642 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



gard to regulating the temperature, it being necessary at times to warm 

 the water and at others to cool it. 



I would here call attention to the fact mentioned in Mr. Mason's ap- 

 pended report that the striped bass seemed to do as well in artificial salt 

 water made from sea salt and fresh water as in the salt or brackish wa- 

 ter of their natural habitat. This fact very much simplified the carrying 

 of the striped bass, as no reserve of natural salt water was needed for 

 them, and in cooling the water in the freezers when the water in their 

 tanks became too warm, it became only necessary in that emergency to 

 introduce a sufficient quantity of ice water mixed with the proper pro- 

 portion of sea salt. 



On Saturday morning at eight o'clock we reached Chicago. Here we 

 transferred to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Road, making the 

 change of cars without accident and leaving Chicago at 10.15 a. m. 



On examining the fish after leaving Chicago, we found twenty-five 

 dead striped bass. I find it difficult to account for this disaster, 

 although it was probably the result either of the temperature of their 

 tanks getting too low the preceding night or of insufficient aeration, or 

 both. 



We crossed the Missisippi Eiver at seven o'clock Saturday, throwing 

 into the river, as I always have done before, a few fish for luck. 



This day's experience was very much like that of the day before, ex- 

 cept that the eels from the Hudson showed signs of languishing. Upon 

 noticing the condition of the eels, I resolved to try an experiment with 

 them which has often come to my mind, and which was also suggested 

 by Mr. Marks at Albany. 



The experiment consisted in placing a few hundred eels in a bucket 

 containing a piece of grass sod. It proved to he a perfect success, and un- 

 doubtedly solves the problem of carrying eels over long distances. The eels 

 which were placed in a bucket containing the sod required no attention 

 whatever, and arrived at their destination in perfect order. I venture 

 to say that any number of eels could be safely sent in this manner from 

 Albany to Sacramento by express without a messenger and without any 

 care en route except that required to keep them right side up. If my 

 conclusions are correct, the State of California can be abundantly stocked 

 with eels in this way at a very small expense. 



We arrived at Omaha on Sunday morning with all the fishes in ex- 

 cellent order. Owing to a telegram going astray, the Union Pacific 

 Railroad authorities were not ready for us on the arrival of the Chicago, 

 Burlington and Quincy train, and in the consequent confusion and diffi- 

 culty of making the transfer, the black bass tanks must have been over- 

 looked a few minutes too long, for on examining them after leaving 

 Omaha we found seven dead ones. We also found one dead lobster. 

 The lobster proved to be the one that had hatched its brood at Boston, 

 and was undoubtedly not in condition to survive the journey. 



We were also obliged to throw away the Hudson Eiver tank of eels 



