2 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Ontario, and Superior, and on the Detroit River, and yielded more 
than 326,000,000 fry, which were planted in those waters. 
The Commission receives increasing numbers of requests for pike- 
perch fry for stocking inland lakes and streams, and is endeavoring 
to meet this demand. The taking of eggs of this species was again 
interrupted by storms on Lake Erie, but, on the whole, a satisfactory 
supply was obtained. This was augmented by over 160,000,000 taken 
on the Missisquoi River, in Vermont. From Lake Erie 42,000,000 eggs 
were sent to the State fish commissions of Michigan and Missouri, 
and 299,000,000 were held at the station at Put-in Bay. In all, 
240,887,000 fry were hatched by the Commission and distributed. 
In New England the customary work with marine species has been 
carried on, attention being paid chiefly to cod, flat-fish, and lobsters. 
Brood cod were collected by the schooner Grampus during October and 
held at Woods Hole until they were ready to spawn, and eggs were 
also obtained from fish taken by commercial fishermen at Kittery, Me., 
and at Plymouth, Mass. The hatching was done at Woods Hole and 
Gloucester. After the cod work was over at Woods Hole the propa- 
gation of flat-fish was taken up. It becomes each year more difficult 
to secure lobster eggs along the coast, notwithstanding agents are 
stationed at all of the important fishing centers. At the same time 
reports of statistical agents of the Commission show a slight increase 
in the number of lobsters brought to market in some ports of New 
England in the past year, as compared with 1898. During the year 
there were hatched and planted in New England waters 202,870,000 
cod, 44,000,000 flat-fish, and 60,000,000 lobsters. The eggs obtained 
from lobsters taken on the Maine coast were hatched at Gloucester, 
but the fry were all returned to Maine waters. 
The shad work of the season was satisfactory, although fewer fish 
were hatched than in the previous year, owing to weather conditions 
which caused the runs on the Potomac and Susquehanna to be much 
smaller than usual. On the Delaware, however, the fish were found 
in great quantities, and during the season, which lasted from May 6 to 
June 13, more eggs were taken than ever before. In Albemarle Sound 
the run was also very large, so that the new station at Edenton, N. C., 
operated for the first time, was enabled to make a very good showing. 
The total number of shad-fry distributed was 193,287,000. 
At the inland stations devoted to trout, bass, and other fish suitable 
to interior waters there have been good results, and nearly all of 
the applicants have been supplied with suitable numbers of fish for 
stocking purposes. 
While the above refers briefly to the more important fish-cultural 
work of the Commission, a full list of the fishes propagated, with the 
number of each distributed, will be found on pages 85-110. 
The Commission is often in receipt of letters showing the successful 
results of plants of fish in new waters made in previous years. It is 
reported that rainbow trout introduced in a lake in Ellis County, 
