113 



The work of hatching and planting the spring 

 spawning fishes is not 3^et completed, but it will be 

 observed that of the various species of trout 18,510,000 

 fry were asked for, and only 8,560,000 were on hand to 

 fill the applications. There was a shortage of 18,250,- 

 000 white fish, 2,000,000 of ciscoes, and a surplus of 

 8,000,000 of frost fish, which is the round white fish 

 found in Adirondack waters. Among the fish not enu- 

 merated, 76,000,000 of torn cods and 35,000,000 smelts 

 were hatched and planted in Long Island waters ; 50,- 

 000 eggs of the Atlantic salmon were received from 

 the United States Fish Commission, and the fr\' 

 hatched and planted in the head waters of the Hudson 

 River, and 302,000 lobsters in Long Island waters. 

 100,000 eggs of the steelhead trout were also received 

 from the United States Fish Commission, and hatched 

 at the Caledonia and Cold Spring Harbor stations. 



It is the polic}^ of the commission to give its atten- 

 tion chiefly to what are termed commercial fishes, and 

 in furtherance of this policy 90,000,000 pike perch 

 were hatched and planted as against 41,205,000 in 



This work of hatching commercial fishes has its 

 limits, however, like all other fish cultural work, and 

 the boundar}^ point is the number of eggs that can be 

 obtained. 



It is the policy of the commission also to rear as 

 many of the salmon family to eight and twelve months 

 of age before planting, as the facilities of the stations 

 will permit. Heretofore these facilities have been very 

 limited indeed, and in 1895 but 12,750 fingerlings of 

 eight months, and yearlings of twelve months (I say 

 3'earlings of twelve months, for fingerlings of eight 

 months are frequently called "yearlings" by courtesy), 

 including brook, brown, rainbow trout, and landlocked 

 salmon, were distributed from the state hatcheries, 

 and none were reared or planted previous to the organ- 



