REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 93 
the output was due to abnormally high temperatures, which caused 
a heavy loss of eggs in the hatchery. 
The usual extensive Atlantic salmon operations were conducted 
at the Craig Brook, Me., station during the year. The brood fish 
collected in the summer and fall of 1914 numbered 693, of which 112 
died in the pound, leaving 581 available for fish-cultural work. The 
289 females stripped produced 1,954,479 eggs, of which number 
1,848,000 were transferred in the eyed stage to the upper Penobscot 
auxiliary station during the winter for final development, and the 
1,804,313 fry resulting from them were liberated in May and June 
in the east branch of the Penobscot River. The collection of brood 
fish for propagation in the succeeding fiscal year began May 21 and 
ended June 19, the number of brood fish secured within that period 
amounting to 725. 
It is the opinion of the superintendent of the Craig Brook station, 
and also of the Penobscot River fishermen, that Atlantic salmon are 
as numerous this year as they have been in the past three years. The 
total catch in the spring of 1915 was a trifle greater than that of the 
preceding year, which would indicate that this species is holding its 
own under very adverse conditions. 
PROPAGATION OF THE TROUTS AND BASSES. 
Generally speaking, very successful work was accomplished during 
the year at the stations addressed to the propagation of the trouts 
and basses. 
Large gains were made with the brook trout at the Manchester 
station, the total output being 1,080,000, as compared with 319,800 
in 1914. While the average collections of brook and rainbow trout 
eggs were made at the Wytheville and White Sulphur Springs sta- 
tions, very heavy losses of fry occurred, the mortality at the former 
station being due to contamination of the food supply, and at the 
latter to a decreased water supply, which has been falling off for a 
number of years. 
At Leadville, Colo., where a large percentage of the eggs are col- 
lected from open waters, there was a material increase in the output 
of rainbow trout. The brook-trout egg collections at this station in 
the fall of 1914 were smaller than in the preceding year, but their 
quality was better and a larger number of fry were produced. 
The total output of the Bozeman and auxiliary stations for the 
year, amounting to 17,359,436 fish and eggs, was practically 100 per 
cent above that of the previous year, which aggregated 8,745,538. - 
It is impossible to present any analysis or comparison of the Yel- 
lowstone Park work by fiscal years, owing to the fact that the spawn- 
ing season of the blackspotted trout occurs in June and July, the 
last month of one fiscal year and the first month of the succeeding 
year. The take of eggs of this species in the park for the calendar 
year 1914 was 12,561,935. Of these eggs 11,463,000 were shipped to 
various other stations of the Bureau, and 560,000 fry were hatched 
on the grounds for deposit in suitable waters in the park, making a 
total distribution of 12,023,000 fish and eggs. 
Owing to favorable water conditions and close application to the 
work, substantial gains were made in the collection of rainbow-trout 
and grayling eggs at the field stations located in the Madison Valley, 
