REPORT OF COxMMISSTONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 55 



FISH-CULTURAL NOTES. 



The correspondence of the station superintendents furnishes many- 

 valuable records of observations and experiments which are not 

 usually embodied in their annual reports. They may very properly 

 be presented here, grouped under the names of the species to which 

 they relate : 



Mackerel (Scomber scombrus). — June 21, 1894, Mr. W. P. Sauerhoff 

 found five small mackerel at Magnolia, Mass., containing ripe eggs, 

 and obtained 11(3,000, the first taken this season. 



File perch (Stizostedion vitreum). — Mr. Frank N. Clark wrote from 

 Northville, Mich., March 30, 1891: 



In transferring pike-perch eggs from Detroit to the World's Fair last spring 

 * * * the hest success I obtained was in carrying the eggs in 10-gallon cans, put- 

 ting from 12 to 16 quarts in a can, and frequently stirring the eggs and water to 

 keep them from sticking together. If the eggs are to be held in jars * * until 



the eyes show, I think you will meet with success in shipping them on flannel trays 

 with a covering of damp moss on each tray, the top tray to contain nothing hut flue 

 ice, the whole to be surrounded with from 3 to 4 inches of sawdust; temperature 

 from 55- to 60°. This is practically our mode of shipping eyed eggs during the 

 winter. 



Mr. J. J. Stranahan made the following report of an experiment with 

 eggs and milt from dead fish: 



On April 23, 1894, I took 1 quart of eggs from dead pike perch, using milt from 

 two dead males. Eggs came freely and looked line. Milt flowed in a fluid stream, 

 though very slightly thickened. The eggs were set up and worked in a jar in the 

 usual way. Frequent examinations show that all are dead, and in 150 eggs counted 

 and examined April 30 no life could be discovered. A curious feature in this case is 

 that 95 per cent or more of the yolks are ruptured. 



Mr. Stranahan weighed and counted a series at Put in-Bay, from 

 which he puts the eggs at 170,000 to the quart. Mr. Bower uses the 

 estimate of 150,000 to the quart. Mr. Stranahan says further: 



Eggs from different localities differ greatly in size. It seems to me that I can 

 clearly see with the naked eye that the eggs of the Sandusky Bay pike perch 

 (smallish, round, less compressed than lake fish, more fusiform, deep yellow instead 

 of nearly white as in the lake fish), are perceptibly larger than those taken in the 

 open lake. The pike perch from the bay, I feel sure, lives there, never entering the 

 lake. It resembles very strongly those brought to Sandusky from the Lake of the 

 Woods and those caught in inland waters belonging to the Mississippi system ; also 

 those from Saginaw Hay. 



Handling of pike-perch eggs at Putin-Bay. — April 15, 1891, Mr. Strana- 

 han experimented with swamp muck for separating pike-perch eggs suc- 

 cessfully. He screened the mud through fine wire cloth so that all was 

 finer than the eggs. A pint of thick muck solution to a 12 gallon keg 

 was sufficient. Afterwards he used a quart of muck of the consistency 

 of sirup to a 15-gallon keg of water. An account of his experiments 

 was published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 

 for 1894. x 



•The handling of adhesive eggs. .F. J. Stranahan, Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 1894, 

 22-25. 



