BULLETIN OF HIE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 3 05 



pregnated eggs are batched on eight large hatching-frames resting on 

 a walled foundation of so-called Pntiloff stones, arranged on both sides 

 in double rows. According to Professor Grimm's opinion they are suf- 

 ficient to receive at one and the same time 5 million eggs of the Core- 

 goni'.s,* or2 million trout-eggs. Besides these expensive batching-frames 

 another peculiarity deserves attention, viz, the fact that the impreg- 

 nated eggs, for the purpose of developing, are placed on square porcelain 

 plates, having a surface of about 4 square inches, with a low edge, bent 

 upwards; and that these plates are placed close to each other on the 

 bottom of the hatching-frames, where an uninterrupted stream of water 

 is caused to flow over them. Although this method (to cause water to 

 flow over the eggs ) is said to have produced excellent results, it must 

 be considered as antiquated, after cheaper methods, saving both space 

 and water, have been invented in America and have been introduced 

 very extensively not only in that country but also in Europe. The 

 hatching-house of Nikolsk is under the care of a superintendent and 

 assistants, who live in the establishment. 



The Nikolsk ponds are used partly for keeping and raising the breed- 

 ing fish, trout and Coregonus, partly for raising sterlet, and several other 

 less valuable kinds of fish. A special superintendent had charge of 

 these ponds and attended to the feeding of the fish kept in them. He 

 likewise was furnished with a house by the establishment. 



As the kinds of fish which are raised in Nikolsk (the Coregonus and the 

 trout) are not found there, it became necessary to get the first fish from 

 St. Petersburg, a distance of about 350 wersts [233 miles]. The trout 

 which are now in the ponds belonging to the Nikolsk establishment came 

 from streams near Gatschina (Sudakewitsch , l and the Coregonus from fish- 

 tanks in St. Petersburg. It is true that trout have been found at Jaschel- 

 bitsch, distant about 35 wersts [23 miles], but only quite recently they 

 have been used, to a limited extent, for the purpose of obtaining spawn. 

 This circumstance, i. e., the lack of spawning fish in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood and the isolated location of the establishment, as well as the 

 insufficient means of communication, have of course restricted its work 

 in more ways than one. The largest number of eggs which have been in 

 the establishment at the same time is 300,000; but generally it is much 

 smaller, hardly 100,000. The entire number of trout and Coregonus eggs 

 which have been raised here in the course of ten years seems nor to 

 have been more than what is raised in some of the larger piscicultural es- 

 tablishments in Germany in one year. The annual production of young 

 fry in some of the salmon-hatching establishments which formerly ex- 

 isted in Finland was at least as great if not greater than that of the 

 Nikolsk establishment; at least, judging from the statistics furnished 

 by Professor Grimm. Thus there were in 1861 deposited in the hatch- 



* Corcyonus r.iarwna Blocli. Martin in the original, here and throughout the paper. 

 For fads regarding the habitat and culture of this species see Report of Prof. S. F. 

 Baird, Commissioner, for 1876-77, pp. *39, "40.— C. W. S. 



