Till 
There is no fish in onr waters whose decrease has been 
more marked than that of the Rock, and none which occupies 
a more important place among the food-fishes. Though never 
seen in our markets in such numbers as the shad and herring, 
they are in season nearly the whole year, and to be procured 
almost daily in greater or less abundance in our principal 
fish depots. Thriving as well in the fresh waters of our riv- 
ers as in the salt water of the sea, or the brackish water of bays 
and inlets, they are found in almost all the tidal streams of 
the State. To a large number of people, therefore, an abun- 
dant supply of them is to a greater extent, perhaps, than of 
any other fish, an important desideratum. 
On the organization of the Commission our first work was 
to investigate the waters of the State with a view to ascer- 
tain their capacities as well as their needs. In prosecuting 
these researches we were enabled to make a very large col- 
lection of specimens of the ichthyology of the State, and to 
discover the existence in our waters of many species that have 
never before been seen in them, and of others that were new 
even to the Atlantic coast. 
In our report of January, 1876, we published a descriptive 
list of the fishes of the State, to which list additions were 
made in two subsequent reports. We discovered, last year, 
the presence of a number of fish not included in any of the 
lists referred to, as they were not before known to visit our 
waters. 
After the investigations above mentioned, our labors were 
addressed to the task of supplying the deficiencies that were 
found to exist. 
In order to obtain information on certain important points, 
Col. Hughlett, one of the Commissioners for the State of 
Maryland, addressed circulars containing the necessary ques- 
tions to a large number of persons likely to be interested in 
the fisheries on the Eastern Shore. The answers, in full, to 
these questions received up to January 1st, 1880, are here- 
with transmitted, though we do not endorse the views con- 
tained in many of them. 
Most of the information sought in these interrogatories will 
