366 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Jar No. 12 was filled with surface-water from the bay ; the recent rains 

 had diluted this to a considerable extent. The treatment of the jar was 

 to afford a supply of this water every three hours. At 8 a. m. of the 

 16th they were put in the jar, and at noon of the 21st they were all dead, 

 having been in the jar 124 hours. 



An experiment was made by removing fish, nearly exhausted in sea- 

 water, to fresh spring-water. The fish survived those left in the jar 

 about 28 hours. 



Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were experiments to test the effect of differ- 

 ent temperatures, and 70°, 65°, 60°, 55°, and 50° were prescribed for 

 these jars. The temperatures were not, however, controlled with the 

 facilities at hand. No. 5 was intended to retain a temperature of 65°, 

 which it did quite regularly for about 175 hours. The last of the 

 fish were dead at 3 a. m. of the 23d, being then 207 hours old and 174 

 hours in the jar. 



The record for No. 6 was almost identical with No. 5. 



No. 7, with a temperature of 64°, kept the fish alive until they were 

 225 hours old, 192 hours in the jar. This is the longest period of life 

 among them ; the No. 4 sea- water test, however, exceeded it some 13 

 hours. It had slightly fewer fish than Nos. 5 and 6, which was of 

 course an advantage. 



In Nos. 9 and 10 the water remained at the temperatures of the room 

 without any care to decrease or regulate them in any way. The waters 

 varied from 66° to 78°. The fish retained life 219 hours, 186 hours in 

 the jar. 



No. 8 it was intended to keep at 50°, but, instead, it remained for 

 the most of the time at 64°. It was placed about the time the fish were 

 six days old in the refrigerator, which reduced the temperature to 48°, 

 at which the fish died rather rapidly. They were seven hours in the 

 ioe-chest, and were dead within three hours after the mercury stood at 50°. 



It will be at once seen, by those who have followed the published ex- 

 periences of men who have carried young shad long distances, that the 

 longest periods recorded for transportation of shad by rail (as in Seth 

 Green's trip with shad to California in 1871, 184 hours,) or by steamer 

 (as in Mather's and Anderson's trip to Bremen, 240 hours,) are not much 

 different from the longest period in which shad endured the treatment 

 with sea-water, (as in No. 4, 238 hours,) or a low temperature, (as in 

 No. 7, 192 hours.) 



The movement of the car or steamer in producing a moderate agita- 

 tion in the water is known by all who have carried shad to be a very 

 large advantage in favor of the life of the fish. With this advantage 

 the fishes in the jars would undoubtedly have prolonged their existence 

 considerably, as the use of water from the same source continually is 

 an advantage not at command when traveling, and the facilities for 

 cleansing the jars and keeping the temperature regular are also much 

 greater. 



