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76 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
food before a successful solution of the problem was reached. A 
number of fish received from Battle Creek on December 7 were canned 
on the 8th, the whole fish being used, including head, tail, fins, and 
backbone, the contents filling 41 five-pound cans. These were found 
in-good condition when opened two months later, and they probably 
would have kept indefinitely. This material was given to the fry 
during December, January, and February, but it did not prove a very 
satisfactory food, as it was very difficult to divide it properly for the 
young fish. If ground very fine, it would wash away in the water, 
and if given in coarse pieces many of the fish would choke and a 
heavy death rate followed. It is thought that the difficulty may be 
overcome in future by rejecting the bones, heads, and fins. As the 
fry became older they took this food readily and seemed to thrive on 
it, but, as the quantity canned was too small, it was soon consumed, 
and it became necessary to procure a supply of liver, which, mixed 
with shorts, was fed to the close of the season, except for a period of 
two weeks when it was impossible to secure liver, and goat meat was 
used. This proved very unsatisfactory. 
At the request of Hon. W. T. Glascow, the secretary of the marine 
department, Wellington, New Zealand, the superintendent of Baird 
station was detailed to take an assignment of 500,000 quinnat-salmon 
eggs to the New Zealand government. He sailed from San Francisco 
on December 13 with 14 boxes, each 23 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 2 
feet high, the weight of each package being about 230 pounds. The 
passage was very rough, but considering the difficulties under which 
the eggs were taken, the length of time en route (31 days), and the 
7,059 miles traveled, the shipment was regarded as successful. The 
total number of eggs lost was 57,500. It was impossible to remove 
dead eggs, as in the poor light they could hardly be distinguished 
from the good ones. When such an attempt was made, the fungus 
was found to have taken such a firm hold on the wire bottoms of the 
screens that it broke into smaller particles, which, coming into con- 
tact with the good eggs, caused it to spread. Allattempts at removal 
were therefore abandoned and an effort was made to prevent its 
spread by keeping the temperature as low as possible. It is thought 
the fungus started at Honolulu, where the eggs were exposed to a 
temperature of 48° for about nine hours, while the freight in the cold 
room was being unloaded. A quantity of vegetables stored in the 
cold room with the eggs may have helped in developing the fungus. 
In loading the cases on the steamer they were raised from the dock 
and lowered into the ship by slings, five cases at a time, and fre- 
quently they were almost on end. This was also done at Honolulu, 
when removing the eggs, in order to unload freight. In many of the 
cases the eggs had all jolted to one end, and as the dead and unim- 
pregnated eggs were rather soft, many were broken, thus giving the 
fungus every possible chance for growth. 
While the eggs were in the cold room no ice was used in the cases, 
