a gigantic scale, by the aid of steam, which is now so successfully in use, revolutionizing the art of fish culture.

The investigation of the statistics and history of the fisheries has perhaps assumed greater proportions than was at first contemplated. One of the immediate causes of the establishment of the Commission was the dissension between the line and net fishermen of southern New England with reference to laws for the protection of the deteriorating fisheries of that region. The first work of Prof. Baird, as Commissioner, was to investigate the causes of this deterioration, and the report of that year's work includes much statistical material. In the same year a zoological and statistical survey of the great lakes was accomplished, and various circulars were sent out in contemplation of the preparation of monographic reports upon the special branches of the fisheries, some of which have already been published.

In 1877, the Commissioner and his staff were summoned to Halifax to serve as witnesses and experts before the Halifax Fishery Commission, then charged with the settlement of the amount of compensation to be paid by the United States for the privilege of participating in the fisheries of the Provinces. The information at that time available concerning the fisheries was found to be so slight and imperfect that a plan for systematic investigation of the subject was arranged and partially undertaken. The work was carried on for two seasons with some financial aid from the Department of State. In 1879 an arrangement was made with the Superintendent of the Tenth Census, who agreed to bear a part of the expense of carrying out the scheme in full. Some thirty trained experts are now engaged in the preparation of a statistical report on the present state and the past history of the fisheries of the United States. This will be finished next year, but the subject will hereafter be continued in monographs upon separate branches of the fisheries, such as the halibut fishery, the mackerel fishery, the shad fishery, the cod fishery, the herring fishery, the smelt fishery and various others of less importance.

Hundreds, and even thousands, of specimens of a single species are often obtained. After those for the National Museum have been selected, a great number of duplicates remain. These are identified, labelled and made into sets for exchange with other

museums and for distribution to schools and small museums. This is in accordance with the time-honored usage of the Smithsonian Institution, and is regarded as an important branch of the work. Several specialists are employed solely in making up these sets and in gathering material required for their completion. Within three years fifty sets of fishes in alcohol, including at least ten thousand specimens, have been sent out, and fifty sets of invertebrates, embracing one hundred and seventy-five species and two hundred and fifty thousand specimens. One hundred smaller sets of representative forms intended for educational purposes, to be given to schools and academies, are now being prepared.

The arrangement of the invertebrate duplicates is in the charge of Mr. Richard Rathbun; of the fishes, in that of Dr. T. H. Bean. Facilities have also been given to many institutions for making collections on their own behalf.

Six annual reports have been published, with an aggregate of 5,650 pages. These cover the period from 1871 to 1878. Many papers relating to the work have been published elsewhere-particularly descriptions of new species and results of special faunal exploration.

AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF THE COMMISSION.

1871.

The Commissioner, with a party of zoologists, established the first summer station at Wood's Holl, Mass., other assistants being engaged in a similar work at Cape Hatteras and the Great Lakes. He also personally investigated the alleged decrease of the fisheries in southern New England, taking the testimony of numerous witnesses.

1872.

This year the summer station was at Eastport, Maine, particular attention being paid to the herring fisheries. The survey of the Great Lakes was continued. Dredging, under the direction of Professor Packard, was begun on the off-shore banks. At the instance of the American Fish Cultural Association, Congress requested the Commissioner to take charge of the work of multiplying valuable food fishes throughout the country. Work was begun

on the shad, salmon and whitefish, and the eggs of the European salmon were imported.

1873.

The summer headquarters were fixed at Portland, Maine. The opportunities for research were greatly increased by the aid of the Secretary of the Navy, who granted the use of an eighty-ton

steamer.

Explorations in the outer waters between Mt. Desert and Cape Cod were carried on in the United States Coast Survey steamer Bache. Operations in fish culture were carried on upon an exten

sive scale.

1874-1875.

In 1874 the zoological work centred at Noank, Conn. The attempt was made to introduce shad into Europe. In 1875 the station was for a second time at Wood's Holl, where a permanent seaside laboratory, with aquaria, was now established. The number of investigations this year was about twenty. The increase in the propagation work was proportionately much larger.

