232 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



and Massachusetts in 1868 was $10 ])er thousand, and none of the par- 

 ties oti'ering New Brunswick egg^ for sale had asked more thau $20 per 

 thousand. 



Eight thousand were purchased by Maine, and as the ratio of unfer- 

 tilized eggs appeared to be about 2i per cent,, 8,200 eggs were packed 

 up. After a journey of three days they arrived at Alna, Me., and were 

 unpacked April 3. The number dead was 870. By immersing them ia 

 a solution of common salt the opacity which is the regular attendant on 

 death disappeared, and it was easy to distinguish the fecund eggs from 

 the infecund : the latter counted 040, the former 230 ; which shows that 

 the ratio of infecund eggs was about 8 per cent. The deficiency was 

 made up, and, of the 8,000 good eggs, 7,400 were hatched. These were 

 kept in an artificial pond one year, being reduced in number meanwhile, 

 from unknown causes, to 1,500. These were set at liberty in May, 1871, 

 iu the Sheepscot River. 



The introduction of these Ontario salmon is mentioned in connection 

 with those from New Brunswick because the purpose of their introduc- 

 tion was the same, namely, the restocking of the rivers where they were 

 l)laced with sea-going salmon. To the first purchasers of these eggs it 

 did not occur that there was any doubt about the Ontario salmon taking 

 readily to sea-water and the food to be found there; although it was 

 the expressed opinion of Mr. Wilmot that, while the Ontario salmon 

 were true Salmo salar, they nevertheless, in general, passed their whole 

 lives in the fresh waters of the lake, finding there a congenial food. It 

 appears probable that Mr. Wilmot is right in both particulars, but at 

 the present time it must be regarded as an undecided point whether the 

 Ontario salmon do migrate to and from the sea ; and, if their residence 

 in the lake becomes established, it will still be an open question whether 

 they can, on being placed in our rivers, assume the migratory habits of 

 the salmon of the coast. 



A small lot of eggs from the Newcastle establishment found its way 

 by another channel into the hands of W. S. Peavey, esq., of Whiting, 

 Me. He had them hatched out, and the young fish, numbering 225, were 

 placed in the Cobscook EiAer in May, 1870. 



Mr. Goodfellow again undertook the collection of salmon-spawn on 

 the Miramichi in the fall of 1870. A considerable quantity was engaged? 

 but only 8,000 eggs obtained. These were divided between the States 

 of Maine and Connecticut, and the Poquonnoc Fish Company. The 

 share of Maine amounted to only 800. They were hatched out near 

 Augusta, and soon after the absorption of the sack disappeared ; it is 

 supposed that they escaped into a tributary of the Kennebec. Connec- 

 ticut received 2,000 eggs, and had them hatched at Poquonnoc. They 

 produced 1,876 young, and these, without accident or loss in transpor- 

 tation, were, in April, 1871, placed in the waters and tributaries of 

 Broad Brook, a branch of the Quinnebang River. * 



* Fifth Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of Connecticut, 1871, 

 p. 20. 



