366 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



entire 14,000 feet of ditching was completed. Brook-trout spawning operations 

 began on September 24 and continued to November 13, during which time 

 313,000 eggs were taken from the 851 female fish collected in the station ponds. 

 These eggs, with the exception of 15,000 that were shipped to the Holden 

 station, together with 60,000 forwarded from St. Johnsbury station, were incu- 

 bated at the York Pond substation, and the resulting fry were released in local 

 waters. 



Nashua (N. H.) Station 



[J. D. De Rocher, Superintendent] 



The brook-trout eggs obtained from the station brood stock were of such 

 poor quality that only about 98,000 of the 155,000 collected were hatched, and 

 the losses in the fry and fingerling stages were very large. This stock of 

 eggs was supplemented by 892,000 purchased from commercial fish culturists 

 in Pennsylvania, and 98,9S0 were received from the State of Massachusetts 

 in exchange for eggs of the Loch Leven trout. A higher degree of success 

 attended the incubation of these eggs, though the losses on the resulting fry 

 and fingerling fish were heavy. From the total number of eggs of this species 

 purchased and received through exchange 743,000 fingerling fish were produced, 

 pari of which were distributed before the close of the year. In addition to 

 the brook-trout eggs referred to above, 164,720 were donated to the station by 

 a commercial fish-culturist in New York State. This lot appeared to be of 

 fair quality when received, but the fry hatched from them were weak and 

 died rapidly, scarcely any of them reaching the fingerling stage. 



Very heavy losses attended the work with the station brood stock of rainbow 

 trout. From 156,000 eggs of this species taken during the fall and laid down 

 for incubation in the hatchery only 32,000 fingerling fish were produced for 

 distribution during the spring. Approximately 17,000 fingerling Loch Leven 

 trout were produced from 25,000 eggs forwarded from the Bozeman (Mont.) 

 field, and 10,150 landlocked-salmon fingerlings resulted from 15,150 eyed eggs 

 transferred from the Craig Brook (Me.) station. Both these lots of fish were 

 on hand at the close of the fiscal year. 



For a number of years past the hatchery and water supply have been in 

 very poor condition. An appropriation for making needed improvements was 

 secured recently and the work of reconstruction is now in progress. 



COMBINATION TROUT AND POND STATIONS 



The five stations comprising this group are located in Iowa, Mis- 

 souri, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Their output during 

 the fiscal year 1926 aggregated approximately 6,000,000 fish, the 

 species represented being brook trout, rainbow trout, Loch Leven 

 trout, largemouth black bass, smallmouth black bass, rock bass, 

 bream, crappie, and catfish. In addition to the distribution of fish, 

 a considerable number of rainbow-trout eggs were furnished in the 

 eyed stage to applicants and to other stations of the bureau. 



Eewin (Tenn.) Station 

 [A. G. Keesecker, Superintendent] 



In the course of the year a number of improvements were made to the pond 

 system at this station, among the more important of them being the construc- 

 tion of a cement wall about 180 feet long on both sides of pond No. 38 to 

 protect the banks from erosion and the depredations of muskrats. Other 

 changes included the installation of a new outlet in pond No. 33 and an 

 emergency water inlet in this pond and also in pond G. 



The fish-cultural work was concerned with the propagation of rainbow and 

 brook trout, largemouth black bass, rock bass, and sunfish ; and small numbers 

 of catfish, crappie, and goldfish were produced incidentally. The collection 

 of eggs from the station brood stock of rainbow trout was taken up on Novem- 

 ber 2 and was continued at semiweekly and weekly intervals to January 12, 

 the yield aggregating 644,500. As many of the brood fish were young the losses 

 of green eggs were unusually heavy, only 64 per cent reaching the eyed stage. 



