106 Proceedings of the Newport Natural History Society. 
is valued at about $4,000,000 annually, and our Pacific 
salmon industry next, at $3,500,000. The oyster-beds bad 
been not only “fished out” but had in many places been 
choked by rubbish, and the ledges which protected the 
“spat” or young oysters had been destroyed. The Com¬ 
mission discovered the cause and recommended that each 
bed should be allowed to rest for a period of years in ro¬ 
tation— again a comparison between Fish-eulture and Agri¬ 
culture— and also that the beds, which had theretofore 
been public like sea-fisheries, should be leased to private 
individuals, so that they might be better taken care of. 
Another instance: in the winter of 1883-84 the Com¬ 
mission planted in the Great Lakes 225,000,000 fertilized 
eggs of the white-fish. The Lake fishermen admit that but 
for this action half of them would have been obliged to 
abandon their calling. In the same way the shad-fishery 
of the Potomac is said to have been tripled by the Com¬ 
mission’s efforts in a few years. 
The exertions and good work of the United States Fish 
Commission, and of those of our various States, and the 
general interest shown by our people in all that pertains to 
this subject, drew from Professor Huxley in 1883 the re¬ 
mark that “he did not think that any nation at the present 
time had comprehended the question of dealing with fish 
in so thorough, excellent and scientific a spirit as that of 
the United States.” 
List of Authorities. La Pisciculture, par Jules Haime, 
Revue des Deux Mondes, VI. 1854. History of the Fishes 
of Massachusetts , by Dr. David H. Storer, Boston, 1867. Fish- 
Culture in America , by William F. G. Shanks, in Harpe'r’s 
Magazine for November, 1868. A Treatise on Fish-Ponds , 
by J. Hoare, London, 1870. Domesticated Trout , by Living¬ 
ston Stone, Boston, 1872. Practical Trout-Culture , by Dr. 
J. H. Slack, New York, 1872. Fishi/ig in American Waters , 
by Genio C. Scott, New York, 1875. A Review of the Fish¬ 
ery Industries of the United States , a paper read by Dr. George 
