LXII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
and the cost of their removal, usually not until a large percentage of 
the crop has been destroyed, it may be realized with what anxiety the 
oystermen regard their presence and how desirous they have become 
to ascertain if any precautions can be taken to anticipate and prevent 
their inroads. However impracticable this question may appear from 
our present knowledge of the habits of those species, the matter is suf- 
ficiently important to warrant its careful study, and even should the 
inquiry not prove entirely satisfactory in that respect, it will undoubt- 
edly lead to other improvements in the oyster fishery of that region. 
The scheme of work proposed has been prepared upon a basis broad 
enough to meet all the present requirements of the industry. 
Mate James A. Smith, U. S. N., commanding the steamer Fish Hawh , 
was in charge of operations during 1888, with Mr. C.F. Hodge, of Johns 
Hopkins University, as naturalist. A visit was first made to New 
Haven, to enable Mr. Smith to confer with the shellfish commissioners 
of Connecticut and the oyster-growers in that vicinity, after which a 
month was spent in Narragansett Bay and Providence River, the 
steamer returning to New Haven later in the season for a brief recon- 
naissance. 
The plans for the investigation of Rhode Island waters contemplated 
a thorough survey of the upper part of Narragansett Bay and of all of 
Providence River as far up as the city of Providence, and provided for 
the following character of inquiries, namely: An examination respect- 
ing the physical characteristics and condition of the bottom and of 
the water, with density and temperature observations at many places 
during different stages of the tide ; a systematic series of dredgings to 
determine the present condition of the oyster beds, the distribution and 
abundance of drills and starfishes, and the character and extent of the 
damage they are doing 5 the plotting of the principal existing oyster 
beds on charts, and a comparison of the same with the beds known in 
1880, ill order to ascertain if any and what changes have taken place 
between those dates, and their probable causes; a study of the life his- 
tory and habits of the starfishes in this region, the latter with special 
reference to their movements and distribution at different seasons of 
the year ; conferences with the oystermen respecting all matters per- 
taining to the damage done the beds by their natural enemies at differ- 
ent periods and the means taken to remove the latter or to protect the 
beds. As no scientific examination of this region had previously been 
made, and no information was obtainable as a basis for comparison, the 
difficulty of reaching positive conclusions in the course of a single sea- 
son’s operations was soon made evident. The oyster beds were last 
chartered by the State shellfish commission in 1880, their delineation 
furnishing the positions and outlines of the grounds, but nothing 
regarding their conditions at that time. 
The Fish Hawh began the investigation by running a line of density 
observations through the main channel of Narragansett Bay from off 
