198 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



lo-j.— SHAD r:c:c;s seivt to coi^d spring iiarbor. ivew york, to 



BE HATCHED. 



By ITIARSHALL. I?IcDO]VAL,D. 



On May 19 I forwarded from Central Station, Washington, by express 

 to Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 80,000 shad eggs, which were taken 

 from the hatching jars at Central Station, and were twenty-four hours 

 advanced in incubation. The eggs were placed on wire-bottom trays 

 and securely packed in ice, so as to keep down the temperature. The 

 success of the experiment, as reported below by Mr. Mather, superin- 

 tendent of Cold Spring Hatchery, is gratifying, inasmuch as it promises 

 most important applications in the development of the work of shad 

 propagation. Under date of May 30 Mr. Mather reported as follows : 



HATCHING SHAD EGGS IN SPRING WATER. 



This experiment was a complete success. On May 20 I received the 

 80,000 shad eggs. Tliey arrived at G.20 p. m. and were put in the 

 McDonald jars at 7.30 p. m. The temperature of the package was 

 55° and of the water 58°. They began hatching about noon on the 

 24th and finished near noon on the 27th. There was a little fungus on 

 a small bunch of dead eggs in one jar one morning, but no trace of it 

 in the others. The mean temperature was 60°.7 during the nine days 

 they were kept, but the table given below shows that on two days only 

 it rose above that figure, and on one of these it rose to 71°, thus making 

 the mean tempe.rature higher than the temperature of seven days out 

 of nine. 



The 78,000 fry were planted in the Nissequogue River, emptying into 

 Long Island Sound below Smithtown, Suffolk County, New York. 



Washing'J on, D. C, June 16, 1884. 



