108 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Croix and White rivers, Wisconsin, and 40,000 in Sandy and Partridge 
rivers, Minnesota. 
Pike perch.In March preliminary ar eccaene were made for 
obtaining pike-perch eggs from Pike River, and on April 30 a personal 
reconnaissance of the locality was made by the superintendent. The 
collecting period was brief, extending from May 1 to 15, and owing to 
the slow disappearance of ice fally half of the fish had spawned before 
they ascended the river to the egg-collecting point where a seine could | 
be used. The total of eggs amounted to 14,000,000. Of this number 
500,000 were deposited in the stream where obtained, the remainder being 
conveyed to the station. The losses following transfer were 5,860,000 
in May and 2,140,000 in June, hatching occurring June 1 to 5, The 
distribution deberatbi 5,500,000, these being placed, before absorption | 
of the sac, near the shores of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. 
Late in November there was a considerable fall of snow, and on 
December 10 ice above the dam from which gravity water is obtained | 
formed to a sufficient thicknessto cut off the supply to hatchery, enfore- 
ing the use of steam pumps in obtaining lake water from erib wells. In 
January the mean temperature was 5.66° below zero, and in February 
snow was more than 3 feet deep on a level, the ice at end of March 
above gravity dam being 4 feet thick. On April 30 the water tempera- 
ture was 35°, and on May 10 the ice was still obstructing the passage of 
water to the hatchery from the gravity dam. By May 31 the average 
.temperature of the water was found to be 39°, and in June it had 
reached the point of 70°. The distribution for the year was: Rainbow 
trout, 83,000; lake trout, 2,355,000; whitefish. 10,482,000; pike perch, 
5,500,000; pike-perch eggs, 500,000. 
QUINCY STATION, ILLINOIS (S. P. BARTLETT, SUPERINTENDENT). 
The collection and distribution of native food-fishes from the over- 
flow river basins was continued on the same basis as in former seasons. 
While this work does not aggregate large numbers of fish distributed, 
their larger size more than compensates for absence of numbers. 
On July 15 the water in the Tilinois and Meredosia rivers was found 
to be receding, the banks at that time just beginning to appear above 
the surface. On July 23 the water was still high, but falling, affording 
an opportunity for the commencement of operations in August, when 
both rivers and the overflowed lands were worked. A1I collections are 
secured with seines, the fish being transferred by small boats and a 
special steamer to the railway tracks, where the cars are in attendance, 
The difficulties in prosecuting this class of work are great, one of the 
worst being the high temperatures prevailing in air and water. A 
large proportion of the fish captured were taken from water only 4 
to 8 inches deep, with an underlying deposit of soft mud 10 inches 
or more in thickness, and in hauling the nets it is impossible to avoid 
drawing ashore quantities of this substance, thereby suffocating the 
fish unless quickly removed. Another difficulty is in securing at the 
