XLIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



eggs were obtained bet\Yeeii midnight and daylight, more than 3,000,000 

 between 8 a. m. and noon, and 0,000,000 between noon and night. 



Contrary to past experience, the eggs collected during the day were 

 of excellent (jnality and produced strong, healthy fry. This year the 

 number of fry hatched amounted to 72 per cent of the total take of eggs. 

 The fishermen in the neighborhood cooperated with the superintendent 

 throughout the season, and furnished 26,000,000 eggs, or nearly three 

 times the number furnished last year, at a rate of $20 jier 1,000,000. 



Striped bass. — For several years the station force has been on the 

 lookout for striped bass or rockfish eggs, and on May 3 the spawn -taker 

 attending the Carpenter Point seine brought in 1,280,000, which he had 

 collected from a fish weighing 12 pounds. The eggs were nearly trans- 

 parent and measured one-seventh of a linear inch, or 24.552 to the quart. 

 After attempting to hatch them in the McDonald jar it was found neces- 

 sary to improvise a special form of apparatus somewhat similar to the 

 Mci )onald tidal box, owing to the fact that there is very little diifereuce 

 between the specific gravity of the water and that of the eggs. The 

 improvised form consisted of four bell aquaria inverted and placed in a 

 box supplied with water through a f -inch tube and discharged through 

 a i-iuch tube, thus giving a rise and fall of 5^ inches every 8 minutes. 

 By the afternoon of May 6 the hatching was completed, the mean tem- 

 perature during the period of incubation being 58°. The fry resulting 

 from these eggs (estimated at 450,000) were liberated in the Susque 

 hanna River near Port Deposit. The small percentage hatched was 

 occasioned partly by the muddy condition of the water and x^artly by 

 imperfect circulation due to the character of material used for covering 

 the jars. For the purpose of closer observation during the r)eriod of 

 incubation, two small glass jars were placed in a bell aquarium fitted 

 with tidal motion. The water used was first run through a charcoal 

 filter. 



Bryan Point Station, Maryland (S. G. Worth, Superintendent). 



In August and September important improvements were made under 

 the direction of the superintendent, embodying repairs to the boiler- 

 house, seine-house, and boat-house; the wharf was repaired and pro- 

 tected against damage from ice by driving piles 20 feet away from the 

 corners, on a line with the end, and a v\'ell 18i feet deep was excavated, 

 which affords a copious supply of cold, clear water. The station has 

 heretofore been dependent on a very unsatisfactory spring and upon 

 river water, which caused sickness. 



A large amount of worn-out property, including seines, seine boat, 

 and other fishing apparatus, was condemned and sold at auction. A 

 topographical survey of the station was made during the year, and 

 an estimate was submitted by the superintendent for a large hatchery, 

 where the entire product of the station can be cared for, thus obviating 

 the necessity of transferring the eggs to Central Station. 



In view of the receipt of large numbers of shad during March, 

 104,000 being received from the 14th to the 28th, preparations were made 



