36 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



leased a private pond system at Langdon, Kans, to be operated as 

 an auxiliary of the Neosho station for the production of bass and 

 crappie. The work was started in the spring of 1923, but owing 

 to flooded conditions the output of fish was small. 



Owing to the adverse weather conditions encountered, the produc- 

 tion of pond fishes was below normal at several of the stations en- 

 gaged in that branch of fish culture. The most serious reduction was 

 at the stations located at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., North- 

 ville, Mich., Mammoth Springs, Ark., and Erwin, Tenn., at all of 

 which points violently fluctuating air and water temperatures during 

 the spawning season caused the destruction of many nests of eggs. 

 More favorable natural conditions obtained at the Tupelo (Miss.), 

 Orangeburg (S. C), and Louisville (Ky.) stations, and the output 

 of bass and allied species from those stations was the largest in theii* 

 history. 



The spawning of buflalofish at the Atchafalaya (La.) station 

 extended from February 15 to March 28, and during this period 

 approximately 179,000,000 eggs were secured. As at many other 

 points, the work was retarded and curtailed by unseasonable weather 

 and water conditions. On March 5 all lowlands in the vicinity of the 

 hatchery were inundated by flood waters coming down from the 

 Ouachita River. The salts and oil with which the flood waters 

 were charged put a stop to the run of spawning fish and also polluted 

 the hatchery water, killing the entire stock of eggs on hand at the 

 time. From then on to the close of the spawning season all eggs 

 secured were fertilized and immediately returned to the waters from 

 which the parent fish were taken. 



The work of rescuing stranded food fishes from overflowed lands 

 bordering the Mississippi River was taken up July 1 and prosecuted 

 daily until the 1st of November, when freezing weather necessitated 

 its discontinuance. The field of operations extended from Prescott, 

 Minn., to Andalusia, 111., and the rescued fishes included nearly 

 every food species native to the region. Of the 139,799,031 fish 

 handled in the course of the season, 1,164,952 were distributed to 

 apjDlicants, and the remainder was released in the Mississippi River 

 and its tributaries. The smaller results obtained, as compared 

 with the previous year, were due to the abnormal water stages in the 

 river during the usual salvage period. 



In view of the difficulty experienced in transporting or holding 

 for later distribution the crappie and sunfish rescued during ex- 

 tremely warm weather, some experiments were made at the Homer 

 station with the copper-sulphate treatment for the prevention and 

 cure of fungoid growths. As a result of the tests, it was found that 

 the very small crappie and sunfish were too weak to withstand the 

 treatment, but that it might be advantageously applied to the larger 

 fishes and to the more vigorous individuals among the smaller ones. 

 Its general use therefore will be resorted to hereafter in handling 

 and holding fish of these species at the several collecting points in the 

 rescue field. 



