30 Report of the American 



that the weight of eg^s in their packings will not be less than 7,500 

 pounds.* Desirous of having a still larger number available for the 

 experiment with the salmon, I engaged the services of Mr. Living- 

 ston Stone, a well known fish culturist, of New Hampshire, and 

 directed him to proceed to California with a view of securing eggs of 

 the Sacramento species, which is different from that of the Atlantic 

 coast, but in its season not inferior in eatable qualities. Although it 

 was thought the spawning season of the Sacramento salmon was 

 about the same as that of eastern fish, namely, toward the end of 

 October, Mr. Stone lost no time in proceeding to the west coast, 

 where he placed himself in communication with the California Fish 

 Commissioners, and, partly by their advice, selected a locality on the 

 McCloud river, a tributary of the upper Sacramento, where he estab- 

 lished his hatching-house, and then proceeded to seine the fish wliich 

 were there in great abundance. To his surprise and disappoint na en t 

 he found that the spavrning season in the McCloud river was actually 

 in the early part of September, and he was consequently unable to 

 obtain more than 20,000 or 30,000 eggs. These were shipped east- 

 ward, and the greater part of them are now in a thriving condition 

 at the establishment of Dr. J. H. Slack, at Bloomsburg, N. J., in pre- 

 paration for their transfer to the Susquehanna river. The importance 

 of the experiment with the Sacramento fish may be understood from 

 the fact that their breeding grounds on that river are in a region of 

 very high summer temperature, reaching at noon from 100° to 110° 

 Fahrenheit for a considerable distance. Therefore, while the eastern 

 salmon is hardly likely to thrive west of the Connecticut river, or, at 

 most, of the Hudson, there is every reason to believe that the Sacra- 

 mento fish can be introduced into nearly if not quite all the rivers of 

 our Atlantic coast ; and we have every confidence that the time is 

 not far distant when we shall have in the Delaware, the Susquehanna, 

 the Potomac and the James, an ample supply of these delicious fish, 

 and northern waters as well as in more eastern. 



I propose to place a large portion of the Penobscot and German 

 •salmon eggs in the tributaries of the great lakes, as the fact of the 

 occurrence of the natural food of the shad in our lakes, in ample 

 quantity, applies equally well to the salmon. It is likewise my 

 intention to try the experiment of introducing the salmon and the 

 shad into tho great Salt Lake of Utah, In this a body of salt water, 

 according to Stansbury, of 291 miles in circumference, exclusive of 



* None of these eggs survived. 



