39 



The fertilized eggs measure about forty-nine to the sc[nare 

 inch, while the eggs in caviare go about sixty-eight to the 

 square inch. 



These eggs were taken from the tub and put into about 

 a dozen Seth Green shad-hatching boxes and placed in the 

 river, harnessed together and attached at the upper end to 

 the dock and anchored at the lower end, so as to float 

 freely in a swift current of clear water of about twelva 

 feet in depth. The temperature of the water was about flfty- 

 nine to sixty-one degrees. For two days the eggs appeared 

 to be doing well, but on the third day a fungus began to 

 appear and spread rapidly, and thereafter it was difficult 

 to tell the good eggs from the bad ones ; on the fourth day 

 the good eggs showed a brown side with a yellow streak 

 through it ; on the flfth day the young fish could be seen 

 in the egg ; on the seventh day motion could be detected, 

 and on the eighth day hatching commenced, and was com- 

 plete on the ninth day. 



The number hatched was estimated at from eight to ten 

 thousand, and they were released in the river at the place 

 of hatching, on July 2d, the twelfth day after they were 

 taken. 



The eggs are a rich, dark bronze color, and are very 

 tender, so that they will not bear hard stirring or rough 

 usage ; this necessitates great care and patience in the first 

 handling. The milt seemed to form a heavy coating on 

 the eggs that were fertilized, which would stick the egg to 

 everything it came in contact with. The adhering of good 

 eggs to each other did not seem to hinder hatching, but 

 wherever a dead egg came in contact with good ones it 

 destroyed them all ; and many good eggs were lost in 

 removing the fungused ones. 



Afterwards, about July 5th, eighteen sturgeon — twelve 

 females and six males — caught in nets, were procured at 

 La Butte's Point, in Canada, above Detroit, and were 

 towed by row-boat in a crate about ten or twelve miles to a 



