REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 39 
and fishing commenced. On the 17th ripe females were caught, and 
on the 18th the first eggs were collected. ‘The conditions existing at 
this time were very unusual, as the river water, instead of warming 
up and increasing in volume, remained stationary in temperature 
for ten days or more, during which time there was seareely any per- 
ceptible rise or current. Spawning fish were therefore not attracted 
upstream, and the catch, although large, consisted mostly of males, 
in some hauls the ratio being 100 males to 1 female. It consequently 
became necessary to fish seines in Lake Champlain a few miles below 
the mouth of the river. The seining along the lake shore was quite 
suecessful, and as a result of the season’s work about 3,500 female 
pike perch were secured, of which 2,910 produced 160,375,000 eggs, the 
last being collected on April 30. The methods followed were practi- 
cally the same as in previous years, though a number of experiments 
were tried with reference to the fertilization and transportation of 
eggs. The loss from fungus after the eggs were received at the 
hatchery was very large. Of those that were eyed, 22,500,000 were 
transferred to Cape Vincent and 4,000,000 to the Massachusetts Fish 
Commission. Those sent to Cape Vincent arrived in very bad con- 
dition and produced only 13,800,000 fry. At Swanton 23,750,000 fry 
were hatched and distributed from that point, 16,750,000 being turned 
over to the Vermont Fish Commission. 
At the close of the pike-perch season preparations were commenced 
for the capture of sturgeon and the collection of their eggs. On the 
Missisquoi it was planned to place a rack across the river, consisting 
of wire netting and common seine twine, with a trap in the center, 
for the purpose of stopping the sturgeon ascending the river, after 
the manner of stopping salmon on the Pacific coast, but this idea was 
abandoned, owing to the fact that steamers ply up and down the river 
during high water in the spring. Pound and trap nets were also 
tried, but gill nets were finally resorted to, about 30 sturgeon being 
taken in this manner from various places in the river. These were 
placed in pens provided for pike perch, but later in a pen built in the 
river with boards laid horizontally on edge, a space being left between 
to let water in and out. The fish in the pens were examined daily, and 
on May 13 a large ripe female was found, which struggled so violently 
on being taken from the water that the combined efforts of three 
men could not prevent it from casting its spawn, some of which was 
thrown 30 feet or more. When finally subdued, the few remaining 
eggs left in the fish, somewhat less than a quart, were taken in a dry 
spawning pan. These were mixed with milt and treated in the same 
general way that pike-perch eggs are. When the eggs were finally 
separated they were placed in a McDonald hatching jar, such as is 
used for pike perch. No further trouble from the eggs sticking 
together was experienced, but they were so heavy that the pressure 
through the ordinary tubing was not sufficient to keep them in proper 
motion, and it became necessary to increase the pressure. The eggs 
