350 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



meters and the weight of 75 grains. In the other ponds, which had 

 more of a provisional character and are much smaller than the Kbken 

 pond, the fish certainly were much smaller, and were not so well shaped 

 and heavy as the specimens from Eoken, but they had reached the 

 very respectable length of 13 centimeters, and seemed to be in excel- 

 lent condition. This experiment, therefore, promises well for the future, 

 and it is probable that during the coming autumn (1885) these fish will 

 be ready to propagate, so that in the spring of 1886 some of the young 

 fish can be placed in other waters. 



California trout propagation at Wytheville, Va. — Mr. 

 George A. Seagle, writing under date of January 27, 1885, reports that 

 the two boxes of California trout eggs (50,000) received on the 21th 

 instant from Baird, Cal., were almost a total loss; only about 14,000 live 

 eggs being in the two boxes. They were very badly frozen; the bot- 

 toms of the cases being frozen hard, so that not a dozen eggs were 

 saved from the last four crates, although six hours were spent in thaw- 

 ing them out and bringing them to the required temperature. 



We still continue to get a few eggs from our own fish. I suppose we 

 average 800 eggs per day. The first eggs of the season are hatching- 

 out nicely. One fish yielded 962 eggs, January 26th. The first eggs 

 were taken on the 26th of December, and on the 26th of January they 

 began to hatch. The young fish seem to be stroug and in good condition. 



Petition for protective laws on mackerel. — At a meeting of 

 the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association at the Parker 

 House, Friday evening, January '60, 18S5, Mr. E. E. Small, of Province- 

 town, offered the following resolution : 



" That the committee on fisheries consider the expediency of peti- 

 tioning Congress for the enactment of a law preventing the catching 

 of mackerel by seiners before the 25th of May, and for a law preventing 

 the importation of mackerel caught before that day from any foreign 

 country." 



In support of his motion Mr. Small said that every year about the 

 middle of March the mackerel fleet went into southern waters, and 

 along the northern edge of the Gulf Stream they met the schools of 

 mackerel on their way to northern waters for the ptirpose of deposit- 

 ing their spawn. "These fish," said he, "are full of spawn; they are 

 easily caught, and when caught they are destroyed in immense numbers. 

 With every mackerel thus destroyed there are also destroyed thousands 

 and thousands of spawn. I know that one of the largest catches on rec- 

 ord was taken the past year. But out of the 476,000 barrels taken I am 

 positive that at least 400,000 barrels were little tinkers, about ten inches 

 long — fish that a few years ago would have been passed by with disdain. 

 Unless something is done to prevent the destruction of the spawn the 

 mackerel fishery will soon be in the same condition as the menhaden 

 fishery is now on the coast of Maine. All the large fish will soon be ex- 

 terminated. It is true that menhaden or porgies are now caught in 



