REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXI 



crushed ice or snow to keep the temperature equable. Collections 

 continued daily until March 26, the total take amounting- to 113,000,000 

 eggs, from which 02,305,000 fry were hatched and planted. The meteoro- 

 logical conditions during the season were much more favorable than for 

 several years previous, especially iu the months of iS'ovember and 

 December, when 63,000,000 eggs were secured, from which 45,000,000 fry 

 were hatched. The fish from which the eggs were taken were caught 

 in gill nets and in trawls iished by vessels making their headquarters 

 at Kittery. 



It has been customary to fertilize cod eggs by what is known as the 

 wet method, but this year tbe dry method was employed, and the 

 increased percentage of fry hatched is thought to have been due to that 

 fact. This percentage, though much smaller than is secured with the 

 eggs of other species handled by the Commission, was remarkably good 

 considering the conditions under which they were taken. Owing to 

 heavy storms it is frequently necessary to allow the fish to remain in 

 the nets for several days, and in such instances those captured in the 

 gill nets perish. The fish taken by the trawl nets frequently live for 

 several days, and for this reason the eggs secured from that source are 

 superior to those obtained from the gill nets. Where the fish have 

 been dead only a short time it is customary to save the eggs, and though 

 they appear to be good when received at the station very heavy losses 

 occur after they have been in the api)aratus for some time. The prin- 

 cipal losses with cod eggs occur during the earlier stages of develop- 

 ment, and until the embryo is well formed great care must be taken in 

 handling them; after that stage has been passed they are quite hardy 

 and comparatively few are lost. During the early part of the season 

 the temperature ranged from 47° to 40°, but after the 15th of December 

 it fell gradually, reaching 35° on January 15. It having been found 

 that the water on the spawning-grounds ranges from 37° to 38°, steam 

 was employed from that time on for the purpose of maintaining about 

 the same temperature in the boxes. 



The experiment of hatching eggs by means of air circulation iu the 

 McDonald automatic jar was again tried, but the results did not indi- 

 cate that this method could be successfully adopted. The temperature 

 of the water in the jars was kept at 40° by packing them in salt and 

 ice; the water was changed twice a day during the earlier stages and 

 more frequently later on, as it became foul in a very short time. About 

 one-third of the eggs which reached the hatching point were hatched 

 in the jars; the remainder, though kept in circulation for several days, 

 did not hatch until they were transferred to a jMcDonald tidal box, 

 when the fry aj^peared within twenty-four hours, being strong and 

 healthy, apparently. Instead of liberating them in Gloucester Harbor, 

 as heretofore, they were taken out in a sailing boat to the natural 

 s])awning-grounds in Ipswicli I>ay and deposited at the point of collec- 

 tion. The loss in transportation was very small. 