1876.

This year the Commissioner was unable to take the fishes and useful invertebrates in behalf of the Commission field for fishery investigations, having been instructed to exhibit, in connection with the Philadelphia International Exhibition, the methods of fish culture and the American fisheries. Much, however, was accomplished by single investigators in various localities. The propagation work continued. This year the first carp were introduced from Germany.

1877.

The field of investigation was resumed at Salem, Mass., and later at Halifax, N. S. A larger steamer of 300 tons made deep sea research possible. The Commissioner and his staff served as experts before the Halifax Fishery Commission. The propagating work was on the increase, and the government carp ponds were established in Washington.

1878-1879.

In 1878 the summer station was at Gloucester, Mass.; in 1879 at Provincetown. These centres of the fishing interests were selected that more attention might be devoted to studying the history, statistics and methods of the sea fisheries; a plan for the systematic investigation which seemed yearly more necessary in view of the dissensions between the governments of the United States and Great Britain. In 1879 a combination was formed with the Superintendent of the Tenth Census, by which the Commissioner was enabled to carry more rapidly forward this branch of the work. Specialists were dispatched to all parts of the country to study the biological, statistical and practical aspects of the fisheries. In 1878 the breeding of cod and haddock was accomplished at Gloucester. In 1879 the propagation of the oyster was accomplished, by coöperation with the Maryland Commission under the direction of Major Ferguson, and the distribution of the carp throughout the country was begun.

1880.

The summer station is at Newport, R. I. The Fish Hawk, a steamer of 484 tons, constructed expressly for the work of the commission, lies at the wharf, now equipped for scientific research, later to be employed in the propagation of sea fish such as the cod and the mackerel. Over fifty investigators are in the field in the service of the commission. The season was opened by the participation of the commission in the International Exhibition at Berlin. The first honor prize, the gift of the Emperor of Germany, was awarded to Professor Baird, not alone as an acknowledgment that the display of the United States was the most perfeet and most imposing, but as a personal tribute to one who, in the words of the President of the Deutscher Fischerei Verein, is regarded in Europe as the first fishculturist in the world.

THE SPANISH MACKEREL, AND ITS ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION. By CHARLES W. SMILEY, of Washington, D. C.

1. NAMES AND CHARACTERISTICS.

THE fish to be noticed in this paper is a member of the family Scombrida, described by Mitchill as the Cybium maculatum. Its general appearance is much like that of the common mackerel, Scomber scombrus, though it is considerably larger. Its color is greenish above, blending into ashen gray. Its sides and all beneath are lustrous white, while about twenty yellowish round spots, a quarter of an inch in diameter, are irregularly distributed along the sides. Its eyes are large its mouth is also large and armed with acute and slightly conical teeth, which, however, are wanting in front. Its length is seventeen to twenty inches. De Kay, while describing it as Cybium maculatum, calls it the "spotted cybium," and applies the name Spanish mackerel to the Scomber colias. It is true that the Scomber colias formerly monopolized the term Spanish mackerel, for it was then in market and sold in considerable quantities. Great schools of these fish appeared in New York Bay in 1811 and 1813. About 1820, they were exceedingly abundant at Gloucester, and Provincetown, But it has disappeared from our coast. During a ten years' search no specimen has been taken unless a rare specimen taken by Hon. Samuel Powel, of Newport, R. I., October 22, 1875, was of this species. Mr. Powel was very certain that it was Scomber colius. However no specimen is known to exist in any Museum. But the vernacular still has a use for the name, Spanish mackerel, having transferred it to the Cybium maculatum. The latter was first described by Mitchill more than sixty years ago. It was then very scarce in our waters, though believed to be abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea. Of late years it has appeared in larger and larger numbers along our coast, extending as far north as Narragansett Bay.

2. LOCALITY AND ABUNDANCE.

In 1854, Professor Theodore N. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institution, reported it to be of very slight commercial importance. Seth