American Fisheries Society. 87 



stocked with fry from domesticated fish. As I understand this 

 matter, there has not been time enough since they began to get 

 the wild eggs to know. Mr. Titcomb has taken them three sea- 

 sons. 



I took eggs on the Au Sable river last fall from wild fish and 

 the methods I pursued were somewhat dilTerent from Mr. Tit- 

 comb's. I got something less than half a million eggs, 400 and 

 some odd thousand, and the fry from those eggs were vigorous, 

 more so than fry from our domesticated trout, but those we reared 

 in the pond after six months or so of feeding you could not tell 

 from the others. Now, the planting of those back in the streams 

 and the results afterwards, I do not know. Of course, we put 

 one hundred thousand we got from the Au Sable right back into 

 the Au Sable. 



Mr. Bryant: I can see how in-breeding might deteriorate 

 them. It might tend to reduce their fecundity, they are hardly 

 as vigorous. When they get grown up in wild waters, are they 

 as vigorous as those "to the manner born"? 



Mr. Clark: As your domestic fish breed in and in, neces- 

 sarily the percentage of impregnation must be lower, is that the 

 idea? ; , 



Mr. Bryant: Yes, sir. 



Mr. Clark: I do not know whether that is so or not. It is 

 not so according to our experience. 



Mr. Titcomb's 97 per cent, was a startler to me. Our experi- 

 ence with wild trout eggs was not anything like that. I did not 

 suppose it was possible to get as good impregnation from wild 

 trout as from domesticated fish. 



Mr. Titcomb: Ninety-seven per cent, of impregnation was 

 got from the trout from that one lake only, but we had a most 

 perfect water supply. At the station where we took eggs in the 

 trap we only got 2y per cent, of impregnation. I did not mention 

 that in the paper, because I did not attribute it tc^ any lack of 

 the failure of the principle, but to a lack of something in the 

 operations. 



Mr. Clark: We tried several experiments on the Au Sable by 

 different spawn-takers, and have tried every conceivable way, 

 and we could not begin to get any such percentage. 



Mr. Dale: Wliat did vou get? 



