SALMON AND TROUT IN ALASKA. 101 



about 3 per cent, the numbers being 10,723 females and 11,033 males. 

 But one unspawned female was found dead. Dead unspawned males 

 are more common. Of 636 females opened, about 80 per cent were 

 entireh^ spawnied out, i. e., ^\^th no loose eggs in the abdominal cavity; 

 the remaining 20 per cent had an average of 97 eggs unspawned, with 

 the most in any instance noted 1,246. The sockeye carries between 

 2,500 and 4,000 eggs, an average, perhaps, of about 3,500. This 

 remnant, then, amounts to about one-half of 1 per cent of the total 

 number of eggs matured. The product of this one stream on the 

 same basis of estimate is 37,000,000 eggs. It is believed that less than 

 one-tenth the number of fish entering the lake spa^^^led in the above- 

 mentioned creek. Thus approximately 400,000,000 sockeye eggs 

 were spawned in Karluk Lake basin in 1903. Sockeyes are reported 

 by natives to spaun late in the winter, even under the ice, but it is 

 doubtful whether it is usual for any noteworthy number to occur as a 

 fall run, as \nth other species and in more southerly streams. 



In 1903 the spa^^^ling season was practically over early in Septem- 

 ber. Since the fishing continues ordinarily into that month, the 

 spawning should last much later. The double operation of cannery 

 and hatchery, perhaps, accounts for its early close. On the Naha the 

 season continues into November. At Hetta the fish are reported to 

 spawn in small numbers until later in the winter. 



PERCENTAGE OF NATURAL PRODUCTION. 



The percentage of natural production of fr^^ is a matter of the 

 utmost interest. In daylight observation of a well-populated spa^^^l- 

 ing ground one is sometimes struck by the absence of factors to 

 cause damage. Al* Yes Bay, Karta Ba}', Kegan, the Xaha, Wards 

 Cove, and other places one may see hundreds of various species 

 spawning uninterruptedly. At times on the humpback beds where 

 fish are numerous the dead eggs lie in numbers in the eddies for days 

 and even weeks untouched, not a trout or sculpin in sight — though it 

 is certain that at least a few are in protected places near by. The 

 ducks arrive late after most of the spawning in that region is over. It 

 is believed b}^ the writer that the natural loss of spaAvn has been 

 overestimated. 



In Steelhead Creek in 1903 comparatively few cohos were noted — 

 it is believed not more than 50 pairs; yet over 3,000 fry of that species 

 were sometimes taken in a single night as they were leaving for the 

 sea. The run begins early in May and lasts until Juh'. In six sets 

 of the net in May and June an average of about 1,300 of these fry were 

 taken, which indicates a run of between 50,000 and 75,000 for the 

 season, or a product of at least 30 per cent. Similar facts regarding 

 steelheads were noted in the same creek, which was observed care- 

 fully in both 1903 and 1904 for spa^vning steelheads in an effort to 

 take sufficient eggs for an experiment. Not over a dozen pairs could 



