XX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tation of the Vereln to the German government, it had been decided 

 that 250,000 eggs should be presented to the Uuited States at the pi^oper 

 time, all packed and ready for transmission, provided I wonld agree to 

 have them transported to a point of shipment under the care of .an ex- 

 perieuced operator. To this, of course, I gladly agreed, and named Mr. 

 Rudolph Hessel, of Offenburg, an eminent fish-culturist and highly 

 esteemed correspondent, from whom I had already derived much valuable 

 information, to take charge of that duty. Articles by this gentleman 

 npou the salmon of the Danube River, {Salmo hucho,) the breeding of the 

 cyprinoid lishes, &c., will be found in the appendix to his report.* 



The following letters on this subject were received from the authori- 

 ties in Germany : 



[Translation.] 



Bureau of the Deutsche Fischerei-Verein, 



Berlin, June 11, 1872. 

 In consequence of your letter of the 15th of May, addressed to Professor Peters, of 

 this city, in reference to the acquisition of salmon-eggs for your Government, we have 

 applied to the superintendent of the fish-culture establishment at Hiiningen, and have 

 received his reply, of which we inclose a copy. 



Placing you thus in possession of the facts in the case, we beg that you will favor us 

 as speedily as possible with a reply as to wii ether your Government is ready to assume 

 the cost of the transportation of 250,000 salmon-eggs. 



MANARD. 

 Dr. Spencer F. Baird, Washington. 



[Translation.] 



HtJNLNGEN, June 7, 1872. 



On receipt of your letter I placed myself immediately in communication with the 

 circle president in reference to the conditions under which the establishment could 

 supply salmon-eggs to the American Government. On my proposition, it was agreed 

 that, in any event, the eggs should be furnished free of exiiense, although it is not 

 possible to supply " several millions." As the salmon-eggs are intended, in the first 

 place, for Germany, alone, the establishment could not pledge itself to supply more 

 than 250,000 at most, aud this only on the condition that the necessary care be exer- 

 cised in their transporta-tion. It is an indispensable condition that the eggs shall bo 

 taken from here by a special messeuger to Havre or Cherbourg, so that they may be 

 secured against heating duriug the journey. Arrangements must also be made for 

 their preservation on the steamer in a uniformly cool place, and for their reception in 

 New York by an expert in such matters. The doublepacking of a quarter of a million of 

 salmon-eggs will require at least thirty boxes, each weighing- about fifteen pounds; so 

 that the whole will weigh nearly five hundred pounds and occupy a considerable 



space. 



HAACK, Director. 

 Herr Manard. 



[Translation.] 



Imperial Fish-Breeding Institution, 

 Huningen, near St. Louis, Alsace, August 13, 1872. 

 Honor-UJLE Sir : I have been asked by the Bureau of the German Fishery Association 

 to write directly to you in reference to the Rhine salmon-eggs to be sent to America. 



*The Salmon of the Danube, or the Hucho, (Salmo huclio,) and itg Introduction to 

 American Waters, p. 161 ; also Method of Treating Adhesive Eggs of Certain Fishes in 

 Artificial Propagation. 



