108 INLAND FISHERIES. 



fish were soft and unfit for market. The control fish were not 

 much worse. Experiments were subsequently made with the 

 same solution, but none was successful. 



II. The next preparation experimented with was a 10 per 

 cent, solution of potassium nitrate. Eighteen squeteague, cleaned 

 immediately after being taken from the nets, were decapitated 

 and thoroughly washed with this solution, and packed close to- 

 gether in a box. During the next twenty -four hours the weather 

 was foggy, and the temperature ranged from 73° to 74°, at the end 

 of which time decomposition had advanced to such a stage that 

 the fish were totally unfit for market. There was no apprecia- 

 ble difference between the fish subjected to the potassium nitrate 

 and those of the control experiment. Six more trials were made 

 with this solution, but always with the same results. 



III. A 5 per cent, solution of formalin was next used, but, as 

 might have been predicted, the fish did not keep, and they were 

 as bad at the end of twenty-four hours as those of the control. 



lY. The next, and most successful, experiment was made with 

 a 3 per cent, solution of boric acid (Bg O3) in sea water. Two 

 dozen squeteague were dressed immediately after being caught. 

 Some Avere decapitated, and others were packed with head and 

 gills attached. All were then merely washed in the above solution, 

 and then closely packed in a box. The weather was foggy and 

 cloudy. The temperature ranged from 74° to 83°. When ex- 

 amined, twenty-four hours later, the fish were found to have kept 

 well. There was no odor, and decomposition had evidently not 

 begun. The flesh was hard and firm, the eyes were clear, and in 

 fact one of the fish was declared, by a native fisherman, to have 

 been taken from the water that very morning, and he was not 

 readily convinced that it had been kept without ice for twenty-four 

 hours. One of these squeteague Avas baked and served on my 

 own table, and was pronounced excellent. It is needless to say 

 that the control fish were in advanced stages of putrefaction, and 

 wholly unsuitable for food. 



In these experiments with boracic acid, the fish were in no sense 



