32 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



St. Johnsbury Station, Vermont. 



Mr. eJohn W. Titcomb, the superintendent of this station, having 

 been appointed in charge of the Division of Fish-culture of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission, at Washington, D. C, he was succeeded on February 

 15 by Mr. E. N. Carter. 



During the summer preparations were made for the collection of 

 brook-trout eggs in the waters controlled by the Laurentian Club in 

 Canada, in Lake Mitchell at Sharon, Vt. ; Darlings Pond, Groton, 

 Vt., and Noyes Lake, Chittenden, Vt. At Darlings Pond, where the 

 run of fish has heretofore been very large, the opposite conditions pre- 

 vailed. The collecting season was unusually dry throughout New 

 England and also in the Province of Quebec, where, in the Lauren- 

 tian Mountains, the lumbermen reported the water in the streams as 

 lower than it had been since 1847. Owing to the excessive drought 

 the trout did not run as early as usual, and in many instances the eggs 

 were inferior in quality. In the Province of Quebec 6,000 trout were 

 handled in one stream, but the ovaries of the females seemed diseased 

 and the few eggs secured were of inferior quality. In the Laurentian 

 Mountains most of the fish spawned around the shores of the lakes late 

 in the season after the ice had formed on the surface, and there were 

 very few places where the fish ascended the streams to spawn. 



At Lake Mitchell the first eggs were secured October 9 and the last 

 on November 16. Of the 324,129 collected, 150,300 were shipped on 

 assignments and the remaining 173,829 were transferred to the St. 

 Johnsbury Station to be hatched. 



At Darlings Pond the spawning season extended from September 

 30 to November 11, and resulted in the collection of 156,000 eggs, 

 15,000 of which were shipped on assignments. The remainder were 

 hatched at St. Johnsbury. 



From Noyes Lake 53,930 eyed eggs were secured, and after shipping 

 25,000 to fill assignments, the remaining 28,930 were transferred to 

 St. Johnsbury and hatched, producing 22,661 fry. The work at this 

 point began late in the season — October 18 — and lasted only five days. 



In addition to the eggs secured at the different field stations 250,000 

 domesticated-trout eggs were purchased of commercial fish-culturists; 

 a consignment of 40,000 was received from Carolina, R. I., in 

 exchange for 35,000 wild-trout eggs, and 39,500 were obtained by the 

 same method from East Freetown, Mass. An assignment of 8,000 

 domesticated-trout eggs was donated by Mr. L. B. Handy, of South 

 Warcham, Mass. , to be used for experimental purposes. AH of these 

 eggs were hatched at the St. Johnsbury Station, and the fry were dis- 

 tributed with those derived from the field station in Ma}' and June, 

 only 5,802 being retained for rearing. 



While the results from the domesticated-trout eggs do not compare 

 favorablv with those from the eggs of the wild brook trout, vcrv good 



