142 Tzventy-ninth Annual Meeting 



seem to l^e the coming- device. Have you tried it? No?' Do not 

 fail to do so this fall. Old troughs can easily be equipped for the 

 purpose. With three gallons of water, temperature 48 degrees, 

 we hatched 25,000 eggs in a single basket one foot square with 

 infinitely ])etter results than we secured on trays 1x2 feet, carry- 

 ing only one-third the number of eggs per tray. Hatching ca- 

 pacity is marvelously increased. 



Next we turn our attention to the avoidance of the danger of 

 sufifo'cation during the sac stage. Fry will pile up on each other. 

 If we are carrying them in large numbers, three or four subdi- 

 visions of the trough by the use of perforated zincs will be of 

 material assistance. Right here let me mention a weakness of the 

 ordinary trough that is not obviated by the use of the horizontal 

 screen. Our restless little friends will persist in scrambhng to the 

 head of the trough, gather in dangerous numbers in the eddies 

 in the corners back of where the supply falls ; if you are not on 

 your guard, some day you may be surprised to find a few thousand 

 ashy-gray corpses floating around. A perpendicular screen near 

 the head of the trough just below the inflow will keep them from 

 this danger. During this stage the fry remain on the bottom, 

 drawing only from the lower strata of water. Are you still 

 crowded for room? Do you wish to double yo'ur carrying capacity? 

 Then use a retaining, or fry basket, in each subdivision; it works 

 somewhat on the same principle as the double-decked hog and 

 sheep-shipping cars we are familiar with. Thus the problem is 

 easily and safely solved. Using only three gallons of water per 

 minute in a trough 12 feet long and i foot wide, subdivided by 

 perforated zincs into four compartments, and using baskets in but 

 two of the divisions, we successfully carried 65,000 fry to the feed- 

 ing stage ; in fact, actually taught them to feed. The wooden 

 frame of the basket resting on the sides of the trough supports 

 the bottom about one and one-half inches above the bottom of the 

 trough. Had we used a basket in each compartment we could 

 have increased the fry to 80,000. It is a fact that more fish can 

 be carried in the baskets than in the trough proper, since the bot- 

 tom fish in the former cannot have their air shut ofT by those 

 above. This and the hatching basket, as adapted to trout work, 



