Page images
PDF
EPUB

result of some experiments made formerly, that a living fish-egg evolves heat as a fish does; whether by the friction of circulation, consumption of oxygen, or otherwise, is not to the point here, but from the experi ments referred to, and the fact that after getting the eggs in the center of the box as cold as those next the ice, and though completely surrounded by others equally cold they would not remain so, it does appear that such is the case.

Had it been possible to have divested the boxes of the outside ferns and crate, and then packed the boxes in the ice-room, there is no doubt but what the decay of the dead eggs might have been retarded some, and so have preserved the others from the heat; but the ice-room is used for meat, fish, and vegetables, and unless the boxes were at the bottom they might be damaged by overhauling, and should I have to do it all over would use such a box as the one described with a slight modification.

In Germany the question was frequently asked, "When you felt sure that you were right, why didn't you violate orders and repack them all?" to which I could only reply by saying that I did not know that the box would be successful; it only appeared to be the best, and if a man violates his orders and is victorious he is forgiven, but if he fails he is branded as a self-willed, obstinate fellow.

Returning by way of Berlin, through the kindness of Herr von Béhr Schmoldow, I met the Fischerei Verein, several members of which are in the German Parliament; in fact, most public men in that country take an interest in fish culture, and that it is in high favor may be known by one of the titles of the Crown Prince, which is "Protector of Fisheries."

This lot of eggs was shipped from Sacramento October 2, and some were opened on the 26th; how long they had been packed before delivery to the express company I do not know.

I am aware that in a previous year a successful shipment had somehow been made to New Zealand, and now while writing this I have received a letter stating that a shipment made this season to that country arrived in good order after an ocean voyage of eight weeks; but it does not state how carried, nor at what temperature. My own experience leads me to believe that a crate of eggs packed in California will not keep in good state two weeks after arriving at New York, even in a cool cellar with plenty of ice on top of the crate, and certainly not in a hatchway where, after passing the Banks of Newfoundland, the air ranged from 65° to 74°, as shown in the record above.

As previously stated, one-half of the eggs taken to Hüningen were sent to the Freiburg Society for Fish Culture on the 29th, and after remaining four days at the fishery and seeing the first spawn of the season taken from the trout (Salmo fario) by the director, I went to inspect the old salmon fishery belonging to Mr. Glazer, of Basil, situated ten miles up the Rhine at the village of Rhinefelden, where an immense

weight suddenly elevates the net when sprung by the person watching, who holds a cord with twenty branches reaching to as many parts of the net, by which he feels a fish strike against any portion of it.

By request of Herr von Béhr, I then went to Freiburg to await the arrival of the Crown Prince at Wiesbaden, to whom I had letters, and who, as I was informed, was desirous of hearing of the progress of fish culture in America, a subject in which he takes great interest; but, on account of some change in his plans, I received a telegram that he would not reach Wiesbaden during my stay there. I had the pleasure of meeting the president of the Fischerei-Verein, Herr von Béhr, on November 5, at Berlin, and on the evening of the 8th met the society, whose members consist of the leading scientists and statesmen of Germany.

After the transaction of their usual course of business I was called upon for an explanation of the methods in use in America for taking spawn, packing and transporting it, the number of eggs obtained in a season from our different fishes, &c., when, after stating all of importance that came to mind and answering a few questions, we adjourned to a dinner composed of the favorite fishes of Germany.

The fish culturists of that country are keenly alive to the progress of the art wherever practiced; and especially to American improvements, of which there are so many, do they look to see what may be of real value.

For the Coregoni they have many of the Holton boxes, which are to be tried upon a large scale this season for the first time for stocking Lake Constance and other waters, while for the Salmonidæ, exclusive of the genus above named, they use our unpatented trough with wire or glass trays, and Williamson's trough for the greater part of the work, employing the Coste tray only to a very limited extent.

I left Bremen on the 10th of November for England, where my efforts to collect and transport turbot and sole to our waters met with only a partial success. I will leave the remainder of the trip for a special report concerning those fishes.

XIV.-REPORT ON THE COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOODIC SALMON EGGS IN 1877-'78.

BY CHARLES G. ATKINS.

1.-PREPARATIONS.

The collection of eggs of Schoodic Salmon in 1877 was carried on at the same site and substantially with the same fixtures and in the same methods as in former years. A series of pounds built of stakes and finemeshed nets on the gravelly shallows below the dam at the outlet of Grand Lake sufficed to entrap almost the whole run of breeding fish, and no other means of taking fish were provided. The eggs were brought forward in the old house at the spring, half a mile up a little brook tributary to Grand Lake Stream.

[ocr errors]

Though the general plan of the fixtures for entrapping and keeping the parent fish was the same as in previous years, considerable improvements were introduced. The "main lead" by which the fish descending the stream approached our enclosures was narrowed to about 20 feet, and brought to resemble a long tunnel flaring at the upper end to about 60 feet, and at the lower end abruptly contracted to 5 or 6 feet at the point of entrance into the first pound. The water was rapid throughout nearly the whole of this main lead, and afforded so good spawning-ground that we were compelled to exercise great vigilance to prevent many fish making their nests there. It was found necessary to drive down, by means of a small seine in the hands of two men, all the fish that lingered on this ground. As they were apt to take the alarm and dart up stream beyond reach on the approach of any one, a net stretched on stakes across the very head of the lead, and weighted with a heavy chain, was so arranged that it could be drawn up from the bottom by means of a line running ashore and held suspended so as to allow fish to pass freely down into the lead. At fixed hours during the night this net was suddenly dropped, and all retreat being thus cut off the reluctant fish were driven down into the enclosures before they had time to lay their eggs. Probably the fish saved in this way amounted to 10 or 20 per cent. of the total catch, the remainder passing down at once and entering the pounds without compulsion.

