^mericaii Fisheries Society. 117 



tilized. In the course of my presentation of the advantages of 

 artificial propagation, I used to make that argument. I used to 

 give the percentage of eggs hatched that we took, and compare 

 them with the probable percentage hatched naturally, and then 

 give the percentage of success in our favor. I made that propo- 

 sition once in Prof. Reighard's presence — I am sorry he is not 

 here now — and he told me I was probably very largely mistaken 

 in that regard. Of course, he had not experimented with white- 

 fish eggs, but he had with many other eggs, the eggs of reptiles 

 and other fish, and he said the probability was that most of the 

 eggs that are cast by the female were fertilized naturally. The 

 loss does not come from lack of fertilization, but from the de- 

 struction of the eggs after they are fertilized. So you see 

 this has an important bearing on the question of the fertilization 

 of fish ova and the benefits and advantages of stripping fish and 

 fertilizing the eggs on the fishing grounds and then throwing 

 them overboard; and it especially has an important bearing upon 

 the value of the fishermen fertilizing the eggs as thev catch the 

 fish. 



Of course, Mr. President, one statement that Brother Nevin 

 made is rather extravagant. He did not mean it in quite the 

 sense he states it, that not one egg in a million is fertilized by 

 natural methods. As you know, the average of eggs in one white- 

 fish is twenty-five to thirty thousand, and if what he says were so, 

 it would take a great many whitefish to get one egg fertilized. 

 He only meant that figuratively. 



Mr. Nevin : I only intended to give a general idea of that. 



Mr. Post: My judgment is that the benefit of artificial propa- 

 gation largely comes from protecting the eggs from their multi- 

 tude of enemies and carrying them through the period of incuba- 

 tion safely and delivering- them as live fish instead of dead eggs 

 into the water. I never believed in the advantage or utility of hav- 

 ing the fishermen on the tugs attempt to strip the fish, impregnate 

 the ova and deliver them into the water. I have always looked 

 upon that argument as an excuse to get rid of the hatcheries — as 

 a scheme to antagonize the hatcheries. It has generally, where 

 I have heard it proposed, been proposed, as I thought, with that 

 view. It has a very plausible appearance of advantage to an 

 economical legislature, that instead of the great expense that was 

 laid out in these hatcheries, we might for a very little money get 

 the same results by having the fishermen strip the fish and plant 

 the eggs. I do not believe in it. I do not believe it is of any 



