210 RECENT REPORTS OF FISHERY AUTHORITIES. 



occasions of small numbers of fry, in waters to which the fish are 

 not indigenous, is it not permissible to assume that much more striking 

 consequences must follow the planting of enormous quantities of fry 

 year after year, in native waters ? " 



The history of the introduction of the striped bass {Roccus lineatus) 

 to the same region adds strong support to my argument, for this intro- 

 duction was altogether independent of artificial propagation. In 1879 

 about 150 specimens, a few inches long, taken in Shrewsbury Eiver, 

 New Jersey, were carried across the Continent and liberated at the 

 mouth of Sacramento Eiver ; in 1882, another lot of 300 fish was 

 transported to the same region. As a result of these two small deposits 

 the species became distributed along the entire coast of California, and 

 the catch in 1892 was about 43,000 lbs., for which the fishermen 

 received somewhat more than £1,000. 



The operations of the U.S. Commission for the year, in the propaga- 

 tion and distribution of fish, are recorded in the Eeport in great detail, 

 but only a few points need be mentioned here. The discussion of 

 results is not attempted in this section of the Eeport. The propagation 

 of marine fishes is still conducted on a rather small scale. At 

 Gloucester Station, Mass., 49 million cod eggs were obtained, and 20 

 million fry produced and liberated. At Woods Hole cold killed the 

 spawners, and only 2,883,000 cod eggs were obtained, from which 

 850,500 fry were produced. Lobster eggs were also hatched ; and 

 mackerel, sea-bass, and flat fish on a very limited scale. Of shad 

 31 million fry were hatched at Battery Island Station on the 

 Chesapeake, about 7 million on the Delaware, 5h million at the Central 

 Station, a total of 43| millions. Thus, the number of fry obtained was 

 only a little greater than that of the plaice hatched at Dunbar, and 

 little more than one-fifth of the number of cod-fry hatched in 

 Newfoundland. But, on the other hand, the number of eggs per female 

 shad is given as 45,000, and the number of eggs obtained was 

 74,150,000, so that 1,647 females were stripped, and from this point of 

 view the propagation of shad in the United States, is on a larger 

 scale than that of plaice or cod in Scotland or Newfoundland. 



Investigations. — As usual, a considerable amount of research is 

 described in the Scotch Eeport. Dr. Fulton has added another series 

 of experiments to those which have been carried out on the Garland, 

 by his instructions. In this case he has had an equal number of hooks 

 of different sizes fitted on one long line, and the line has been shot, 

 in order to see whether the larger hooks caught fewer small and 

 immature fish. The fish caught in largest numbers were of course 

 haddock, and although the proportion of mature to immature fish was 



