which are there developing. In his labors as Superintendent 

 of the Michigan Fish Commission he could bear witness that 

 while the grayling may be going from some streams on 

 account of the operations of man, it was not true that the fish 

 was in danger of immediate extinction, as has been the case 

 with the buffalo and some land animals, but the destruction 

 has been only on certain rivers, and has not been caused there 

 by fishing but by logging. 



Mr. Dunning asked why not plant the eggs of fishes in 

 the w^aters instead of hatching them first? 



Dr. Sweeny replied that Dr. Sterling had recommended 

 this plan, and that he had tried it and had produced better 

 results than when the fish were left to impregnate their eggs, 

 yet experience has taught that it is better to keep them until 

 the fry are hatched, because in the troughs or jars the eggs 

 and fry are not only placed under the very best conditions 

 for hatching, but are protected from their enemies as well. 

 A young fish that has been brought so far forward that it can 

 hide from its enemies, certainly has a great advantage over an 

 egg in the matter of self-protection, and to place the eggs 

 directly in the waters would be a step backward in fish-culture. 



Dr. Hudson said that the Connecticut Commission had 

 some experience in the destruction of eggs and fry. In the 

 early days of shad -hatching, before the invention of the 

 McDonald jar, they used the ifloating-boxes, and used to put 

 on rubber boots and wade out to examine them. Thousands of 

 little fishes followed and devoured every egg that was taken 

 out when the dead ones were removed. If we keep the fry and 

 only turn them out when the sac is absorbed we will avoid a 

 great destruction of both eggs and embryos. 



Mr. Mather corroborated this by saying that years ago, 

 when the floating-box was the best device known for hatching 

 shad, he had observed in his work on the rivers, from Con- 

 necticut to Virginia, that underneath the boxes lay a host of 

 small perch, sunfish and minnows, which were nibbling at the 

 tails of such little shad as protruded through the netting, and 

 the loss from this source was often considerable. By the use 

 of the jars this no longer occurred, and although a young fish 



