PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1921, 45 
men on the ground that the stripping of the fish reduced their 
market value, an objection which is not altogether well founded. 
While it is true that the appearance of the female may be affected 
by the stripping process, the roe at spawning time has no market 
value. The spawning season of this species coincides with that of 
the shad, and for that reason the egg collections were limited, the 
hatching capacity permitting of a total collection of 56,130,000. 
PROPAGATION OF ALEWIFE, BOOTHBAY HARBOR (ME.) STATION. 
For the past two seasons attempts have been made to secure eggs 
of the alewife for artificial propagation at the Boothbay Harbor 
(Me.) station. The Damariscotta River supports a run of the 
species, and there is a fishery of some importance at Damariscotta 
Mills. An examination of the fish taken at this fishery in tide- 
water very soon disclosed that no fish with mature spawn were ob- 
tainable from this source. The efforts made to hold the fish in an 
inclosure, awaiting the maturity of the eggs, were not successful, 
and attempts to secure eggs from the fish after their entrance into 
fresh-water ponds above the falls were equally unsuccessful. Seines, 
pound nets, and fyke nets were employed at Damariscotta Mills and 
at West Boothbay Harbor in ponds where the alewife is known to 
spawn, but the results were negative in every instance in so far as 
they pertained to eggs for propagation, though considerable num- 
bers of fish with immature eggs and also of spent fish were taken. 
No satisfactory explanation of this unusual situation is at hand, since 
alewives in spawning condition are taken in various forms of nets 
at other points. 
PROPAGATION OF STRIPED BASS, WELDON (N. C.) SUBSTATION. 
The bureau propagates the striped bass or rockfish at a single 
substation, located on the Roanoke River at Weldon, N. C., where a 
yearly average of about 12,500,000 fry is hatched and returned to 
the spawning grounds in the river. The work is greatly handi- 
capped by the floods usually encountered and also by the difficulty 
experienced in securing ripe fish of the two sexes at the same time. 
During the height of the run this latter condition is less pronounced 
than it is earlier or later in the season. Contrasted with the output 
of some of the commercial species, the work at this hatchery is not 
large, but it is showing a steady and gratifying increase, as is evi- 
denced by a comparison of the results of the past 10 years. The 
production of striped bass fry at Weldon rose from 5,256,000 in 
1912 to 20,184,000 in 1921, an increase of nearly 400 per cent. 
PROPAGATION OF ATLANTIC SALMON, CRAIG BROOK (ME.) STATION. 
{J. D. De Rocuer, Superintendent.] 
For many years it has been the practice of the bureau to purchase 
in May and June practically all the salmon captured by the Penob- 
scot River fishermen, estimating the average weight at 124 pounds, 
and paying the prevailing market prices for them, together with 
a bonus: of 60 cents per fish for careful handling. The fish have 
been held in a large lake or inclosure until their eggs were mature, 
