THE PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHAD. 331 



the steamer Donau, Captain Neiuaber, which left New York on the 5th 

 August. The German Fishing Society thereupon intrusted Dr. Finsch, 

 its corresponding member, with the care of placing the fish in the Weser, 

 who was in this matter most willingly assisted by the practical advice 

 of Mr. C. Schieber, the experienced fishing superintendent of the city 

 of Hamelu, who, fully appreciating the importance of the undertaking, 

 personally placed himself at Dr. Finsch's disposal. Although no de- 

 tailed information had been received from America regarding the num- 

 ber and age of the fish, or the manner of transporting them, all the 

 necessary preparations were made for receiving the rare finny guests, 

 the first which had ever crossed the ocean to be domiciled with us. All 

 the details must of course depend on the condition of the fish at their 

 arrival ; and, in order to be informed of this in good time, Dr. Finsch 

 asked Messrs. Keller, Wallis & Postlethwaite, agents of the Lloyd in 

 Southampton, to telegraph immediately on the arrival of the fish regard- 

 ing their condition. These gentlemen sent a telegram on the 15th, 

 which arrived here on the 16th, saying that unfortunately the whole 

 number of 100,000 fish had died on the day previous. A letter from 

 Professor Baird, which Consul Schwab, in New York, had dispatched 

 by the Prussian closed mail, announced the same day the arrival of 

 Messrs. Frederic Mather and A. A. Anderson, in whose charge the fish 

 had been placed. Dr. Finsch therefore went to Bremerhaven on the 

 17th August, and got from the above-mentioned gentlemen all the desired 

 information and all the details, from which it is evident, beyond a doubt, 

 that, in spite of the failure of this first attempt, the successful trans- 

 portation of young shad is possible. 



To understand the whole matter, we must speak of the particular diffi- 

 culties attending the transportation of fish of the Alosa kind in a live 

 state, which are much greater than with any representative of the 

 Salmonidce. Mr. Schieber was not able to keep our European Alosa, 

 the Alosa vulgaris, alive more thau twelve hours; and the American 

 representative of this family, the shad, (Alosa prcestabilis,) seems to 

 be more tender, for, as Mr. Mather assured us, the attempt to put the 

 mature shad in a vessel would prove fatal. The idea of transporting 

 grown or half-grown shad can therefore not be entertained, just as little 

 as that of spawn, as in this respect likewise the Alosa is subject to con- 

 ditions of life differing entirely from those of the salmon. While in 

 some varieties of these last-mentioned fish the eggs frequently require 

 weeks for their development, which, moreover, can be retarded artifi- 

 cially by lowering the temperature — a circumstances of the utmost im- 

 portance for transportation — this cannot be done with shad-eggs. These 

 develop as early as the third or fourth day, and perish if the tempera- 

 ture is less than 72° to 80°, (Fahrenheit.) Another circumstance which 

 facilitates the transportation of young salmon is this, that they keep the 

 umbilical bag, which gives food to the young during the first period of 

 their existence, from one to six weeks, while in the young shad this bag 



