562 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 
this would at this juncture distort many of the eggs on the bottom 
layer; but when they are eight or ten hours old, so to speak, they may 
be transferred from the water to the trays and arranged two or three 
layers in depth. 
Spread with a feather and always tilt the tray for a moment or two 
to drain off any water that may remain. The eggs should be damp, but 
not saturated—in short, should never remain in contact with water not 
subjected to frequent changes or aération. " 
Guard well your air temperature, never allowing eggs on trays to get 
below 30°; 28° will prove fatal to them. On the other hand, although 
they will live for several hours on trays at a temperature of 60°, they 
are imperiled at this point and should be removed to a cellar or some 
cool place, or surrounded by ice. If circumstances make any of these 
subterfuges impracticable, then return them to the floating boxes to re- 
main until cooler weather. The nearer they can be kept down to 3329, in 
air or water, the better. 
Of course strict compliance with some of these hints is not necessarily 
essential so far as the well-being of the eggs is concerned ; for instance, 
changing the eggs from the pans to a pail or larger vessel is not neces- 
sary, although it is quite important that they should be taken in a pan 
or shallow dish for obvious reasons; but a considerable saving of time 
is effected by concentrating into fewer vessels, no more time being con- 
sumed in changing the water in a pail of 250,000 eggs than in a pan of 
50,000, while the former will occupy less room and is less liable to be 
_overturned by the fishermen in the prosecution of their work, and also 
to lose its contents by the lurching of the boat in a heavy sea. 
Again, a fixed routine cannot always be observed in regard to the 
* treatment of the eggs while on the pound or tug boat. For example, in 
fair weather, with the boat quiet, an active operator, with anabundance 
of fish, will often have six or seven pans containing eggs in different 
stages of progression scattered about; but in a heavy sea, with the boat 
tossing violently, only the pan receiving the eggs, and this held with 
the greatest difficulty while manipulating the fish, can be used. Insuch 
cases the eggs may be transferred at once to a pail or larger vessel, 
which may have to be secured to its place. 
It will be seen, then, that no accurate or specifie rules can be given (or 
observed) for every contingency likely to arise, for many times the ope- 
rator will meet with annoyances and difficulties not anticipated, and 
which, to overcome, will require expedients his own ingenuity must sug- 
gest; while the extent to which any given instructions may be violated 
must be determined by his knowledge of the requirements of the case. 
It is well to bear in mind, however, that the sooner the fish are used 
after taken from the water, the greater the percentage of impregnation 
to be obtained; that the greater the care with which the eggs are 
handled and the more frequent the changes of water, the smaller the 
percentage of loss; and that the nearer the eggs are kept at a tempera- 
