30 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The temperatures of air and water at noon during the season of 

 1894 were as follows : 



Date. 



April C 

 7 

 8 

 9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 15 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 21 

 22, 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26. 

 27 

 28 

 29 



Date. 



April 30 

 May 1 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



15 



16 



17 



18 



19 



20 



21 



22 



op 



61 ' 



68 



71 



68 



67 



67 



70 



68 



60 



66 



67 



68 



67 



70 



66 



62 



67 



64 



74 



74 



66 



62 



58 



Water. 



O J\ 



61 ' 



61 

 67 

 67 

 67 

 67 

 67 

 67 

 69 

 69 

 68 

 68 

 69 

 70 

 69 

 69 

 69 

 67 

 69 

 70 

 68 

 64 

 57 



On May 19, the last day on which eggs were taken, a severe storm 

 set in which lasted three days, and caused the worst freshet that has 

 occurred on the river since 1885, the island being under water for sev- 

 eral hours on the 21st and 22d. This made the season the shortest that 

 has ever been known on the Susquehanna, the station having been in 

 operation only thirty-one days. After the freshet shad were caught in 

 considerable numbers off Spesutia Island and in the vicinity of the sta- 

 tion; but a careful examination failed to show a ripe shad between 

 May 24 and June 3. 



On April 25 one of the spawn-takers used a striped bass for fertiliz- 

 ing some 00,000 shad eggs, there being no male shad on hand, aud on 

 May 3 they were all hatched. When placed alongside of other shad 

 fry hatched at the same time they seemed slightly different in color and 

 action, and as it is claimed that the milt will not live exposed to the 

 air more than a few minutes, it seems probable that the fry referred to 

 are genuine hybrids. 



Experiment was made in canning roes of shad and alewives for fish 

 food for the rearing stations, but without success, the roes not having 

 been sufficiently cooked or steamed. It is thought that the work in 

 this line can be made a success if arrangements are made to do it early 

 in April, when the herring or alewife first come in and when the roes 

 are firm. 



Bryan Point Station, Maryland (S. G. Worth, Superintendent). 



Until preparations for the shad season began, early in March, 1894, 

 the property was in charge of a custodian. Mr. L. G. Harron, super- 

 intendent of the aquarium at Central Station, was sent to the station 

 March 7, and on March 27 the launch Blue Wing was put in commis- 



