798 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the milt, whicli I have found is sometimes fatal. The eggs and milt 

 were this season kept in contact much longer than I have ever practiced 

 before, with the hope that a more complete impregnation would thereby 

 be secured. The latter object was not attained, and I now believe that 

 a minute is as good as an hour of contact. With the above-named 

 exceptions the eggs were to all appearance a healthy lot, and the ship- 

 ments were made in a very hopeful spirit. 



The water in the new hatching-house fell, during the month of Novem*- 

 ber, from 48° F. to 38°. December 1 4 it stood at 32°, and thenceforward 

 through the winter between 32° and 33o. The development of the eggs 

 placed therein was, therefore, very slow. The water of the old hatch- 

 ing-house, however, was about as warm as usual, ranging from 44° to 38° 

 in December, from 41° to 39° in January, 39° to 37° in February, 39° to 

 38° ill March, 38° to 34° in April. The eggs placed in this house early 

 in the spawning season came forward rapidly, and were ready for ship- 

 ment early in February. It was decided to take the 25 per cent, reserve 

 out of these, and, therefore, but 150,000 of them were shipped. These 

 were sent to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Kew Hampshire, Febru- 

 ary 10 and 11. The remainder of the shipments were made from the 

 eggs that passed the winter in the cold water of the new hatching-house, 

 and so much colder was the water and so much more backward the de- 

 velopment of these eggs than I had anticipated, that not until April did 

 they reach the state at which I thought it safe to pack them up. 



4. — Division and shipment. 



There were left at time of shipment, as nearly as could be estimated, 

 1,470,000 eggs ; 370,000 of these were retained for hatching, and the 

 balance, 1,100,000 were sent away — 616,000 on account of the United 

 States Fish Commission, and 484,000 on account of the States of Massa- 

 chusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The distribution is given 

 more in detail in Table IV. 



It has been the practice, rarely omitted at this establishment, to 

 remove the unfertilized eggs from each lot before packing it np. At 

 the stage suitable for packing, the unfertilized eggs are very tender, and 

 a moderate agitation suffices to turn most of them white, when they can 

 be easily removed. This was generally done at the time of packing, 

 but in some cases a few days before. The packing-boxes used this year 

 were from If to 3J inches deep. The eggs were, as usual, enveloped 

 in mosquito-netting, between layers of wet sphagnous moss. Between 

 the packing-boxes and the outer cases was a space of about 3 inches, 

 filled with chaft", dry moss, or sawdust. The cases generally left Grand 

 Lake Stream in the afternoon, and were carried on sleds to Princeton, 

 where they passed the first night. The second day they went to Calais, 

 and there passed another night. The third day (two days from starting) 

 they took the railroad train at St. Stephen, ]Sr. B., and from this point 

 the journey was generally uninterrupted. 



