3 82 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



c— pb:n^nsylyaxia. 



SALMON-HATCHING ON THE DELAWARE. 



Oil March 22, 1S73, by previous arraugemeut I received from Charles 

 G. Atkius, Biicksport, Me., 40,000 saluioii-eggs, forwarded by order of 

 Speucer F. Baird, the United States coiniiiissioner of fisheries, to be 

 batched for the Delaware. I had already in position two wooden 

 troughs, each 15 feet long and 2 feet wide in the clear, the bottoms 

 covered to the depth of an inch with tine gravel, at Heitzman Spring, 

 two miles above Easton, on the New Jersey side. This is a copious 

 spring, flowing from limestone stratn, a volume of about GOO gal- 

 lons per minute, and the brooks, with rapids and pools, discharging, 

 after a course of 150 yards, into the Delaware. The eggs were received 

 with but slight loss (only 305) in transportation. The sudden transition, 

 however, from water nearly as low as the freezing-point to spring- water 

 at 51°, forced the hatching to such extent that there was great mortality 

 in the embryos, many perishing with their heads and shoulders protrud- 

 ing from the eggs. A careful record kept by the person who had charge 

 of the troughs shows a loss of 14,978 eggs and aleviii from the time 

 they were received until the last of them were discharged from the 

 troughs — a period of about six weeks. The fry were allowed gradually 

 to escape into the brook, as their yolk-sacs were absorbed, and at which 

 time they commenced feeding. There are numerous large limestone- 

 springs flowing into the Delaware in the neighborhood just at the water's 

 edge, some of which are only seen at a very low stage of water. The 

 fry will, therefore, find a suitable temperature in this part of the river. 

 These, (say 25,000 fry,) with the 13,000 previously placed in a tributary 

 of tlie Delaware, will, I trust, afl'ord an opportunity to solve the problem 

 whether the true salmon {S. salar) can be acclimated to this fine river. 



THADDEUS NOERIS. 



D— OHIO. 



Dear Sir : The salmon-eggs were put in the hatching-troughs at Cas- 

 talia the 17th of March, and by the 1st of April 90 per cent, w^ere out. 

 Some of the eggs were developed 24 hours after reaching the spring. 

 From the 1st of April to the 1st of May not over a hundred fish were 

 lost. As they fed well at this time, the fish were placed, a few daily, in 

 the large pond to care for themselves. This pond is of about 15 acres and 

 contains an abundance of food : the usual temperature of the river is 

 about 450 Fahrenheit; clear as crystal and deep, with shallow margins, 

 on which numerous aquatic plants abound. 



As there are no fishes inhabiting these waters, save small-sized species 

 and the stickleback, I do not see but what the little salmon will have 

 it their own way. There are at present about four thousand in the 



