XIV -REPORT ON THE PROPAGATION OF PENOBSCOT SALMON 



IN 1886-'87. 



By Charles G. Atkixs. 



The number of salmon purchased for breeding purposes at the Pe- 

 nobscot Station in 1S86 was limited to 205, which were received between 

 May 29 and June 8. By collecting them thus early it was hoped that 

 we might avoid in great measure the losses that annually decimate the 

 stock of salmon during the transfer from the weirs to the inclosure, 

 and also while coufined during the summer months in Dead Brook. 

 These hopes were only partially realized. There were, to be sure, no 

 deaths in transit, but out of the 205 placed in the inclosure only 147 (or 

 72 per cent.) were recaptured in the fall. This is a less favorable result 

 than in 1885, when the collection of salmon was continued till June 20, 

 and when 72 per ceut. of the whole number purchased and 82 per cent, 

 of those actually placed in the inclosure were saved and made service- 

 able in the fall. The deaths in the inclosure occurredfor the most part, 

 as usual, soon after the salmon were inclosed, and thus before the height 

 of the summer's drouth or heat. Of 48 whose remains were found 33 

 were discovered in June, 9 in July, and G in August, the last G bearing 

 evidence of having been dead from ten to twenty days. 



This was a year of large salmon in the Peuobscot. The average of 

 the estimates of the entire stock collected was 1G.47 pounds. At the 

 spawning season those remaining on hand were found to average 14.47 

 pounds in weight and 34 inches in length, including all the males and 

 gravid females. 



The spawn was taken at the usual date, and the 101 females recov- 

 ered yielded a total of 1,158,77G eggs, an average of 11,473 each. 



The development of the embryos up to the shipping point was at- 

 tended with a loss of 59,776, or 5.2 per cent. The loss from non-impreg- 

 nation was estimated at 21,035, or 1.8 per cent. Among the rejected 

 eggs was an entire lot of very small and evidently worthless eggs which 

 were thrown out in a mass soon after placing them in the hatchery. 

 Leaving these out of the account, the total loss appears to have been 

 but 3.9 per cent., a very satisfactory result. 



The net stock of eggs available for division among the subscribers 

 to the fund was 1,099,000, of which there were awarded to the State of 

 [1] 747 



