REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XLIX 



portion of eggs incubated wbicli hutched was 52 jjer ceut and the m um- 

 ber of fry ijhxuted in the Eoauoke at WeWou was 280,500. 



c. The Whitefish (Coregonus clupdformis). 



The Northville Station. — The work at this station, which continued 

 under the supervision of Mr. Frank N. Chirk, was carried on much as 

 during the previous year, but on a much more extensive scale. The 

 propagation of whitefish is the principal object of the station, and this 

 work being greatly increased, a corresponding increase in the facilities 

 for handling the eggs and young fish was required. The equipments of 

 the hatchery were rearranged, more hatching-jars were introduced, sev- 

 eral additional tanks were i^laced in a building near the hatchery, and 

 an elevated reservoir was constructed from which the hatching ai)para- 

 tus was kept amply supplied with water. 



The winter of 1884:-'85 was an extremely severe one in North ville ; 

 consequently the hatching period was several weeks later than usual, 

 and the distribution of young fish, which generally begins about Feb- 

 ruary 20, did not commence this year until April 1. The weather during 

 the period for taking the eggs, November 13 to December 1, was 

 ver}' favorable most of the time on Lake Erie ; but a severe storm 

 on Lake Huron, November 6, seriously interrupted the work there. 

 The summer and fall catch of whitefish in Lake Erie was much greater 

 than for several seasons. This was largely due to the work of propaga- 

 tion carried on by the various fish commissions, as this lake was more 

 largely planted than others with whitefish ; and the fishermen are now 

 becoming convinced of the practical value of such work. 



The penning of whitefish was successfully carried on in the Eaisin 

 Eiver, where the fish were kept in crates alongside the piers in the 

 river, about one-quarter of a mile from Lake Erie. To these crates the 

 fish were towed from the pound-nets in the lake in a "live-car," at the 

 rate of about 5 miles an hour, always with safety to the fish. A heavy 

 storm in the latter part of November blew so much of the water from the 

 i-iver that the fish had to be disposed of; but this circumstance is 

 unprecedented, and not likely to occur again. The penned fish Avere 

 handled very successfully. The first eggs were taken November 13, 

 and the greatest number taken in one day was 750,000. The tempera- 

 ture of the water in the crates ranged from 36° to 46° Fahr. This plan 

 of penning the fish was tried also at Alcona, on Lake Huron, with much 

 promise of success should the place be fitted up properly' for this pur- 

 pose. 



The shipments of whitefish eggs to various States and to foreign 

 countries were much larger than before and generally very successful, 

 the losses being almost nothing. During the shii)ping season, which 

 lasted from December 24 to March 10, 31,000,000 eggs were furnished 

 bj' Northville. Two million were sent to the Deutsche Fischerei- 

 Verein of Germany, half of which were lost because of bad handling 



