4 DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND FISH EGGS, 1916. 
Karly in the year these rivers overflow their banks and spread 
out over miles of territory, and in the warm shallows thus formed 
many varieties of the native game and food fishes deposit their eggs. 
The young fish hatched therefrom are imprisoned in immense num- 
bers, with the subsidence of the floods in the thousands of depressions 
rangmg in depths from a few inches to several feet, and here they are 
preyed upon for several months by game birds and the alligator gar. 
Finally all that escape these enemies must perish incident to the dry- 
ing of the pools in the fall. From depressions of this character the 
Bureau rescues many thousands of fish annually, returning by far the 
greater portion of them to the original streams, but culling out choice 
specimens to supplement its stock for distribution to applicants, 
This great resource is capable of bemg turned to highly successful 
account when funds are available for the extension of the rescue 
operations. 
While only about 5 per cent of the Bureau’s total output is applied 
to the interior waters of the country, the benefits accruing therefrom 
have been widely disseminated, and with the increasing cost of food 
materials this branch of the work is attaining greater significance. 
In its prosecution the Bureau has received valuable assistance from 
certain State fisheries authorities, club representatives, and public- 
spirited individuals, not only in formulating plans for but in the 
actual distributions of fish. One highly important and _ beneficial 
effect of such cooperation has been the development and growth of a 
sentiment opposed to the ruthless and destructive fishing methods in 
vogue in many localities. 
METHOD OF DISTRIBUTION. 
The fry hatched from the shad, whitefish, salmons, lake trout, lake 
herring, pike perch, white perch, yellow perch, striped bass, cod, 
lobster, pollock, flatfish, and haddock—constituting the commercial 
species—are planted on the spawning grounds from which the eggs are 
derived, or utilized for the stocking of new and suitable waters in an 
effort to extend the fisheries. 
With respect to the game and food fishes of the interior, which 
are propagated in comparatively small numbers, provision is made 
for the return of a sufficient number of young fish to the waters where 
eggs are collected for the maintenance of the supply therem; the 
remainder of the stock is then assigned to suitable lakes or streams for 
which applications have been submitted by responsible individuals. 
This class includes the various trouts, basses, sunfishes, and cat- 
fishes. 
Blanks upon which formal applications for fish can be made are 
furnished by the Bureau on request. Upon the receipt of applications 
