192 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Answer. The eg'gs are laid ou the bottom, usually in from 1 foot to 4 

 feet of water. 



Question 51. What is the size and color of the spawn 1 



Answer. The spawn are very large, being not far from a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter. Their color is a deep salmon-red. 



Question 52. What is the estimated number for each tlsh; and how 

 ascertained f 



Answer. In the McCloud the number of eggs averaged about 700 to 

 each pound of the parent tish ; a 10-pouud fish giving 7,000 eggs. This 

 Avas ascertained by weighing the fish and counting the eggs. 



Question 53. Answer the question for one season, a^nd for the lifetime? 



Answer. See question 52. 



Question 54. Do the eggs, when spawned, sink to the bottom, and be- 

 come attached to stones, grass, &c., or do they float in the water until 

 hatched ? 



Answer. See question 55. 



Question 55. Do the tish heap up or construct any kind of nest, whether 

 of sand, gravel, grass, or otherwise; and, if so, is tlie mouth, the snout, 

 or the tail used for the purpose, or what; and, if so, how is the material 

 transported ; or do they make any excavation in the sand or gravel ? 



Answer. The parent salmon dig a nest in the gravelly and stony bed 

 of the river, with their tails and heads, and, having laid their eggs, they 

 cover them over with stones and gravel in the same way. Tlie McCloud 

 salmon did not pile up the gravel and stones over their nests as much 

 as the eastern salmon, but left them more level. 



Question 56. Do they watch over their nest, if made, either singly or 

 in pairs ! 



Answer. They do not watch over their nests. 



Question 57. When are the eggs hatched, and in what period of time 

 after being laid '? 



Answer. The salmon-eggs in the McCloud probably hatch in October 

 and November, or about sixty days after being deposited. 



Question 5S. What percentage of eggs laid is usually hatched ? 



Answer. 'No one knows. 



Question 59. What percentage of young attains to maturity f 



Answer. JSTo one knows. 



Question 60. What is the rate of growth ? 



Answer. See question 9, p. 185. 



Question 61. Do the parents, either or both, watch over the young 

 after they are hatched f 



Answer. The parents are dead long before the young are hatched. 



Question 62. Do they carry them in the moutb, or otherwise? 



Answer. See question 61. 



Question 63. What enemies interfere with, or destroy, the spawn or 

 the young fish ? Do the parent fish devour them ? 



Answer. Water insects, water fowl, trout, suckers, white-fish, and 

 jmssibly the water ouzel. See question 61. 



