COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOODIC SALMON EGGS. 797 



all. Ill the larger lots, however, this was fouud to be too tedious a 

 j)rocess, and resort was had to another. A whole tray ol eggs was held 

 vi}) to a window so as to throw a strong light upon the under side, and 

 all tlie eggs were so lighted up as to make their condition plainly dis- 

 cernible. A whole row, or two or three whole rows, next to the frame, 

 were critically examined and the unimpreguated counted. Each row 

 being known to contain on an average 40 eggs, the ratio of impregnation 

 was speedily arrived at. In this way, in the largest lots, 2,000 and more 

 were examined, and it is believed that the result obtained must be very 

 nearly correct. The result of the examination was fairly satisfactory, 

 but did not indicate so good a ratio of impregnation as I had hoped. 

 Exclusive of the experimental lots, it ranged from 74 to 93 per cent., 

 and averaged, by careful computation, 90.1 per cent. At Bucksport, in 

 former seasons, with sea-going salmon, an average of 96 to 98 per cent, 

 was attained. The reason for the inferior result at Grand Lake Stream 

 is not apparent, but is most likely connected with these too-well attested 

 phenomena: first, that the Schoodic salmon, far more than the Penobscot 

 salmon, are subject to diseases wliich affect the eggs before they are laid, 

 so that often a large percentage, and sometimes the entire litter, is 

 damaged past all remedy when laid ; second, that unlike the Penobscot 

 salmon, the Schoodic fish often came into our hands while yet unripe, 

 and therefore liable to be prematurely pressed. 



The percentage of non-impregnation would account for a loss of 

 172,300 eggs. The shrinkage up to the time of dividing and shipping 

 the eggs was 253,000, as deduced from the number shipped and turned 

 out to hatch. Probably the actual deaths were not far from the latter 

 number. Aside from the ordinary pickings of white eggs, there were 

 some entire lots which iierished. These were all experimental lots ex- 

 cept in one instance. A lot taken on the 28th of November, number- 

 ing 103,000, was a total loss. There was nothing unusual in the appear- 

 ance of these eggs until December 14, when it was observed that there 

 were small circular white spots in a great many of the eggs ; these were 

 near the embryonic disk in all cases, and in most cases directly over it, 

 moving about with the disk as if attached to the yolk. At this date, 

 the eggs of the embryonic disk were just beginning to expand. In a 

 few days it was observed that the lines showing the i)rogress of the 

 growth of the embryo were less regular in this than in other lots. If al- 

 lowed to remain in the water, the white spots enlarged and the eggs soon 

 decayed. They were, therefore, picked out as fast as they a])i)eared, the 

 examinations being made every three days. From 1,000 to 8,000 were 

 taken out at a picking, and on one day the number rose to 15,000. By- 

 the 9th day of February 80,000 had been taken out, one by one. They 

 were then removed to the new hatching-house, when, in the month of 

 March, about 5,000 of them hatched into weak fish. Unfortunately, the 

 record does not throw any light upon the causes that led to this failure, 

 but I have a suspicion that the eggs were kept too long in contact with 



