American Fisheries Society. 139 



the right temperature for spawning. The water is too deep to 

 spear the tish here and nets cannot he used, but the sturgeon are 

 taken by tmtching them up with hooks. We watched this hole 

 night and day, after the appearance of the sturgeon at the month 

 of the river, and obtained many breeders from the "Hole" after 

 they had begun to collect in it, twenty-seven being caught on the 

 22nd of May, the temperature of the water being 68 degrees F. 

 These were all or nearly all ripe males, but on the afternoon of 

 the 23d of May too entirely ripe females were hooked up. The 

 fish not struggling violently at first, the men stopped the flow of 

 eggs by stuffing tlieir handkerchiefs into the vent. The fish were 

 then towed across the river, where the males had been secured, 

 and were instantly killed by l)eing knocked in the head. Their 

 eggs were taken and treated like pike perch eggs, as to impreg- 

 nating, mixing with milt, rinsing, etc. 



In the meantime, a rude hatchery had been constructed on 

 the north bank of the Lamoille, with a battery of twenty-two 

 jars, a short distance from the Sturgeon Hole. The eggs now 

 obtained were all placed in the jars, where they appeared to do 

 finely. The next day, the writer took a few thousand over to the 

 hatchery at Swanton, where they subsequently hatched out with- 

 out difficulty. The remainder were left at the temporary 

 hatchery on the Lamoille. The hatching water for our battery 

 here was obtained from a spring broolc, which rose, I think, 

 about a mile to the north. Before locating the hatchery at this 

 point, Mr. Green and the writer liad many discussions as to 

 whether the water in the brook might not get too cold for the 

 sturgeon eggs. There was no other supply obtainable, however, 

 with the limited means at our disposal. It was "Hobson'b 

 choice," — take that or nothing — so we took the hatching water 

 from the brook. For a time, the weather remained fairly warm, 

 and the eggs did well. It was found on examination of the eggs, 

 when the form of the fish first appeared in the embryo, that 

 nearly ninety per cent, of the eggs were impregnated. Then 

 there came a frost, one morning, and the water dropped to 50 

 degrees F. The next night, there came another frost, and the 

 water fell to 45 degrees F., and then the sturgeon eggs all died. 

 It was a bitter disappointmeiit. We had struggled against great 

 discouragements, and now we thought we were on the eve of a 



