American rishcrics Society. 123 



has been discovered, it appears so simple that the wonder is that 

 no one has thous^ht of it before. Very Hkely this has occurred 

 to many of you who are here present, but T can trulv sav tliat I 

 have never found a fisherman yet. who knew the true reason of 

 his not catchiui;- ripe female sturg-eon, or one who ever even 

 hinted at it. 



(/) We succeeded in actually takinj;- and impregnating a 

 few sturgeon eggs. We found them to be glutinous like pike 

 perch eggs and recpuring the same treatment in handling and 

 impregnating. 



The eggs are about one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and 

 can be readily hatched in the same jars that are used for hatching 

 whitefish and pike perch eggs, and in the same way. There is 

 this difference, however, between the eggs of the pike perch and 

 those of the sturgeon, that the shell of the pike perch egg is very 

 hard comparatively, and the shell of the sturgeon egg is thin and 

 soft. 



Some of the sturgeon frv hatched at the United States 

 Hatchery on the Missisciuoi River this spring were brought 

 safely to Cape A'incent Station — the first lake sturgeon fry, I 

 think, that were ever hatched under the auspices of the United 

 States Fish Connnission. 



As to the question whether sturgeon eggs can be taken, 

 impregnated and hatched artificially. I should say that great 

 pains must be taken to capture them properly and to confine 

 them properl}-. In fact, the preparation for this part of the work 

 must be very elaborate. If this is not done, lake sturgeon 

 hatching will be a failure, but if proper attention is given to these 

 points, I am con^'inced that lake sturgeon hatching will be a 

 success, at least wherever the parent fish can be found restricted 

 in their movements to a small area, as, for instance, the ^lissis- 

 quoi River. 



Allow me to add in closing, that for most of the information 

 acquired this spring in regard to the sturgeon, 1 am indebted to 

 the persevering efforts and keen observation of Mr. Myron 

 Green, and to the accommodating and liberal sj^irit of the river 

 fishermen, without which we shoidd have accomi)lishe(l nothing. 



