XIII.-ACCOUNT OF TRIP TO EUROPE WITH EGGS OF THE 



QUINNAT SALMON. 



By Fred Mather. 



Prof. S. F. Baird, 



United States Commissioner Fisli and Fisheries: 



Ou the receipt of your request to accompany a large lot of salmon eggs 

 to Germany and other parts of Europe, I considered it necessary to 

 devise some means for repacking them in New York after their long 

 journey from California. I decided as the best method a box with trays 

 so arranged as to allow frequent inspection, and containing an ice- 

 chamber above them whereby the temperature could be regulated and 

 moisture supplied by the constant dripping from the ice. As there were 

 to be 200,000 eggs for England, France, and Germany, with a possible 

 addition of 100,000 more for the Netherlands, which were to come in 

 packages of 25,000, 1 had eight of the boxes made. Each of these con- 

 tained at its top an ice-chamber one foot high with a perforated bottom, 

 and beneath this ten frames fourteen inches square, with bottoms of 

 Canton flannel. 



It had not been decided whether the shipment for the Netherlands 

 would accompany the others or be sent by steamer direct to Rotterdam; 

 therefore no provision was made for them, as there would be time 

 enough to provide the boxes after their arrival. 



From experience in unpacking eggs from California, I deemed it abso- 

 lutely necessary to have them repacked, for, though the moss-packing 

 is as good as any for the time required to reach the Eastern States 

 from California if immediately unpacked, my experience indicated that 

 it would not be likely to answer for a much longer time, as the follow- 

 ing instances will show. 



In the fall of 1875 I was in the employ of the Virginia Fish Commis- 

 sion, who were then building two hatcbing-houses, one at Blacksburg 

 and the other at Lexington, neither of which were finished on the arrival 

 of the eggs. Both lots of eggs were kept in cool places with ice plenti- 

 fully supplied; those at Lexington were opened and put in the troughs 

 five days after arrival and were in very good order. All the dead eggs 

 had started a fungoid growth, and in a few cases had attached others 

 to them, but there were not many that were apparently injured by 

 the fungus. All fish culturists are aware that some eggs \f ill die out 

 of the very best lot, whether packed and transported by rail or placed 

 in a trough under the most favorable circumstances, and these dead 

 eggs will grow fungus in a long or short time, depending upon the tem- 

 perature. Persons who obtain a number of eggs and claim to have 

 hatched an equal number of fish from them, unless the embryo is 

 advanced within a few days of hatching, state what those familiar with 



