ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF SHAD. 



373 



I had used whisky-barrels similarly treated for the transportation of 

 fish, and once carried a quantity of adult grayling on a journey of 

 thirty-four hours in them with but trifling loss, none of which seemed to 

 be due to the slight trace of alcohol perceptible to the sense of smell. 



Therefore, with a slight misgiving that so delicate a creature as an 

 embryo shad might possibly be affected by the homoeopathic amount of 

 alcohol still present, I set up my apparatus on the shaded piazza of the 

 hotel. One barrel was used for ice-water and the other two as reser- 

 voir and receiver. 



The first trial was made with 3,000 eggs, which were taken from the 

 fish at 10 p. m. June 20, and were put in the river-boxes, where the 

 water was from 76° to 80°. On the following day, at 4 p. m., they were 

 brought to the hotel, and the temperature gradually lowered to 68° by 

 8 p. m., when they were placed in the hatching-can, and the spigot set 

 to flow twenty gallons per hour. The following table gives the temper- 

 atures and results : 



Remarks. 



Water tastes of whisky. 



Gave an entire change of water. 



Fish visible in tho eggs ; motion at daybreak ; fungns on dead eggs. 



First fish hatched at 8 a. m. ; 1,000 at noon ; they appeared very 



weak, and there was no deposit of pigment in the eye ; put them 



in box in the river and cleaned tho barrels. 



In this experiment, nearly the same results were attained as in one 

 that I conducted in the Smithsonian Institution some two weeks before, 

 viz, the fish hatched, without any perceptible color in the eye, and had 

 little vitality. 



In the former trial referred to, this lack of vital power was attributed 

 to the bad air in the basement where the hatcher was located, arising 

 from the absorption of gases from a portion of a whale that had just 

 arrived in bad condition. This theory, whether correct or not, was the 

 only one that presented itself to account for the fact that the fish lived 

 but a few hours after hatching, as it was the opinion of several experts 

 that, as the flow of water was sufficient to supply all the oxygen required, 

 and that a movement of the egg was not necessary, therefore when I 

 attained the same result in the open air I concluded that a flavor of 

 whisky in the water produced the same effects as the deleterious gases 

 before referred to, or that a lack of motion was the cause. 



To test the latter point, I had a new can made, with a diameter of six 

 inches, and screen of five, which, with sixty gallons of water per hour 

 flowing through it, gave a slight movement to the eggs. TVhile this trial 

 was in progress, the weather was very hot, at midday on several occa- 



