BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 427 



Wlien winter came I took all of them (some 18) and put tbem in a 

 large tank of pure cold water fed by a windmill from a deep well, and 

 kept them there until April last without anj^ food whatever, or with- 

 out, any mud or other substance for protection. The tank Avas about 10 

 feet deep and froze over several times during the winter, the thermom- 

 eter standing as low as 14° above zero for several weeks. From this 

 tank I transferred them to a shallow pond dug in the alkali bottom 

 near by, which has simply been supplied from the surface water drain- 

 ing in through the quicksand. In this pond at the age of two years 

 and after such treatment they have bred, which I think proves conclu- 

 sively that they are a very hardy fish. I did not lose one of them dur- 

 ing the tests or since. Since putting them in the pond I have fed them 

 liberally on corn-meal mush, wheat bread, spoiled cheese, &c., and they 

 have grown wonderfully. I am confident they will be a great success 

 in the Rio Grande Valley and other parts of New Mexico. 



The Rio Grande is well stocked with catfish, suckers, eels, and sev- 

 eral other varieties. 1 am confident that carp would do finely in it also. 



Albuquerque, N. Mex.. August 10, 1884. 



•M)r ON THE SCARCITY OF MACKEUEIi IN THE GUIiF OF SAINT 



r.A\VRENCE. 



By Capt. J. W. COLLII^S. 



In view of the fact that the reciprocity treaty with Great Britain will 

 soon expire by limitation, and that it is possible another may be nego- 

 tiated, affecting to a greater or less degree the prosperity of the fishery 

 industries of the United States, I assume that additional and reliable 

 information relative to the mackerel fishery in the Gulf of Saint Law- 

 rence may be of interest. The accumulation of such data may enable 

 the legislative and executive departments of our Government to gain a 

 more comprehensive idea of the subject under consideration and to es- 

 timate more accurately than could otherwise be done the probable gain 

 or loss to our fishing interests by a renewal of the treaty on its former 

 basis. It is not, of course, necessary for me to dwell on the well-knowK 

 fact that the extraordinary claims made by Canada when the treaty to 

 which I have referred was made, and also before the Halifax Commis- 

 sion, were based chiefly on the assumption that fisheimenof the United 

 States derived great profits from being able to participate in the inshore 

 mackerel fisheries of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Therelore I beg to 

 submit the following facts relative to the mackerel fishery of the Gulf, 

 and which I have obtained from an interview with my brother, Capt. 

 D. E. Collins, who returned last Saturday, August 30, from a cruie^ v- 

 the Gulf: 



He left home June 18, in the schooner Susie Hooper, of this port, 

 fully equipped for a mackerel trip, and carrying two purse-seines and 



