20 Rejwrt of the American 



formidable and threatening diffleulty. Between our camp and the waters 

 which were awaiting the eggs, there lay a long stretch of 3,000 miles, 

 which must be crossed b}' the young embryos before they could be made 

 available for the service for which they were intended. It was enough to 

 make the most confident enthusiast falter. We all looked forward to 

 this dangerous journey of the eggs with dread. When we packed them 

 in the moss and screwed down the covers, it seemed like burying them 

 alive, and when we saw the crates containing them, loaded into the 

 wagons and sent off to the railroad station, and thought of the almost 

 interminable journey, and the ten thousand chances of injurj^ that these 

 frail creatures would be exposed to on the way, it seemed nothing less 

 than infatuation to expect that they would survive them all, and ever see 

 the light again alive. They must go, however, and we packed them as 

 well as we could and sent them off. The boxes in which the}' were 

 packed were all two feet square and a foot deep. The eggs were packed 

 as usual with first a layer of moss at the bottom of the box, and then a 

 la3'er of eggs, then another la3'er of moss, then another layer of eggs, and 

 so on to the top. Midway, in the interior of each box, there was a thin 

 wooden partition to break the force of the superincumbent mass of moss 

 and eggs. We packed about 75,000 in a box. When the box was filled 

 the cover was screwed down and it was packed with another one of the 

 same size in a crate which was three inches and a half larger on all sides 

 than the combined bulk of the two boxes enclosed, this intervening space 

 being filled with hay to protect the eggs from sudden changes of tempera- 

 ture. On the top of the crates was a rack for ice. 



The nearest and only suitable moss that we could hear of was sevent}' 

 miles away, at the sources of the Sacramento river. I accordingly^ sent 

 Mr. Woodbury to Mt. Shasta to procure a supply. He returned in a few 

 days with thirty-five bushels of moss, all of which we used in packing. 



The manner of the packing has been made a matter of considerable 

 criticism. On this point I will onl}' say that I had but one precedent to 

 be guided by, viz : the shipment of salmon eggs from the same place the 

 last 3'ear. It was reported concerning this consignment, that the eggs 

 which did not hatch on the wa}' arrived in excellent order. In a critical 

 and diflticult undertaking like the one in question, there seemed to be no 

 choice between adopting a method which had succeeded, and others which 

 had never been tried, so I adhered to the plan of the last year's ship- 

 ment, and packed these eggs in precisely the same way. 



THE METHOD OF PACKING DISCUSSED. 

 To give the pro's and con's of this method of packing would lead to a 

 long discussion, which would perhaps be out of place here, so I will 

 simply sa}' that the packing was no hap hazard affair, but the result of 



