The United States Fish Commission. 



The summer campaign of the United States Fish 

 Commission party, under Prof. Baird, Commissioner of 

 Fisheries, has just begun under very favorable auspices. 

 The headquarters for the present season have been es- 

 tablished at Noank, New London County, Connecticut, 

 at tne mouth of the Mystic river, a thriving little fishing 

 village of some seven hundred inhabitants. Noank is 

 one of the leading depots for iced fish, shipping large 

 quantities weekly to New York, and employing thirty or 

 forty smacks, some in "vending" the extensive pounds at 

 Fisher's and Black Islands and at Napeague on the 

 eastern end of Long Jsland, others in line fishing on the 

 shoals for sea bass and flounders, others in "scrawling" 

 for halibut. So there wid probably be no lack of ma- 

 terial for the investigations of the commission. The 

 dredging ground also offers many hopeful indications, 

 Fisher's Island sound appearing to be nearly "the di- 

 vide" between the northern and southern faunas, and 

 probably hiding beneath its waters the solutit ns of 

 many important problems in marine physics and zoolo- 

 gy. The U. S. Steamer "Bluelight" has been detailed 

 for the use of the party, and during the winter was re- 

 paired and refitted with special reference to the needs 

 of the work, so as to be much more convenient than it 

 was last year. Commander L. A. Beardslee of the 

 Washington navy yard is again in command, and his en- 

 thusiastic interest in the work contributes much to its 

 success. The "Bluelight" arrived on Friday, the 10th. 

 and made her first dredging trip on the Monday follow- 

 ing; she lies at a wharf in the shipyard of Mr. Robert 

 Palmer, a neat little house near by, at the water's edge, 

 serves as a laboratory for the party carrying on the spe- 

 cial fishery investigation, while the dredging party is 

 established in a commodious room at the foot of Main 

 street, formerly used as a town hall. The members of 

 the party are quartered at various private houses in the 

 village, as there. is no hotel; several have their families 

 with them, the total number connected with the party 

 being thus quite considerable. The personel of the party 

 as at present established is as follows: # 

 n Prof . S. F. Baird, Smithsonian Inst., Washington, 

 Commissioner; Mr. E. H. Rockwell, Washington, Sec- 

 retary; Commander L.' A. Beardslee, U. S. N, Comd'g 

 "Bluelight"; Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, Custodian, Boston 

 Soc. Nat. Hist.; Prof. A. E. Verrill, Yale College, New 

 Haven; Prof. D. C. Eaton, Yale; Mr. Sidney 1. Smith, 

 also of Yale; Prof. William N. Rice, Wesleyan Un- 

 ion, Middletown; Mr. G. Brown Goode, Smithsonian 

 Inst., Washington; Mr. James H. Blake, Mus. of Comp. 

 Zool. Cambridge, Artist; Dr. H. C. Chapman, Phila- 

 delphia Acad. Nat. Sciences; Mr. Bean, Wilkesbarre, 

 Pa.; Messrs. Clarke, Turnbull and Brown, Sheffield 

 Scientific School; Messrs. Saltonstalland Rathbon, Bos- 

 ton, Soc. Nat. Hist- : My, Carl W. Schurman, Was hing-,, 

 ton; Capt. Ashby, Noank, Conn. J*ilot. Capt. H^W 

 Chester, Noank, Conn.; Capt. William -^- Spicer^J^ 

 ank, Conn. . .; ., , 



