90 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



which the jet of water fell. On touching the surface the fish 

 seemed apathetic, not darting away as healthy fry usually do. 

 Eespiration was rapid and 'panting.' The fry took food lan- 

 guidly, though at times they snapped at it eagerly, but the 

 food was not digested and the excreta was almost unchanged. 

 The fish were very small. Although several months old, they 

 were only about an inch long, and so weak that a slight increase 

 in the flow of water would wash them away. They died in vast 

 numbers; from 80,000 to 100,000 a day is not an overestimate. 



'^The fry are distinctly anaemic. They lack vitality and 

 seem incapable of sustaining life. No fault of any kind can be 

 found with the station or its management. On the contrary, 

 the Pennsylvania Fish Commission is to be congratulated in 

 its Superintendent. * * * The fault lies with the fish and 

 not with the environment. 



'*So far as I am able to determine, there is no disease pres- 

 ent. The gasping respiration is not accompanied with an in- 

 flammation of the gills and is due, in my opinion, to a lack of 

 red blood corpuscles. A number of the fry were placed in a 

 floating box with a wire gauze bottom and put in the race way 

 that supplies the pond, in the hope that this water, which is 

 better aerated than that in the house, might give relief, but 

 no difference was observed. 



''For fifteen years or more no new blood has been introduced, 

 but steady inbreeding has been practiced. In some of the 

 ponds are yearlings that appear to be healthy, but are small, 

 and this small size may be due to a lack of fresh strain." 



It might be noted that in Dr. Blackford's report he notes 

 apparently what he regards as an unusual circumstance, 

 namely, that the "fish began spawning very early, that spawn 

 were taken on October .3." Apparently the Superintendent of 

 the station failed to inform him that this is about the date on 

 which the fish have for years been in the habit of beginning 

 to spawn at this station, consequently this incident cannot be 

 considered in studying the case. The trout at Allentowm al- 

 ways spawn about a month earlier than at Corry, and it might 

 not be uninteresting to note, although having nothing what- 

 ever to do with the subject, that while the California trout 

 spawn in the Allentown ponds early in December, those in the 

 Corry ponds in the western part of the state do not begin this 

 function until March or April. 



The loss of the entire hatching of trout fry at the Allentown 

 station was a severe blow and a costly one as well, but it has 

 taught us a lesson which we are not likely to forget in a hurry 

 and which we are likely to profit by. From this out the blood 

 in the Allentown ponds, and indeed in our other stations, will 

 be changed every three or four years. As a last word, lest the 



