SHAD PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN 1878. 



619 



eries, took tlic responsibility of a considerable portion of the State dis- 

 tribution and ailbrded efTicient aid to onr work. 



(".—POTOMAC RIVER STATION. 



Captain Chester succeeded in obtaining 1,430,000 eggs on tbe Poto- 

 mac River, a portion of wliicli were put in the river and two shipments 

 made to other waters of Virginia. The results of his work are shown 

 in the tables. 



I).— GENERAL RESULTS. 



The total number of eggs taken for the year at A^'oca and Havre de 

 Grace stations, and the Potomac River was 24,o47,000; from these about 

 14,521,000 lishes were distributed, or about GO per cent., which is of 

 course small, the losses before the machinery was complete accounting 

 for most of it. 



The success of the work was, however, great enough to meet all spe- 

 cial requisitions, and it was deemed unnecessary to establish a station at 

 any point further north. A shipment f)f 150,000 shad was sent on the 

 1 1th of June to Sacramento River, California, going through with great 

 success. This is the fourth shipment made to that river by the United 

 States Commission in co-operation with the State, a previous one in 1871 

 having been made under the auspices of the State alone. 



The results from placing shad into the Sacramento River, where they 

 had no previous existence, are of the most encouraging character, as 

 the number of shad taken has increased yearly, so that in the present 

 year it makes a considerable item in the Sacramento fish market. 



The news of continued captures has also been heard from LouisviUe, 

 Ky., and a few points on the Mississippi River. Shad were taken in the 

 month of March at Wetumpka, on the Coosa River. The run of shad at 

 Louisville began about the 1st of May, and closed about the 20th ; the 

 greatest number being taken between the 10th and 18th, as near as 

 could be learned by the Fish Commissioner. 



TABLES OF SHAD PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION IN 1878. 



Becord of shad-hatching oj^eraUons conducted at Avoca, N. C, on Albemarle Sound, from 

 March 28, 1878, to May 1, 1878, on account of the United States and Maryland Fish Com- 

 missions. 



