34 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The experiments of Mr. Seth Green and Mr. K. W. Clark have re- 

 duced the loss of the eggs to an inconsiderable number, and with a 

 small outlay of money this fish may be restored with a success equal 

 to that of the shad in the rivers of the Atlantic coast. 



The losses in the fry-stage merit consideration, though there is every 

 evidence to believe that they are very small. 



One great advantage in favor of the young wl^ite-flsh is its strength 

 and vigor almost from the time it leaves the egg, and its disposition to 

 seek the surface, as observed in the troughs and where they were seen 

 in their natural condition in Detroit Eiver. 



The piscivorous fishes of the lakes are to be found almost entirely in 

 the lesser depths. Of these the -pike, Stizostedion americana, is the most 

 destructive in the regions wiiere it is to be found in numbers. Their 

 number, however, does not at all approach that of the spawn-eating 

 herring, and it is not probable that the white-fish suffer from their vo- 

 racity in the earliest stages of their growth, but after they have attained a 

 couple of inches or more in length. The regions where the pike is nu- 

 merous are the western end of Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, 

 and Green Bay, Lake Michigan. 



The perch prevails in limited numbers throughout the whole extent 

 of the lakes. The lake-trout is not found, within the range of the smaller 

 white-fishes, in sulficieut numbers to do them much damage. The habit 

 of the young embryos to seek the surface is also a protection to them. 

 There is not in the lakes a single surface-feeding fish, except perhaps 

 a few small Cyprinoids and a CJtirosioma, which are not piscivorous 

 species. There is no savage feeder, such as the blue-fish, Pomatomus 

 saUatrix, of the sea, that comes to the surface. So that at this stage of 

 growth thej^ are comparatively safe. There are also large schools of 

 the Cyprinoid family found in the lakes at the same season of the year 

 as the small white-fishes, and from the month of June until late in the 

 fall large schools of embryo fishes are found in the waters, principally 

 Cyprinoids. So that there is abundance at all seasons of the year to 

 supply the appetites of the piscivorous fishes besides the young white- 

 fish, and they, of course, suft'er much less in consequence. 



The increase of shad on the sea-coast has resulted from turning loose 

 the embryos, when but a few days from the egg, where the piscivorous 

 fishes are numerous, and an increase of equal or greater rapidity may 

 be looked for in the white-fish, with comparatively few dangers to 

 encounter. 



(IS h.) Breeding of salmon-trout. — The breeding of the salmon-trout, 

 Sahno namaycush, with the exception of the hatching of a few eggs by 

 Mr. IsT. W. Clark, has been entirely in the hands of Mr. Seth Green, of 

 Eochester, N. Y. His experiments extend from the fall of 1870 to the 

 IDresent, with continued success. The past season eggs and youn^ of the 

 salmon-trout were distributed to about seventy different persons, to stock 

 the lakes of the State of New York. 



