922 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



near the railway bridge. After the first lot was put iu, they have been 

 noticed many days. 



I selected that river because salmon is almost extinct and very bad 

 for seining, having a clear gravel bottom, with very shoal water almost 

 thje year round, only in open winter or the spring a sudden rise two or 

 three, and is even then not half as muddy as the Ehine. 



In Gelderlaud, near Apeldoorn, I found a splendid brook with a fall 

 at the end of three or four meters. No mills on, nor fish in it, only some 

 sticklebacks, and teeming with food. 



A few ponds were dug in the lower ground aside of the brook, which 

 were fed by a screen and pipe through the dike. On the 7th of Janu- 

 ary, 5,600 were put in the ponds; sharp frost ; northeast gale 5 two and 

 one-half hours by rail, one-half by cart. In the cart only with a couple 

 of hot- water stoves with them. Loss, ten in the two cans; i)umps 

 frozen. The fish cannot get away. There is plenty of pure spring- water 

 and plenty of food. I i)ut them there to see how they will thrive in 

 captivity. In the Zoo at Amsterdam are left now 1,000 to be kept 

 there and fed, and 4,000 which I intended to place in the ponds of the 

 Loo, near Apeldoorn, the Kiug's summer residence and his favorite 

 jAsbce. He is principally there. The fry would have been put in long 

 since, but first his marriage, and now the death of our very much 

 lamented Prince Henri, i)revented me to ask his permission. 



You see thus we have not been doing so bad after all ; out of the sound 

 eggs iiacked out (82,000 we put on the trays) I have got about 62,000 

 try deposited. Of miimprcgnated eggs we found only a covple; of twin 

 fish and crooked-backs about 300, and a few with water bellies. Size of 

 the fry 26-30 days after birth, 4 and 4^- centimeters, quite a lot of them. 



I suppose it is settled now that eels are oviparous and not viviparous. 

 Can you give me anything about Professor Packard finding the sperma^ 

 tozoa *? Was the eel caught in fresh or salt water ? What success you 

 have got with your cod-fish hatching ? Somebody has told me the S. 

 quinnat does not go to sea, but stays always in the rivers. What is the 

 temperature of the water on the breeding places in McCloud River, 

 California "? 



Did Mr. Livingston Stone find out something about the so-called winter 

 Milmon I wrote about to you last year? 



The American oyster is taking in England so much that our mer- 

 chants had to come down in price, although our oyster is much superior 

 to the American; ours sell for £4 or £5 sterling per 1,000. 



I am afraid a great many will have been killed by the frost we have 

 had. Theromometer now at since yesterday. Barometer stationary 

 at 775, noon. From yesterday has slowly risen. Wind light, east; ex- 

 pect more frost yet. 



If the English demand for American oysters keeps up, you had better 

 ylook out, otherwise you'll be out before long. The French is a bad, poor 



