1096 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 



liatchery ISTo. 3 is nearly finished; cement floors all hard. The stream 

 house (hatchery No. 2) has been put in order for eggs. 



October 29. — We put in some of the pound nets to-day. Fish are be- 

 ginning to spawn above our nets. 



October 31. — To-day we put in the second pound, and are now prepared 

 to capture fish. 



N'ovemJ)er 1. — A good many fish ran into pound 2, and were driven 

 through into the large pound. Munson estimates them at 175 at 9 p. 

 ra. — say 30 more in the morning. About 40 fish driven in this evening. 

 "Very few salmon have got past our nets into either canal or stream. 



November 2. — A pretty good run of fish this morning. Munson found 

 in the pound what he called a female sea salmon of 12 pounds weight 

 (afterwards found to be 36 inches long, and probably heavier than this 

 estimate). At 10 a. m. I saw a male sea salmon also within our inclos- 

 nres. 



November 5. — There were good runs of fish on nights of November 2 

 and 3. Last night about 15 salmon came in before 9 o'clock, and dur- 

 ing the remainder of the night a very large school. Yesterday and the 

 day before were rainy, and it cleared at 7 last evening. 



November 7. — A good run of fish every night ; last two nights less 

 than a hundred each, we judge. 



November 8. — To-day we begin the taking of spawn. All the fish 

 captured prior to this date are gathered in a siugle large inclosure. 

 From this stock we to-day manipulated 591 Schoodic salmon, 210 being 

 males, 192 unripe females, 166 ripe females, and 13 spent females. The 

 predominance of females at so early a date indicates that the majority 

 of the salmon we shall catch have already entered our inclosures. It 

 is usual to take a larger number of males until the season is well ad- 

 vanced, the later catches being mostly of females. The large number of 

 unripe females taken indicates that the delay in beginning manipula- 

 tion was judicious. Thirty of the females spawned (= 18 per cent) 

 yielded some defective eggs, commonly but very few each. This in- 

 cludes only such eggs as bore some visual sign of imperfection. In 

 most cases they were chalky-white in color ; in some there were only 

 small white spots. In others there was the color and transparency of 

 good eggs, but the yelks were collapsed and rolled together. This 

 phenomenon has always been present with the Schoodic salmon, but 

 no exact record made of the matter before. Besides the Schoodic 

 salmon we handled to-day 2 sea salmon and 11 small togue {Salmo 

 { Cristivomer) namaycush). The sea salmon were 1 female 36 inches long, 

 gravid, and 1 male 31J inches long. The togue ranged in length from 

 17 to 21 inches, being, apparently, all spent fish. The eggs taken to-day 

 (235,000) are placed in hatchery No. 1. 



November 11. — Spawning jiroceeds daily. There are more togue than 

 usual, among the salmon ; 22 of them were found to-day, all small. One 

 fsalmon found to-day whose sex could not be distinguished. It measured 

 16 inches in length. 



