PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1921, 49 
The number of landlocked salmon eggs taken from Green Lake 
represents an average season. Pound nets were set at the mouth of 
Great Brook as usual, and 87 female and 49 male fish were taken, the 
first fish entering the trap on October 14 and the last on November 
19. Eggs to the number of 220,300 were secured, of which 70,000 
were shipped to applicants. From the remainder 122,120 fry were 
hatched and distributed. 
Of the 317,200 eggs obtained at Grand Lake Stream 115,000 were 
shipped to other points and 184,400 were retained for parent waters. 
To the unseasonably warm weather, which continued through the 
late fall, and the consequent high-water temperatures the delayed and 
prolonged run of spawning salmon is attributed. Spawning fish 
were still being taken in small numbers daily, when a sudden tem- 
perature change, with danger from ice, made it necessary to dis- 
continue operations. The adult fish taken this season were of a 
larger average size than is usual at this point. Several specimens 
weighing 6 and 7 pounds were taken, yielding an average of 1,600 
eggs per fish. During July and August 79,000 fingerling salmon 
carried over from the previous year were liberated in Grand and 
Dobsis Lakes. 
The work addressed to the propagation of smelt met with a fair 
degree of success. From the 8,000,000 eggs obtained 7,000,000 fry 
were hatched and liberated in local waters and 600,000 eyed eggs 
were shipped to applicants. Practically all of the eggs were ob- 
tained this season from natural spawning, the adult fish being con- 
fined in troughs until this function was performed, after which they 
were liberated and the eggs transferred to hatching jars. Compara- 
tive tests of this method of obtaining eggs as against artificial 
stripping seems to prove the superiority of the former method. Of 
150,000 eggs taken by artificial stripping only about 15 per cent pro- 
duced fry, while the percentage of hatch obtained from natural 
spawning was 95. It was noted, however, that the best results were 
obtained from fish that were about ready to spawn when taken. 
When held in confinement for more than 36 hours prior to spawning, 
eggs of a poor quality resulted. In one instance a trough in which 
approximately 500,000 eggs had been deposited was left undisturbed 
for observation after the removal of the adult fish. On the fourth 
day the eggs showed the effects of smothering, this condition, which 
is well known to fish-culturists, bemg brought about by improper 
aeration of the water. The dam at the outlet end of the trough was 
raised, thus subjecting the eggs to a more rapid flow of water and 
relieving the dangerous symptoms. These eggs completed incuba- 
tion in 14 days, with a mean water temperature of 55.5° F., as 
against 20 to 27 days for the eggs incubated in Downing jars, with 
a mean water temperature of 46°. 
In addition to the species already mentioned, brook-trout eggs 
to the number of 788,860 acquired by purchase from commercial 
dealers and 50,000 rainbow-trout eggs transferred from the bureau’s 
Virginia station were received during the year. Fifty thousand of 
the brook-trout eggs were reshipped to the Grand Lake Stream sub- 
station. From the eggs of that species retained at Green Lake 
608,050 fry were distributed. The rainbow-trout eggs underwent a 
rather heavy loss during incubation and produced only 26,000 fry. 
