May 22, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



425 



culture would be a more perfect knowledge of embry- 

 ology, of the physical conditions of the waters, and 

 the influence of temperature upon the movements of 

 fish, etc. 



Mr. W. Y. Cox gave the audience a ' Glance at 

 Billingsgate,' describing the location and general ar- 

 rangement of this celebrated fish-market, and the 

 daily methods of transacting business. He called 

 attention to the fact that there was a great need for 

 the introduction of a system of cold storage similar 

 to that employed in the United States. 



Mr. Fred. Mather gave an account of his work at 

 Cold Spring Harbor. Statistics were presented show- 

 ing the numbers of the various species hatched out 

 under his direction, and a brief explanation as to his 

 methods of operation was added. 



Mr. Eugene S. Blackford read a paper on the oyster- 

 beds of New York, containing a very instructive 

 account of the present condition of the oyster indus- 

 try of New York. In the course of his remarks, it 

 was made to appear that the supply of oysters was 

 much greater at present than ten or twelve years ago, 

 and that, by a careful continuance of the methods of 

 protection and planting, there was not the slightest 

 doubt that the most successful oyster industry in the 

 world would become developed in the waters of Long 

 Island Sound. 



Mr. John A. Kyder presented a paper on some of 

 the protective contrivances developed by, and in con- 

 nection with, the ova of various species of fishes. He 

 classified the eggs of fishes into four divisions, — ' buoy- 

 ant,' 'adhesive,' 'suspended,' and 'transported;' 

 this last including such eggs as are hatched in 

 the mouth, or in receptacles especially developed on 

 the outside of the abdomen, or under the tail of the 

 parent fish (usually the male), such as are hatched in 

 nests built by the males, or are viviparously developed 

 in the ovary or the oviduct of the mother. The egg 

 of the cod was the type of the first division, buoy- 

 ant, but without an oil-drop. The egg of the Spanish 

 mackerel, bonito, cusk, and many other marine fishes, 

 is buoyant, and with an oil-drop opposite the germinal 

 pole, where the embryo develops. The second group 

 was represented by the egg of the goldfish, which 

 adheres singly to plants and weeds. The blennies lay 

 eggs in radiating, adherent groups. The gobies, 

 gobieso, yellowpeids, and many other forms, belong 

 to this group. As an example of ' suspended ' eggs, 

 he referred to the common oviparous ray, which has 

 four filamentous horns, one at each corner, which 

 wind around plants, and suspend the eggs to weeds ; 

 so that as the tide sweeps by these horns, which have 

 openings in them, fresh water is carried into the egg- 

 case to aerate the embryo, and favor its incubation. 

 In the Scombresocidae the entire egg-membrane is 

 covered with strong filaments, which intertwine with 

 those of contiguous eggs; and thus masses of eggs are 

 suspended, sometimes several inches in length. The 

 Apeltes, or four-spined stickleback, was cited as an 

 example of the fourth group. The male has a pouch 

 on the right side of the rectum, from which is poured 

 out a viscid secretion, and which is spun out into 

 threads fitfully by the animal, as he goes round a 



bunch of waterweeds, like a bobbin, to build a little 

 basket-like nest for the eggs. Callichthys also builds 

 a nest, while Antennarius and fishing-frogs of the 

 deeper ocean deposit their eggs on masses of sar- 

 gossa-weed. Reference was made to the number of 

 salmonoids that prepare beds for the better protection 

 of their eggs. This was also done by the black bass, 

 sun-perch, and lampreys. 



Prof. O. T. Mason, in a paper describing the use , 

 of the throwing-stick by the Eskimo in fishing, said 

 that the most interesting of modern ethnological 

 studies is the tracing of human arts from their birth 

 through the different stages of their evolution. Many 

 savage devices live on in civilization ; but there is one, 

 the Eskimo throwing-stick, which is not only one of 

 the most ingenious of aboriginal devices, but one 

 which has not survived in more highly cultured 

 peoples. An account was then given of the manu- 

 facture, use, and distribution of this implement. 



Professor Theodore Gill presented a paper entitled 

 ' The chief characteristics of the North- American 

 fish fauna.' He restricted his remarks to the fresh- 

 water forms alone. He described America north of 

 Mexico as a primary, terrestrial-aquatic realm, vari- 

 ously designated as the North-American, nearctic, 

 and Anglogaean - region or realm. It is one of the very 

 richest in fresh-water types, more than six hundred 

 species living exclusively, or nearly so, in the rivers 

 and lakes. These species represent a hundred and 

 fifty genera, and about thirty-five families. The 

 North- American fish fauna may be segregated into 

 two primary categories: 1°, arctogaean, including 

 those families which are shared with Europe and 

 northern Asia; and, 2°, those peculiar to this con- 

 tinent, which are the Amiidae, Hyodontidae, Percop- 

 sidae, Amblyopsidae, Aphredoderidae, Elassomidae, 

 Centrarchidae, and several sub-families, as the Ethe- 

 ostominae, Hoplodinotinae, and Hysterocarpinae. Of 

 the fresh-water species and genera of most of the 

 families, some are anadromous ; others inhabit salt 

 and fresh water almost indifferently; and still others 

 are catadromous, as the eel, which appears to breed 

 only in the sea. The number of genera common to 

 Europe and North America is extremely small. It is , 

 noteworthy that th^e number of the types peculiar to &/ 

 America are distinguished by the care which the 

 parents take of their young, whereas the European 

 forms are generally indifferent. The care of the 

 eggs and young seems to be accompanied by an 

 apparent diminution of the number of eggs; and in 

 this respect there is a kind of analogy between fish- 

 culturists and parents. The fish-culturists assume 

 the part which, in nature, is exercised by the atten- 

 tive parent; and the eggs and young, being provided 

 for, stand less danger of destruction, and conse- 

 quently in such the ratio between the eggs laid and 

 fertilized, and the young matured, is very much less 

 than that between the number of eggs of indifferent 

 parents, and that of other progeny matured. 



On Thursday, at noon, the members of the society, 

 through the courtesy of Professor Baird, went on the 

 U. S. fish-commission steamer Fish-hawk, for a trip 

 down the Potomac River, to visit the shad-hatching 



