BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 95 
view, may serve to protect the codfish against the development of the 
red.* 
We cannot at present dwell any longer on this side of the question, 
for, as we have already stated, we shall in a future report give the re- 
sults of our investigations regarding the different methods of salting, 
the examination of the different kinds of salt used, the packing and 
storing of the codfish. We shall merety state regarding the nature of 
the small organism composing the red in the codfish that we have 
never yet found the slightest trace of a mycelium. We therefore do 
not believe that it is a fungus, not even one of the family of the Bis - 
comycetes , like the Protomyces for instance. It is doubtless an alga, but 
it is an open question whether it is a Beggiatoa of the family of the 
Nostocacece , like the Clathrocystis , which Mr. Farlow considers as the 
cause of the red in the codfish. 
Bordeaux, France, March 24, 1886. 
22 .— REPORT OF OPERATIONS AT THE SHAD-HATCHING STATION 
ON BATTERY ISLAND, NEAR HAVRE BE GRACE, MD„ BERING 
THE SEASON OF 1887. 
My W. 4e C. RAVENEL, 
Superintendent of Batter y Station. 
Active operations in the production of young shad were very much 
delayed by strong freshets in the Susquehanna River and exceedingly 
cold weather, but preparations had been completed for the work some 
time before eggs could be obtained. It was not until April 26 that the 
first spawn was taken, and this was of inferior quality on account of low 
temperature, &c. It will be proper to say, therefore, that the season 
opened on May 1. 
The seine operated in previous years was not used this season, as its 
results were not in proportion to the expenditures connected there- 
* Our attention lias been called to an article published in the Imparcial, of Madrid, 
of the 20th March, in which it is stated that some years ago, in 1878, a red coloring of 
the green and dry codfish was, during summer, observed at Gloucester and at other 
places in the United States. The Fish Commission requested Prof. W. G. Farlow to 
inquire into the causes of this coloring. Professor Farlow found (Fish Commission 
Report, 1878, page 969) that it is due to the presence of Clathrocystis roseo-persicina. 
“After having observed,” the writer of the article in the Imparcial goes on to say, “that 
this hurtful vegetable growth was found on all the walls and boards of the salteries and 
on all the wooden implements used in them, it was considered safe to assume that only 
the salt could be the means of its transmission.” The Cadiz salts, which have a light 
rose-color, were examined, and after this examination Professor Farlow arrived at 
this conclusion : “ That the imported Cadiz salt is impregnated with a large quantity 
of Clathrocystis , and that this plant develops on the codfish when the temperature is 
favorable.” The Imparcial becomes alarmed at this statement, and fears that the 
Spanish salts, which m America are all known by the name of Cadiz salts, may lose 
their reputation. 
