34 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



satisfactory if pure sea water had been available to make a complete 

 change of water every third day during - the hatching process. 



Advantages claimed for the air-circulation process are: (1) Thorough 

 aeration, (2) active movement of the eggs, (3) light, (4) ability to keep 

 eggs in sea water of proper density and at a uniform temperature, (5) 

 economy of labor and apparatus, (6) increased comfort to hatchery 

 employees, (7) economy and improved quality of water, (8) reduction of 

 cost of pumping, (0) increased facility in removing dead eggs, (10) 

 increased cleanliness and absence of wet floors, (11) economy of space 

 in the hatching room, (12) improved facilities for observing the condi- 

 tion of eggs and fry. Hatching operations could be carried on iu jars 

 on the cars en route or on board ship. 



Two lots of pike-perch eggs were received from Put-in-Bay Station 

 May 4 and 5, 1894, with a loss of about 90 per cent. Those received May 

 5 were in a temperature of 62° F. They were allowed to rise to 62° and 

 placed in water at 08°, when hatching commenced at once. 



On December 28, 1893, Superintendent Seagle sent from Wytheville, 

 Ya., 10,000 rainbow-trout eggs of different ages for use by Prof. W. K. 

 Brooks, of Johns Hopkins University, in his studies of the develop- 

 ment of fins. The young cod hatched at Central Station were also 

 shipped to Professor Brooks, together with three universal hatching 

 jars, complete. 



Central Station is credited with furnishing for distribution the fol- 

 lowing fry : 



Of rainbow-trout eggs produced at Wytheville and Neosho 104,537 

 were reshipped to applicants in Baltimore, Md., Canada, Belgium, and 

 France, as shown in the details of distribution. Of species forwarded 

 from the Fish Ponds, World's Fair, Green Lake, Quincy, Wytheville, 

 Neosho, Havre de Grace, and Put-in-Bay stations, 1,236,704 individuals 

 were received and most of them were distributed. 



Aquaria, Central Station (L. G. Harron, Superintendent). 



At the beginning of the fiscal year the superintendent was on detailed 

 duty at the aquarium of the Fish Commission at the World's Columbian 

 Exposition, and remained in that service until October 30, 1893. Prepa- 

 rations for restocking Central Station aquaria began November 5, and 

 on November 12 a collecting trip was made to lower Chesapeake Bay. 

 Fish had left the iulets and shallow bays owing to cold weather, and 

 very few specimens could be collected. 



