COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOODIC SALMON EGGS, 793 



The fish are remarkably backward in development. Of 385 females 

 examined up to this date, only 139 (36 per cent.) have yielded spawn. 

 To-day we found among the fish caught last night at our lower works 

 7 ripe females and 50 unripe. 



November 17. — Very good success with our new trap at the coffer-dam. 

 We find in it this morning 113 female fish and 36 males. Ninety-seven 

 females and 54 males were also taken last night at the lower pounds, 

 making a total of 300 fish last night — all Schoodic salmon. The 

 weather was clear and calm. 



I think, however, that the new trap is somewhat defective in form, 

 especially at the entrance, and that many fish, after once entering the 

 first pound, find their way out again. Some also broke through the net 

 last night, and so escaped. All the fish captured here this morning 

 taken in a salmon-car to the lower pounds, by ckagging the car through 

 the sluice at the dam. 



At one o'clock to-day, the sun shining, I saw two female fish in the 

 act of spawning close above the dam, turning on their sides and flap- 

 ping after their usual manner, with no male in sight. Two hours later 

 I find the same two and one other female spawning near, and still no 

 males near. I made these observations very carefully, and have no doubt 

 of their entire accuracy. There is no sort of difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing the sexes. I have often watched them on the same spot. 



November 18. — Another clear and calm night has given us 246 fish, 

 of which 187 were taken in the new trap. The majority of the females 

 handled to-day are pronounced unripe. All the eggs taken previous to 

 this date have been placed in the old hatching-house, and 155,000 eggs 

 are now there. To-day we place 67,000 in the new house. 



November 19. — Last night was stormy, with sleet and snow, and much 

 westerly and northerly wind, which continued all night. Total catch of 

 Schoodic salmon, 201 ; three-quarters females. 



JVovember 20.— Last night the wind was very light, and varied from 

 northeast to northwest ; cloudy and clear by turns through the night ; 

 288 fish caught, of which 271 came from the upper trap. 



November 21.— A rainy evening and fresh northerly wind, clearing at 

 midnight, brought us in last night 187 fish. 



November 22, a. m. — Clear and calm last night, and we took 306 fish; 

 the best catch of the season. 



In the appended tabular record of fishing will be found notes on the 

 weather of each night during the fishing season. So far as the indica- 

 tions go, they seem to be in favor of the conclusion that stormy weather 

 deters the fish from running. 



Among the fish handled to-day was one small one, 12 inches long and 

 weighing 11 ounces. This is an unusual size, of which a few are taken 

 each year. Only two of them have been seen this fall. One of the 

 largest of the females handled to-day, a full and ripe fish, measured 22 

 inches in length, weighed before spawning 4 pounds 1 ounce, and yielded 



