190 
practical increase in the number of cod would 
be noticed as the result of these experiments. 
However, the results obtained proved conclu- 
sively, that if carried on under favorable cir- 
cumstances, and with the experience gained 
at Gloucester, hatching deep-sea fish could 
be successfully engaged in, and made a gréat 
success. It was with this belief that an ap- 
propriation was obtained from Congress for 
building the extensive hatching houses and 
basins which are in progress of erection at 
Wood’s Holl, Mass. Here the harbor is very 
pure, there being no city emptying its refuse 
into the immediate waters. The bottom is com- 
posed of clean sand; while the water is pure 
and not too cold, receiving an offshoot of the 
Gulf Stream, instead of the Labrador current, 
as is the case at Gloucester. Here the tides, 
although forming swift currents by the pouring 
of immense quantities of water through narrow 
outlets, rise but two feet, which is a decided 
advantage. Within forty miles of the hatchery, 
fish can be caught in sufficient abundance to 
supply the wants of the commission ; and it is 
to be expected that results of great importance 
will be obtained by hatching and placing young 
food-fish in the water at various points along 
the New-England coast. 
For at least a year, reports have been prev- 
alent to the effect that small cod belonging to 
the deep-sea species have been, and are at pres- 
ent, very abundant in the harbor at Gloucester. 
In order to find out definitely, Professor Baird 
asked me to inquire, and collect specimens if 
possible, while I was at Gloucester, in October. 
I ascertained, that, since the winter of 1882, 
‘silver-gray cod’ (G. morrhua) have been 
caught in abundance, and of just the size that 
the artificially hatched fish would naturally be 
at this time. Not only are cod obtained in the 
outer harbor by the fishermen, but even in the 
impure waters of the extreme inner harbor, 
where they are frequently caught by boys fish- 
ing for flounders. A specimen taken in this 
manner was found by Capt. Collins in the taxi- 
dermist’s store, and forwarded to Professor 
Baird. It proved to be the true deep-sea cod. 
One fisherman, while obtaining bait for his 
lobster-pots, during the early spring of 1883, 
frequently caught as many as a hundred pounds 
of these fish in a single catch. This same 
fisherman informed me that at least three or 
four generations were plainly distinguished, 
the smaller being much more abundant. From 
only one other point along the coast was I able 
to find this species of cod reported in the shal- 
low water. A school was encountered by a 
Gloucester vessel close in by Mount Desert, 
SCIENCE. 
Venere Mh ue 
and fourteen barrels obtained. They all meas- — 
ured within an inch or two of fourteen inches, 
—-just the size of those reported from Glouces- 
ter, and exactly as long as the specimen ob- 
tained from that locality. I obtained two 
specimens from the Mount Desert school, which 
are at present in the National museum. Here > 
we find, in a limited area, great numbers of a 
fish now inhabiting only the deeper waters ; 
this fish for many years having been a total 
stranger to the locality in which it is at present 
so abundant, and not found, so far as is known 
after many inquiries, in other similar places, 
with but a single exception. The oldest and 
most observing fishermen never remember a 
similar instance; and all come to the conclu- 
sion, that they are the result of the hatching 
operations in 1879, those from Mount Desert 
being but a small portion of the larger school 
migrating from their given home. Certainly 
other than natural causes must be looked for 
to explain this sudden increase in a small, un- 
favorable locality : so, as a very convenient and 
satisfactory explanation is found, with evidence 
to back it, we will say with the fishermen, 
‘These must be Fish-commission cod.’ They 
will of course migrate in time; for it is hardly 
to be expected that they will return to their 
first home after once finding purer water out- 4 
side. ¢ 
Undoubted good must come of the future i 
operations, for millions and millions of eggs % 
which would otherwise be spoiled will be 
hatched ; the young reared, and placed in the 
water to live and reproduce; and thus the 4 
waters will become restocked with a speciesof 
fish which is growing scarcer every year with | 
frightful rapidity. These unexpected results 
of the experiments prove beyond a doubt that 
even deep-sea fish can be kept under control 
by the same means that the stock of river-fish 
is regulated. 
While at Gloucester, Piokasan Farlow, by 
request of Professor Baird, investigated the 
nature of the so-called ‘ reddening ’ of salted 
cod, which caused such ravages during the 
warm months, with the idea of furnishing a 
remedy. This peculiar ‘ reddening’ was 
found to be caused by an alga (Clathrocystis 
roseo-persicina) which was abundant on the 
marshes near Gloucester. In many of the 
fish-houses the alga was present in large quan- — 
tities on the walls, on the flakes, and evenin ~ 
the vessels, probably having been introduced — 
there by the fishermen on their clothes, or — 
from the mud on their boots. Furthermore, it — 
existed to a considerable extent in the Cadiz 
salt, which was used in preference to Trepani i 
_— 
y 
