FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



15 



small stream ? May it not rather, or more likely be, the motion 

 of the water? I have been told by our men in the Michigan Fish 

 Commission that one of the reasons that brook trout eggs can- 

 not be handled successfully in the jars, is that they have too 

 much motion. Mr. Marks told me the other day when I pro- 

 posed that during the first stages of handling the trout eggs 

 they might be put into the jars and run in great numbers, and 

 then as the bad eggs were worked off, place them on trays and 

 hatch them there — he said no, that would not answer, because 

 if they had too violent a motion of the water it Vv^ould addle the 

 eggs. He said that had been proved by experiment. It seems 

 to me that is much more likely to be the cause of it than the 

 action of the light, particularly at the season of the year when 

 the eggs are cast. 



Mr. Mather. — As regards brook trout in jars, no doubt the 

 violent motion would be injurious to them, but where you have 

 a little stop-cock you can turn that, and you can give them as 

 much or as little motion as you like, and you can have a flow. 

 The trouble in hatching trout in jars begins after you have got 

 them hatched; they lie down in masses on each other and 

 smother. 



Mr. Clark. — Yes, but the jar is not the thing for handling 

 brook trout. 



Mr. BissELL. — You must have a good strong current in order 

 to carry them up and float them in the jars. 



Mr. Mather. — With regard to the smelt eggs, I have never 

 seen the natural stream after the smelt eggs were deposited by 

 the fish. I have been on the ground before the hatching season 

 began, and have seen them take smelts in very swift water, and 

 it is a possible thing that the smelt eggs that are taken and ad- 

 Iiere to the top of the stones die, while those which get into the 

 crevices may escape. I don't state it as a fact; I simply state it 

 as a possible thing. They do spawn in tolerably swift water. 

 That I know, for I know the streams where they spawn. 



Mr. Bissell. — Are they shallow streams ? 