Another change introduced this year was the entrapping of the fish in a small pound where they could be examined and counted before placing them in the main enclosure. This was a very satisfactory arrangement. The examinations were made at stated times each night, immediately after driving the fish in from the lead, and the record of

[ocr errors]

these examinations affords us the data not only for a daily summary of the breeding stock of either sex on hand, but also for some generalizations on the movements of the fish as affected by the weather and other phenomena.

The main pound, where the most of the fish were kept, was, as before, very commodious-about 70 feet long and 40 wide, with a maximum depth of about 5 feet. In this many hundred salmon lay quietly together, making, so far as we could observe, no very strenuous exertions to escape, except a few cases. Another pound of equal size was provided for the spawned fish to lie in while awaiting their transfer to the lake. Besides these, the two trap-pounds, and the "main lead," five other enclosures were provided to enable us to properly assort the fish as we were using them; for instance, in one would be placed those that were tried and found unripe; in another those that had yielded their eggs and were waiting to be pressed the second time, which was always done; another would contain surplus males; another, fish notable for any peculiarity which it was desired to observe further. All these enclosures were formed of fine-meshed nets hung on stakes and for the most part held down at the bottom by the weight of chains, which rendered it easy to transfer a whole body of fish from one enclosure to another by lifting the bottom of the net and driving them under.

The only change made at the hatching-house was the complete cleaning out of the brook which afforded an outlet both for the water of the spring and the surface water of the vicinity. This flows for a long distance over flat, low ground, and on two former occasions sudden rains had raised the water until it reached the tops of our hatching-troughs, threatening, but not accomplishing, serious mischief. To avoid a disaster from this source the brook was cleared out, widened, and deepened for a distance of about 140 rods. Even with this improvement, however, the site of the hatching-house is a very unfavorable one. Both spring and brook water can be used, but the brook is a tiny one, and in cold and dry weather shrinks to a very insignificant volume, while the spring issues from the ground at such a slight elevation above the swamp through which it flows that at best we can barely get our troughs high enough to avoid flooding by freshets. There is thus no opportunity of aerating the water by a fall, and the trough must be placed on a level with the floor, an unfavorable position for work. However, no better arrangement could be made. No larger spring could be found in the neighborhood; there was no clean and ample brook; and the water of Grand Lake Stream itself, though probably unsurpassed for such a purpose by any in the world, could not be used on account of certain physical difficulties which I saw no way of surmounting with the means at my disposal.

2. THE FISHING.

The main nets were placed in the stream September 17, and at the same time a strong movable net placed across the head of the canal

leading from the lake to the neighboring tannery. These measures placed the fish practically within control, though some had already passed down the stream below our fishing-ground. There were many salmon seen about the dam as early as the first week in October, and on the 6th they were seen lying in groups above the nets. The first ridd was found October 24, and by the beginning of November a good many could be counted on the ground accessible to the fish. The imprisoned fish did not, however, make any attempt at spawning until much later.

The first eggs were taken October 31, but few fish were ripe at that time, the females taken the following night, 51 in number, affording but 12 ripe specimens. On the 5th of November the work of taking spawn was begun in earnest, and continued almost daily up to the 24th, when that part of the work was brought to a close. From the beginning it was the common practice to examine each morning the fish caught during the night, and take eggs from all that were ready, placing the unripe in the general enclosure, which was overhauled only once a week. At first, and indeed until the middle of November, about half the female fish were unripe when they first came to hand, and up to the very last day there were still some that were not quite ready to yield their eggs. This is in marked contrast to my former experience with the sea-going salmon at Bucksport, where, after the 1st day of November, an unripe fish was rarely found.

As usual the male fish were earlier on the ground. Up to the 6th of November, when, for the first time, the entire stock had been examined, 59 per cent. of the fish were males, while of the entire catch for the season they constituted only 43 per cent. The proportion of males in 1875 was 40 per cent., and in 1876 only 27 per cent. Of the whole number of fish taken all were mature males and females except barely three specimens whose sex was not ascertained, their reproductive organs not being sufficiently developed; these were a little smaller than the gravid females, which they much resembled (being, however, much slenderer), and very likely were simply strays from a large brood in the lake not yet arrived at adult age.

By reference to the tabulated statement of the fishing (Table I) it will be seen that, for the most part, the fish ran much plentier in the early than the late part of the night. This predominance of the evening catch was most marked during the period of the heaviest run of fish, the first ten days of November. During the day their downward movements were almost entirely suspended except on one or two days, especially at the time when at the height of their run, for instance on the 10th of November, when 111 fish came in before 4 p. m.

The influence of the weather was not very marked. So far as our observations go they indicate a slight preference of the fish to run into our enclosures in clear weather rather than cloudy, and without regard to the moon or the force of the winds. Of the five nights when the morn

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »