BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 379 



uiid glisteuiug, the gills fresh aud red, the fish bright and healthy, with- 

 out discoloration or loss of scales. 

 27 Queen Street, Germantown, Phila., Pa., June 30, 1883. 



I have decided to go down aftet a few days and put in a few more 

 fish. After coming so near to making the experiment a success, and 

 with the experience I have gained in the last few years, it may resnlt in 

 success in the future. I now feel almost assured that my place is 

 adapted for the purpose of penning fish, with some additional expense 

 of having it dug deeper and arranged so that the water will flow in at 

 one end of the basin and run out at the other end at every tide. When 

 once attained, the i)rincii)le will be followed by many fishermen, and 

 perhaps companies will be formed to carry on the business along the 

 coast and bays, taking trout and some other fish while coming in during 

 the spring — May and June— aud strii^ed bass in the f;ill of the year — 

 November and December. 



Xo person has any conception of the number of fish passing in and 

 out of the bay until they learn something of it by actual experience. 

 Although thousands of tons of valuable fish are destroyed annually by 

 porpoises, sharks, and other fish of prey aud by the hawks, there could 

 be thousands of tons captured for wholesome and cheap food without 

 their being missed from the waters. The capturing of them and trans- 

 ferring them into the bat*ins is attained without even lifting them out 

 of the water and with but very little loss. 



27 Queen Street, Germantown, Phila., Pa., July 10, 1883. 



REPLY BY professor BAIRD. 



As far as I can judge, the difficulty must be the warmth of the water 

 in the shallow inclosures to which you refer, and the deficient supply 

 of oxygen for so large a number of fish. 



In our experience of carrying fish, we find that for a difierence of 

 temperature of 50° and 70°, nearly three times as much water is required 

 for the latter as for the former. As the water is now probably well up 

 to 70°, this would be, in itself, an explanation. 



I would strongly advise that, if possible, you put a few of the fish in 

 your inclosure, say 20 or 30, and see how they behave. 



We have succeeded in penning up striped bass in a basin on an island 

 in the Susquehanna River and keeping them until June. The number 

 of fish, however, was in much less proportion to the water than that 

 indicated bv vou. 



The practice of penning fish is in vogue in France, where, however, I 

 presume the depth of water is considerably greater and the tempera- 

 ture less. There is no reason why it may not be done here also. I am 

 working in that same direction, constructing basins for penning codfish, 

 mackerel, and other northern species, to hold them until their eggs are 



