Avicricaii Fisheries Society. 79 



year that collections were made at this station a breakwater was 

 constructed of lumber and stones as a partial shelter to the re- 

 taining crates, the latter being anchored in shallow water and 

 weighted to the bottom so that they could be approached by a 

 walk from the shore where a small tent had been erected in which 

 to strip fish. The crates were always a source of annoyance for 

 fear they would be robbed or broken up by high winds. The 

 fishing was conducted in calm weather, day and night, and the 

 stripping in stormy weather. Lake or pond spawners usually 

 deposit their spawn later in the season than the brook spawners, 

 and the weather is inclement for outdoor work such as stripping 

 trout. As a result, the percentage of eggs eyed at this station 

 was not what it should have been. The following season a boat 

 house was constructed with retaining pens within it and of sufB- 

 cient size to give ample room for spawn-taking operations. In 

 this house a stove was set up, and thus the work of taking spawn 

 could proceed without discomfort during the most severe 

 weather of November and December. Of the eggs taken at this 

 station last season, 97 per cent, were successfully eyed. The fea- 

 ture about the boat house to be considered in connection with 

 the work, aside from the comfort of the employes, is the method 

 of building retaining space for the brood fish. Two piers were 

 constructed about six feet wide by twenty-four feet long, and 

 laid parallel to each other eight feet apart. The material for the 

 piers consisted of water-soaked logs taken from the lake, with 

 the addition of a few trees cut near by. The logs were piled zvxh 

 fashion, fastened with drift bolts and filled with large stones. 

 The two piers were tied together at each end by stringers of logs, 

 and constituted the fovmdation upon which the boat house was 

 built. The space between the two piers or the inlet to the boat 

 house was occupied by four crates, each six feet long by four 

 feet wide by four feet deep. The log piers are not at all water- 

 tight, only large stones being used to sink them, and with the 

 eight-foot opening at the sea end of the boat house, furnish aniplj 

 opportunity for aeration of the water in the most calm per'.ods. 

 To guard against heaving by ice, which freezes two feet thick 

 on the lake, the outside of the cob piers was covered with planks 

 fastened vertically but sloping out in the form of a battered wall, 

 so that the ice cannot get a hold on the piers sufiiciently to move 

 them. The planking should not extend but a few inches below low 

 water level or it might interfere with the aeration of water in 

 the crates. The trout were thus free from poachers, and also 

 from the prying eyes of curious people. It may be remarked 



