570 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 
eggs obtained as the brevity of the season, for it has been equaled in 
this respect by many of its predecessors, and probably will be by many 
successors. It should be understood that procuring eggs of the white- 
fish is invariably attended with labors, exposures, difficulties, and dan- 
gers not met with in similar work with any other kind of fish; but, owing 
to their great fecundity, large numbers of eggs can be obtained with 
adequate help. Local causes alone are responsible for the hardships 
frequently experienced in their procurance. The spawning seagon of 
the whitefish occurs at that time of the year when the great lakes, pro- 
verbially rough and treacherous, are seen at their worst; squalls are 
common, severe storms frequent, and high winds prevail. But the 
fisherman, as well as the spawn-gatherer, must ‘‘Make hay while the 
sun shines,” and the little tug-boat or pound-boat often puts out in a 
heavy sea, the attempt appearing almost foolhardy to the ordinary 
landsman. Under these circumstances, with the boat tossing about so 
violently that equilibrium is maintained only with the greatest diffi- 
culty, spawn-taking is necessarily a slow and arduous work; but when 
the wind, that is strong enough to almost deluge the boat and its occu- 
pants with spray, is cold enough to convert the spray into ice, existing 
difficulties are magnified and multiplied, the situation becomes perilous, 
and the suffering from cold and exposure, from which there is no escape 
in the pound-beat, is intensified almost beyond physical endurance. 
OPERATIONS AT THE HATCHERY. 
As will be gathered from previous notes, the total number of eggs 
shipped to the hatchery was 14,780,000; all of which were received in 
prime condition with the exception of the last lot of 1,000,000 from 
Alpena, which were thrown away as soon as received, as but very few, 
if any, were free from the little white spot, the death mark. The actual 
number, then, deposited in the hatching boxes and jars was 13,780,000, 
and this is the number, of course, on which the hatching percentages 
are based. They were daeneuies as follows: 
100 hatching-boxes, 6 trays each, 8,000 to the tray. . --- 4,800, 000 
40 hatching-jars, 150,000 tothe jars cose wone se ee 6, 000, 000 
15 hatching-jars, 125,000 to the jar................. wwe e SL STS O00 
10 hatching jars, 100,600 to the jar. !4e 245 sel a ee 1, 000, 000 
ihatehine-jar, ‘105,000 2.7. ssc ee eee 105, 000— 
13, 780, 000 
With the exception of five jars of mixed eggs, those from the Lake 
Huron fish were kept separate from the eggs of the Lake Erie fish, and 
none of the fry of the former were planted in Lake Erie or the Detroit 
River. 
All the eggs taken at Kelley’s Island (Lake Erie) were procured in 
one day, November 17, by Mr. L. Carpenter, who, having no floating 
boxes, spread them on flanne] trays after keeping them eight hours with 
