REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



35 



At Lake Sunapee the brook trout were captured in traps and also, 

 along with the landlocked salmon and golden trout, in fine-meshed 

 gill nets. The eggs at Lake Sunapee were placed in hatching-troughs 

 at the lake, where they were kept for four or five daj^s, or until enough 

 had been collected to warrant making a shipment, when they were placed 

 in 2-quart glass preserve jars, filled three-fourths full of eggs and 

 brimful of water. The jars were then sealed and packed in a box 

 with hay and ice, and in this condition were shipped to Nashua. The 

 eggs were about eight hours in the jars in transit and the jars were not 

 opened during that period, but all eggs shipped in this manner were 

 received at Nashua in good condition and with very small loss. 



The brook trout at the station began spawning October 24 and con- 

 tinued until the middle of Januaiy, when 1,959 females, nearly all of 

 which were 2i years old, had been stripped and 1,009,470 eggs 

 secured, or an average of about 512 per fish. The eggs began hatch- 

 ing early in Februaiy, the period of incubation being 104 days. 



There was an unusual mortality among the brook-trout fry about 

 the time they began to feed, and the cause of this mortality is attrib- 

 uted to the fact that the station was inadequately supplied with water 

 during the early stages of incubation. In order to determine whether 

 the same mortality would occur among fry hatched under favorable 

 conditions, but reared at the Nashua Station, 100,000 brook-trout fry 

 were transferred from the St. Johnsbury Station to Nashua and were 

 successfully reared. 



The following table shows the number of eggs and fry received at 

 the station during the year: 



The distributions of fish from the station were all made b}^ the 

 regular station force, and the following table shows the number of 

 fish and eggs shipped from the station during the year: 



