4 
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 29 
were obtained from the inclosure between December 1 and February 
16, the spawning season beginning about the usual time but closing 
fully a month earlier than in 1915. Of the total collection of eggs, 
amounting to 286,056,000, only 265, 877,000 could be handled with 
the available hatching facilities. The remainder were therefore 
transferred to the Gloucester station. The incubation of the eggs 
proceeded favorably except for occasional periods of roily water, at 
which times some losses were sustained, owing to the imability to 
keep the hatching boxes working properly. The final results were 
192,275,000 fry, which were liberated in local waters. 
The first brood flatfish of the season at Woods Hole were purchased 
from commercial fishermen on January 12, but, having been taken 
from deep water, their eggs were not sufficiently developed to mature 
satisfactorily in confinement. The fish were therefore released later 
in the season to provide room for more advanced stock. Brood flatfish 
were secured as heretofore from the grounds at Waquoit and Wick- 
ford and from the newly established field at Menemsha Pond, 12 
miles distant from the Woods Hole station. Between January 18 
and the end of March, 1,099,622,000 eggs were secured, and had 
there been facilities for handling them it is believed severai billions 
of eggs might have been obtained from the fish in sight at Menemsha 
Pond. The fry hatched numbered 748,560,000, the percentage of 
loss in incubation being larger than last year, owing to the difficulty 
experienced at times with roily water. 
RESCUE OF FISHES FROM OVERFLOWED LANDS. 
The usual work of rescuing food fishes from the overflowed lands 
along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, by seining crews sent out 
from the regular stations and by special field parties, was conducted 
at Homer, Minn.; La Crosse, Wis.; North McGregor, Iowa; Bellevue, 
Iowa; Friar Point, Miss.; and Meredosia, Il. Water stages on the 
upper river were so high during summer that no work could be 
accomplished until August 25. The total collections were larger 
than for many years, 11,682,064 valuable fishes being rescued. Of 
this number, 1,179,862 were delivered by cars and messengers to 
applicants or for planting in distant public and private waters; the 
remainder (10,502,202) were returned to the Mississippi River. 
A most conspicuous public service was rendered in March and April 
by the rescue of some 5,000,000 large fingerling and adult fish, buffalo- 
fish and carp predominating. These were taken from an overflowed 
area 11,000 ackes in extent, across the Illinois River from the Bureau’s 
station at Meredosia, Ill. The preceding year fish dealers in that 
vicinity had impounded several thousand adult fish in a large lake 
back of the levees protecting the district. Subsequent rains inun- 
dated the entire area, scattering the breeding fish far and wide during 
the spawning season; and as the water receded their offspring, being 
unable to escape to the river, became congested in unbelievable 
numbers in drainage ditches and depressions of the land. Their 
total loss would have been inevitable had it not been for the prompt 
action of the Bureau in conducting rescue operations so long as 
funds were available. The majority of the stranded fish were thus 
saved, and their return to the Illinois River must serve to add 
materially to the resources of that stream in years to come. It is 
6111°—17——3 
