds, valued at $609,312 ; Spanish 

 mackerel, 3,494,845 pounds, valued at $215,197; 

 squeteagues or " sea trouts," 4,960,738 jwundg, 



valued at $414,593; shrimp, green and dried, 

 27,142,999 pounds, valued at $1,098,427; and 

 oysters, 23,754,465 pounds, or 3,393,495 bush- 

 els, valued at $1,106,725. The output of 

 sponges amounted to 452,188 pounds, valued 

 at $725,155. 



Compared with the Bureau's returns for 

 1902, there has been an increase in the 

 products of the fisheries of the Gulf States of 

 17,226,613 pounds, or 15.15 per cent., in the 

 quantity and of $3,016,114 or 86,31 per cent., 

 in the value. Compared with the returns for 

 1908, the increase amounts to 12,649,583 

 pounds, or 10.69 per cent., in quantity and 

 $1,650,310, or 33.95 per cent., in value. 



ROAD-BUILDING PROJECTS WITH FEDERAL 

 AID 



The rate at which the nimiber of Federal- 

 aid road^building projects has increased since 

 the war is shown in a summary relating to 

 all such work from September 30, 1916, to 

 AprE 30, 1920, which has been prepared by the 

 Bureau of Public Eoads, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. On the latter date 

 the states had filed with the bureau 2,885 

 project statements, of which 2,790 had been 

 approved, representing 27,796 miles of high- 

 way. The totals on April 30, 1919, were little 

 more than one third these amounts. Up to 

 May 1 of this year 1,974 projects had pro- 

 ceeded to the stage at which plans, specifica- 

 tions, and estimates had been delivered to 

 the Bureau of Public Boards. The plans, 

 specifications and estimates of 1,827 of these 

 had been recommended for approval, repre- 

 senting 13,845 miles. 



Project agreements had actually been ex- 

 ecuted and construction work was in progress 

 on 1,569 projects, totaling 11,987 miles. In 

 addition, work had been begun on about 100 

 projects for which agreements had not actu- 

 ally been signed, thus expediting the progress 

 of the work and bringing the total mileage 

 imder construction up to 13,540. The sum- 

 mary shows that a great reduction has been 

 made in the time required for preliminary 

 work before the actual construction is begim. 



On the average the states have submitted 



