242 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 476. 



portant improvements were made in the 

 plumbing of the main laboratory, and some 

 others have been authorized vyhich will be 

 cai-ried out before the opening of the fol- 

 lowing season. 



Fleet.— The steamer Fish Hawk, the 

 yacht Plialarope, the tug Blue Wing and 

 two steam launches were available during 

 the whole or a part of the season. A cat- 

 boat and an abundance of row-boats com- 

 plete the list. 



Fish Pounds.— Both, of these were set 

 this year in Buzzards Bay, at points not 

 far removed from the station. A daily 

 record was kept by Mr. Edwards of the 

 species taken, together with a rough esti- 

 mate of the number of each. Such records, 

 which have been kept for many years past, 

 furnish valuable data concerning the an- 

 nual migrations of fishes. The pounds 

 constitute also one of the important sources 

 of supply for the materials of investiga- 

 tion. 



Library. — This comprised (1) the per- 

 manent collection, including about 16,000 

 titles, mainly reprints donated by the au- 

 thors, and reports of our own and foreign 

 governments; and (2) the collections 

 loaned for the summer months by Brown 

 University and the College of the City of 

 New York, comprising about 650 and 100 

 volumes respectively. A subject catalogue 

 was commenced by the librarian. Miss R. 

 McDonald, in addition to the author cata- 

 logue already on hand. 



Residence. — One floor of the large resi- 

 dence building was, as usual, at the service 

 of those who had been employed by the 

 bureau to carry on special investigations. 



II. STAFF. 



The staff of the laboratory during the 

 season comprised a director, a librarian, a 

 secretary, five salaried investigators, work- 

 ing upon special problems of interest to 

 the fisheries, an assistant in charge of the 



supply-room, an assistant in charge of the 

 fish pounds, and nine assistants, mainly 

 college and medical students, doing mis- 

 cellaneous work in the laboratory and in 

 the field. To the above list must be added 

 a collector, who is permanently attached to 

 the station, and. the crews of the various 

 vessels while these are in service for the 

 laboratory. 



in. INVESTIGATORS. 



The total number of investigators who 

 availed themselves of the privileges of the 

 laboratory during the summer past was 

 thirty, the greatest number at any one time 

 being twenty. These men represented two 

 government departments and sixteen edu- 

 cational institutions, ranging from Ala- 

 bama to Vermont and Avest to Illinois. The 

 average length of their stay at the labora- 

 tory was almost exactly six weeks, though 

 a few stayed nearly or quite twice that 

 time. A brief statement of the work done 

 by each of the investigators is given below. 



IV. COLLECTING TRIPS. 



Leaving out of account the daily visits 

 to the pound nets, about forty collecting 

 trips were made by the smaller steam craft. 

 The localities visited were: Wareham, 

 Monument Beach, Quisset, Hadley Harbor, 

 Weepecket, Penikese, Cuttyhunk, Great 

 Pond, Vineyard Haven, Muskeget, Katama, 

 Gay Head and various points in Vineyard 

 Sound. To this list must be added fifteen 

 dredging trips made by the Fish Hawk, 

 whose operations were confined almost ex- 

 clusively to Vineyard Sound. The work 

 of the Fish Hawk will be dealt with in a 

 separate section. Mention should also be 

 made of four days spent in camp by Mr. 

 I. A. Field and an assistant at Menemsha 

 Bight, Martha 's Vineyard, where they were 

 engaged in noting the fish taken in the 

 numerous traps at that point, and of a 

 jouruey to Provincetown, also by Mr. 



