XXXVIII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



town to Wood's Holl for the purpose of examining into the possibilities 

 of hatching cod at that point. The indications were strongly in favor 

 of the success of such an undertaking. 



Striped Bass or Rock-fish (lioccus lineaius). 



It has been a great desideratum with the Commission to find a locality 

 where the striped bass, or rock-fish, can be obtained for purposes of 

 propagation by artificial means. I regret to say that, so far, the suc- 

 cess of the Commission in this respect has not been very great. During 

 1879, however, the opportunity was offered to make some experiments 

 of this kind, which proved to be highly satisfactory. The fishery of 

 Dr. W. R. Capehart, at Scotch Hall, Albemarle Sound, the seat of the 

 shad-hatching work, furnished on May G three large females with ripe 

 spawn, the eggs of which, when stripped, filled about twelve one-gallon 

 cans. The eggs, when first spawned, were pale green, slightly larger 

 than those of a herring, becoming after impregnation somewhat larger 

 than the eggs of the shad. They were transparant and almost invisi- 

 ble, excepting for an oily globule whereby the presence of the egg could 

 be detected. These eggs were placed in vessels used for hatching sbad, 

 some in cones and others in floating boxes, the period of introduction 

 being midnight of May 6. On the morning of May 9 almost all the 

 eggs were hatched, showing a much more rapid development than 

 that of the shad eggs under similar circumstances. While the eggs 

 were thought to be somewhat larger than those of the shad, the embryo 

 was considerably smaller; although with a disproportionally large sized 

 umbilical sac, they escaped readily through the wire-cloth used in the 

 propagation of the shad. 



A number of the fish were sent to Washington, and some to Balti- 

 more, where the fish were deposited in the hatching-house of Druid 

 Hill Park. They proved to be much more hardy than shad, as shown 

 by the fact that some of the young were kept in a tin pail for ten days 

 without change of water and evinced no signs of suffering. 



Transfer of fish. 



Murine and fresh-water species to California. — Upon application by the 

 fish commissioner of California. Mr. Livingston Stone was authorized to 

 undertake the transfer, in a car specially arranged for the purpose, of 

 a series of fishes and invertebrates, especially of striped bass, eels, black 

 bass, and lobsters. The principal difficulty was in regard to the salt- 

 water species, for whose benefit it became necessary to carry a large 

 quantity of salt water, with which the supply in the reservoirs was from 

 time to time renewed. For some weeks before starting Mr. Stone had 

 kept about a thousand gallons of water, by the end of which time it had 

 become perfectly clear, the dead matter having settled to the bottom. 

 It was a matter of some difficulty to procure striped bass of sufficient 

 size for the transfer. They were, however, by permission of the New 

 Jersey State commissioners, obtained in the Xavesiuk Eiver. The lob- 



