722 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



of the family that I know. Our fish took food very well until some time 

 in June, when the temperature in their ponds reached 60° Fahr., and 

 then they began to die. A table of distribution will be found at the 

 close of the report. 



ATLANTIC OR PENOBSCOT SALMON (SALMO SALAR). 



This was the third season of operations with this fish at this station, 

 and the fourth in which plantings in the Hudson River were made. The 

 first plant in the Hudson was from Roslyn, Long Island, in 1882, when 

 I obtained the use of the stream and hatchery building of Mr. Thomas 

 Clapham of that place, to carry on the work ; and the captures of salmon 

 in the Hudson River during the summer of 1886, which will be detailed 

 further on, have given us great encouragement. 



On January 7, 1880, we received from Mr. Charles G. Atkins, in charge 

 of the salmon station at Bucksport, Me, three cases containing 240,000 

 eggs, which were in excellent condition; and on the following day we 

 received four cases, containing 200,000 eggs, which were also in good 

 condition. The fry were placed in tributaries of the Hudson, Saint 

 Lawrence, and Lake Ontario, the details of which are in the tables of 

 distribution appended to this report. 



In May, 1885, we made plantings of salmou in Paulinskill and the 

 Pequest River, New Jersey, tributaries of the Delaware River, and the 

 fry have been seen there, as is shown by the following letters from one 

 of the fish commissioners of New Jersey : 



"Newton, N. J., November 13, 1886. 



" Fred Mather, Esq. : 



"Dear Sir: Yours of the 8th ultimo is at hand, making inquiries 

 about the salmon fry placed in the Pequest, Paulinskill, and Musconet- 

 cong rivers, they being tributaries of the Delaware. These salmon 

 were placed in the streams about 20 miles from where they empty 

 into the Delaware, and were found in the Paulinskill in September, 

 1885, in the small spring-runs near the main stream. In May of the 

 present year I learned that some had been taken by a party while fish, 

 ing for trout at a point about 5 miles below where they were placed 

 the year before. The, party that caught them at first thought they 

 were rainbow trout, but on examination I learned they were young 

 salmon, from U to 6 inches long. They were taken with a common 

 angle- worm bait, and seemed to be quite numerous at this point. I have 

 seen them, during the early part of last September, in the same 

 stream, and have no doubt that they have done equally well in the two 

 other streams. There were, perhaps, about forty taken at this point, 

 and nearly all of them were returned to the stream. I am satisfied, 

 from this experience, that the planting of the fry in the headwaters of 

 the tributaries, in natural trout water, is the best way to stock the 



