938 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



NEW JEESEY. 



Atlantic Salmon. — No attempt has been made to capture any adnlt 

 salmon which may have returned to our river, and it was not expected 

 that they would make their reappearance until four or five years after 

 they were placed in the stream. In the spring and summer of 1877, 

 however, six or seven fish were taken in shad nets at different points on 

 the river. They were medium-sized fish, averaging about ten pounds, 

 but had evidently been to the sea and had returned to the river to de- 

 posit their eggs. This was deemed highly encouraging, and the next 

 season was looked forward to with much anxiety by those who were in- 

 terested in fish culture and who appreciated the immense imj)ortance of 

 the success of the efforts to establish this valuable fish in the rivers of 

 the State. On the 5th of April, in the present year, a magnificent sal- 

 mon was taken in the Delaware River, within two miles of Trenton. 

 This fish, which was three feet five inches in length and weighed twenty- 

 three and a quarter pounds, came into the hands of the commissioners 

 and was by them forwarded to Prof. Spencer F. Baird, at Washington, 

 who addressed the following letter to one of the commissioners : 



" United States Commission Fish and Fisheries, 



'^Washington, D. C, April 11, 1878. 



"Dear Sir: You have rendered the United States Fish Commission 

 a very great service by sending on the specimen of Delaware salmon as 

 advised in yours of the 6th of April. It reached me in good condition 

 Tuesday, and I have already had the pleasure of exhibiting it to the 

 President, and the greater part of his Cabinet, and a number of members 

 of Congress who are interested in such matters, and who came to wit- 

 ness the realization of the efforts made toward stocking the Delaware 

 with this noble fish. I shall have a plaster cast made, colored from nature, 

 and the specimen itself will be prepared and kept in alcohol in a jar of suit- 

 able size. I am waiting the result of a conference of some experienced 

 salmon fishermen as to whether this is to considered as a fresh-run fish 

 from the sea, or a fish that has been in the river all winter, as is quite 

 frequently the habit of salmon. The slight development of the hook of 

 the jaw is rather an indication of the former supposition. 



"From the size of the fish, I incline to refer it to ihe lot of Ehine 

 salmon of which about 500,000 eggs were imported in 1873, but which, 

 owing to the uaprecedented heat of the weather in Germany and on 

 board the vessel, arrived in poor condition, only about 5,000 surviving, 

 and being hatched out at Dr. Slack's place at Bloomsbury. These were 

 introduced into the Musconetcong, and doubtless made their way to the 

 sea. A fish of this weight would require five years for its growth. 



" I hope you will continue to gather all the data possible in regard to 

 the occurrence of salmon in the Delaware, and that you may be able to 

 detect among them some of the California salmon, which should be mak- 

 ing their appearance. 



