VII 
ability to render onr waters as productive of the most useful 
varieties of food-fishes as they have ever been. 
That we are daily becoming better fitted to realize this ex- 
pectation is evidenced by the marked increase in the number 
of fish produced at the headquarters of shad hatching opera- 
tions in Maryland. 
A reference to the tables giving the result of our efforts 
will show that we deposited in these waters during the spring 
of 1876, 2,721,000 young shad. Next season this number 
was increased to 2,184,800 ; in 1878 to 8,285,000 ; and in 1879 
to 7,757,000. 
Since the inauguration by us of the new system of hatch- 
ing shad — which is independent of the necessity for a strong 
current, to obtain which we were often compelled to visit re- 
mote parts of the State — the yield has been steadily increas- 
ing, and now the means of hatching are such that the quantity 
produced is limited only by the number of trained experts 
available for collecting the eggs. In 1874, when the Fish 
Commission was organized in Maryland, there was not a single 
person in the State who had ever taken or artificially hatched 
shad eggs, but there are to-day many men trained by the Com- 
mission in the manipulation of shad and other fishes who are 
■as expert as any in the country. 
An account has already been given of the results of experi- 
ments by the Commission in the artificial propagation of smelt 
and herring, and we are now enabled to record our success in 
propagating, by similar means, another species, more import- 
ant, perhaps, than any of the fishes that have hitherto been 
the object of the care of fish culturists. We refer to the rock- 
fish ( roccus lineatus). 
Our previous reports have called attention to the importance 
of this species, which we consider second to none of those 
frequenting our waters. We have also reported our constant 
but futile search for its spawning grounds, and for a ripe 
female of this fish. We are now, however, happy to record 
our success, not only in the search for the ripe fish, but in the 
discovery of the spawning grounds; and we have been reason 
ably successful in the manipulation of the eggs. 
