162 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



This would indicate success if we can organize a force of spawntakers 

 and establish a collecting station at Georgetown. To have a force of 

 men regularly paid to take spawn, as is usuallj' the case, would be too 

 expensive to think of where the fishing is so scattered. I therefore pro- 

 pose, after instructing the fishermen in the art of stripping a shad, to 

 furnish them with necessary pans, buckets, &c., and pay them so much 

 a quart for all the eggs impregnated and brought to me in good condi- 

 tion delivered at Georgetown. This can be done, as there is daily com- 

 munication between this place and points along the river. 



TEANSPORTING EGGS ON TRAYS. 



It has been ascertained by the United States Fish Commissionery 

 from repeated experiments, that the shad eggs can be kept for a num- 

 ber of hours on damj) cloth spread on wire trays, and afterwards hatched 

 successfully. This has been done for several years past by the Govern- 

 ment, and is now the common mode of transporting the eggs from the 

 fishing-grounds on Potomac Eiver to the hatching-stations in Wash- 

 ington. To Mr. S. G. Worth, Commissioner of North Carolina, is due 

 the credit of having shipped the first shad eggs in this way to any con- 

 siderable distance. He reports success with several shipments last 

 spring as follows : 



"From Avoca, in Bertie County, I sent to Ealeigh at various times 

 during April and May a number of the eggs of the shad on trays of 

 Canton flannel. The two points are distant about 220 miles, and the 

 time they were on trays w^as thirty-one hours. The transfer was highly 

 successful, and over 300,000 fry were hatched at the carp ponds near 

 Ealeigh and released into Neuse Kiver, near by. The trays used were 

 simple frames made of strips an inch square, with the fabric i)ut on with 

 tacks. When the eggs were ready for transfer, a number of cloths were 

 wet an<l a layer of ova placed on each, either with a dipper or large 

 spoon. About sixty-four occupy the space of a square inch, and when 

 spread on the trays they slightly compress each other, the appearance 

 being in shape like the cells of honey-comb, while the entire mass is 

 nearly as clear and transparent as an equal bulk of rain-drops. A num- 

 ber of trays supplied with eggs were placed one upon another to the 

 height of 10 or 12 inches and the whole number put into a box large 

 and deep enough to allow 4 to 8 inches of moss to be introduced between 

 the trays and box. The long moss of the coast was mixed with'finely- 

 broken ice, and a complete cushion of it packed on all sides and be- 

 neath. The moss formed an easy spring to prevent sudden jars, and at 

 the same time arrest any undue rise in temperature. Boxed in this 

 manner, eggs were sent to Ealeigh by express without an attending mes- 

 senger. * * * >-i wrote to Professor Baird, the United States Fish 

 Commissioner, and told him of the shij^ment of eggs made to Ealeigh, 

 and begged him to aid me in pressing the experiment further. With 

 his usual courtesy, he promptly responded by sending three lots consist- 



