■IFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



the last of the season, and we sent for them immediately ; but 

 before the arrival of the can, the fish had spawned, therefore we 

 cxin place the extreme limits of their spawning season on his 

 stream, this year at February 25th and April 3rd. Some two 

 weeks before the first-mentioned date, Mr. Blackford obtained 

 some smelts from Long Island which were full of spawn, and I 

 sent a man down there for more, but we failed to get any that 

 were ripe. The fish which came to market had eggs extruding 

 from their dead bodies ; probably caused by handling and the 

 jolting of the railway on their journey to the market. It is pro- 

 posed this year, at the suggestion of Gen. R. U. Sherman, of the 

 New York Commission, to plant a few in the Adirondack waters 

 and see if they cannot be established there, as they have been 

 in the fresh waters of Vermont ; and the result of this experi- 

 ment will be watched with great interest. 



I have spoken of the egg of the smelt as "glutinous," but 

 'adhesive" would be a better term. On one side of the egg 

 there is a filmy appendage which is the means of attachment to 

 whatever it comes in contact with, and under the microscope it 

 appears like an empty egg shell folded over and attached to one 

 side of the egg only, while the other side is clean and round. 



Co/d Spring Harbor, N. Y. 



Mr. Clark. — Mr. Chairman, I would say in regard to the eggs 

 that Mr. Mather sent me at Northville, that I found them in just 

 the condition that he said I probably would. The first glance 

 would give to a fish culturist the idea that of course they were all 

 bad; but upon furtlier examination, when you dig into them, 

 you find that there is a small percentage of them that are good. 

 I should say of those eggs that were sent to us about 15 to 20 

 per cent, were good. While Mr. Mather was reading his paper, 

 a thought occurred to me, and in the recital of his different ex- 

 periments I listened to hear him say that he had tried one wayj 

 which he did not. About seven years ago, I think it was, I was 

 at Gloucester, Mass., at the first time they were handling the cod 

 for the United States Fish Commission. Among the other ex- 

 periments which Professor Baird tried was that of taking eggs 

 of the Labrador herring, which are adhesive. Tliey stick solid, 



