286 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Associations and Conventions 



Following the announcement in the last annual report of your superin- 

 tendent concerning the formation and organization of The National Asso- 

 ciation of Shellfish Commissioners, a meeting known as the First Annual 

 Convention was held at the New York Aquarium on the fifth and sixth 

 days of May of the current year. About thirty delegates from shellfish- 

 producing States were present officially, together with about one hundred 

 members of the National Oystermen's Association. The convention was 

 unanimously commented upon by the public press and was considered to 

 be a great success. Addresses were made by well-known gentlemen and 

 papers upon subjects appropriate to the occasion were read by prominent 

 scientists. All officers of State and Federal commissions and bureaus, 

 having charge of investigations or development of resources in shellfish 

 products, had been urged to attend and to become actively identified with 

 the work of the association as the membership requirement had been fixed 

 so as to include not only executive officers but also all persons identified in 

 any way with the work carried on by shellfish commissions or bureaus, and 

 especially biologists and engineers ; the object being to bring together once 

 in each year those interested in the laws and general questions relating to 

 the cultivation of oysters and other shellfish, for the purpose of discussing 

 the needs of these industries- and the best plans for meeting these needs. 



As New York was the host we were glad, through the courtesy of Mr. 

 Charles H. Townsend, director of the New York Aquarium, to secure the use 

 of that historic building for the meetings. That it is an ideal place in which 

 to hold such functions was amply gathered from the expressions of pleasure 

 gleaned on every side. The comprehensive, attractive and inimitable dis- 

 play of fish, shellfish and of denizens of the sea and waters falling under 

 other classifications, was carefully inspected by the visitors from other 

 States. Great interest was manifested in the fact that the company was en- 

 circled by walls which had been standing for over one hundred years ; that 

 here General Lafayette was received in 1824 to this country and welcomed 

 by the American patriots; that here Kossuth addressed the military; that 

 here the world renowned Jenny Lind gave that remarkable, that inimitable 

 exhibition of voice in sweet song when first she visited these shores in 1850; 



