I90 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



and easy to propagate. The eggs bear transportation over the roughest roads without 

 injury. Superintendent Race of the Green Lake Station, Maine, claims that in the 

 percentage of eggs fertihzed and fry hatched, the saibling takes precedence of all 

 congeners. As far as is known, however, it does not breed in confinement, nor under 

 such circumstances afTect a brilliant nuptial coloration. Ripe fish taken at Lake 

 Sunapee can not be transferred to the State tanks, one mile from the spawning-beds, 

 without a long and serious dela}- in their sexual procedures. Instances occur in which 

 females refuse to part with their eggs and carry them over to the ne.xt season. Adult 

 saibling have been kept for three years in a cold spring at Holderness ; but even when 

 placed among spawning brook trout, they remained passionless, manifesting no 

 perceptible sexual appetite. At death, the reproductive organs of these fish were 

 found conspicuously atrophied. 



In regard to the hardiness of the saibling, Mr. Merrill states: "At Green Lake, the 

 temperature of the water runs high in spring, and much loss has been occasioned 

 thereby among the brook trout fry, but the saibling have in such cases remained per- 

 fectly healthy. My experience in rearing this fish has been extremely satisfactory, 

 and I believe it to be one of the best subjects for the fish culturist among our salmo- 

 nidae, especially where the fry are reared to the yearling stage, as is generally done in 

 Maine. The eggs that I received last winter hatched well, and the fry, in the early 

 stages of development, displayed wonderful hardiness under the most trying circum- 

 stances. 



"The brook trout, during the spring, suffered from warm water, the tempera- 

 ture rising to 65° F. soon after they hatched. The loss was considerable, but the 

 saibling fry ivcre not affected by this Iiigh temperature. It would seem that at the time 

 the saibling is hatching on the shoals, and is exposed to great variations of tempera- 

 ture. Nature has rendered the fry immune. My young saibling are persistent hiders; 

 any crevice in the bank or lump of clay on the bottom affords a hiding place. When 

 fed, they will emerge and rise for their food, but will immediately hide again. Trout 

 fed in similar ponds do not at any time hide, but school together, generally at the 

 head of the pond. In feeding, the saibling remain near the bottom, darting up after 

 their food and going back quickly. They are much cleaner feeders than either trout 

 or salmon, picking up all the food that sinks, allowing none to waste. Although they 

 will hide when opportunity olTers, the young saibling are much tamer than trout or 

 salmon, approaching more closely the person feeding them, and when in the troughs 

 allowing themselves to be picked up with but little efifort to escape. The adult saibling 

 that I carried to the Lake Auburn hatchery from Flood's Pond last November have 

 fed well in the stock ponds and have made a rapid growth. As in the case of my 

 experience with the young fish, the)- grew very tame and were the favorites to feed 



