REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 31 



days over two millions, and on three days over three millions. The 

 water in the vicinity of the station was so extraordinarily clear that 

 seines could be hauled with any advantage at night only; operations 

 were therefore suspended the first week in May, one month earlier than 

 customary, with one-half the usual catch, the catch by gill fishermen 

 being about two-thirds. 



The attendance of the spawn-takers was on 49,600 fathoms of seine 

 and 2l'4:,700 fathoms of gill net, which afforded 35,200 adult shad for 

 examination, about equally divided between the two classes of nets. 

 The number of fish stripped was 2,013. 



The average water temperatui'e during the last fifteen days in April 

 was 60.8° F., during the month of May 62.1°, and the first nine days 

 in June 70.8°. 



When fry accumulate in large numbers between deliveries to mes- 

 sengers they are kept in large storage tanks rather than in the col- 

 lector aquaria, this method having been found so advantageous that its 

 application is general in the station. The tanks are 96 inches long by 

 18 wide and 16 deep, partitioned midway between the ends to form two 

 separate compartments, which are provided with guard screens at their 

 outlet ends. The water circulation is derived from two one-fourth-inch 

 jet cocks, to which gum tubing is attached, under 10 pounds pressure 

 to a square inch. As many as 300,000 to 400,000 fry are supported 

 in each subcompartment, the variation in number being regulated in 

 accordance with temperature. 



An experiment was made of holding shad in standing water, 25,000 

 fry being placed in a 12-gallon can and one-fourth the water changed 

 every four hours. At the end of twelve days the loss was 4,185, and 

 of these 40 per cent occurred in the first sixty hours. The temperature 

 of the water at the beginning of the experiment was 56°, but gradually 

 rose till on the twelfth day it was 70°; on the following five days it 

 dropped to 52'^, when heavy mortality occurred. 



The purchase of this station, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, Mary- 

 land, which had been occupied under lease by the Commission for a 

 number of years, was provided for in an act approved March 3, 1891. 

 By direction of the United States Attorney-General, an examination of 

 the title to the property was made by the United States district attor- 

 ney for Maryland, who, on June 26, 1891, reported the same good in Mr. 

 T. B. Ferguson, by whom a deed trg,nsferring the same to the United 

 States was duly executed. 



