TRANSMISSION OF SALMON EGGS TO AUSTRALIA, ETC. 873 

 [Inclosure in No. 26. ] 

 Mr. Creighton to Mr. J. C. Firth. 



San Francisco, 20^/i January, 1878. 



My Dear Sir : Since I wrote to you re wliiteflsh, as per inclosure, I 

 have learned some facts which are of interest relative to the artificial 

 hatching of them, from the State Fish Commissioner (Mr. Eedding), 

 and the foreman (Mr. Woodbury), which you should know. 



1st. Mr. Eedding declares that it is almost essential that they should 

 be hatched out at the first iDoint of landing, owing to their delicacy. 

 They will thrive anywhere if the water is deep enough, their food being 

 small Crustacea adhering to rocks in fresh water lakes, having a current 

 running through them. They should have a sandy and gravelly bottom. 



2d. They are much more difficult to manage than salmon, and, until 

 recently, little was known of their habits. They lose their sacks in ten 

 days at a temperature of 35^, and earlier at a higher temperature. It 

 will be necessary to feed them three days afterwards, or perhaps earlier, 

 if they are to be transported any distance. The Fish Commissioners of 

 Wisconsin discovered this year that whitefish could be fed with blood 

 for an indefinite period, and in the San Leandro hatching establishment, 

 and at Lake Chabot in this State, the same experiment has been tried 

 with success. Mr. Woodbury, therefore, suggests that you keep twenty 

 of the fish in the hatching trough and feed them with blood, which can 

 be squirted into the water with a syringe and thoroughly mixed. This 

 would serve a double purpose. It would establish as a fact what is 

 now experiment, that whitefish may be fed upon coagulated blood, and 

 also give you a pei;pianent stock for purposes of spawning, by which 

 your society might derive no little profit. The Fish Commissioners 

 here are very anxious in regard to this matter, and I would be glad 

 if you could give it a fair trial and report the result. As fish culture is 

 now becoming a leading industry, the economic side of the question will 

 readily suggest itself to your mind. 



3d. Whitefish, as soon as hatched out, rise and swim, unlike trout 

 and salmon, which lie dormant. The little fellows are, therefore, carried 

 down the trough with the current, and, unless fine wire screens are 

 placed across it to intercei3t them, they are almost certain to be lost. It 

 was in this way, I suspect, the Christchurch Society lost their whitefish, 

 and not by a fresh during the night, as reported. No. 18 mesh (eighteen) 

 will keep them in. They should have as much back-water as possible 

 to swim in. In ten days, as I have said, they lose their sack, at a tem- 

 perature of 35°, but, as they may lose it earlier, it is necessary that a 

 register of the daily temperature of the water be kept, and food be fur- 

 nished as above described. 



4th. In the interest of science and acclimatization, should any por- 

 tion of these eggs be sent south, I have to request that you communi- 



