21 



tliey have liccii in tlio boxes tweuty-four hours or more, a 

 white spot ap})ears on a very hirge number of them. I have 

 not yet been able to discover the cause. There arc hundreds 

 offish phiying about the bottoms of tlio l)Oxes trying to suck 

 the eggs through. Wlietlier the injury is to be attributed to 

 them, I cannot say. Wroten thinks the water is poisoned 

 with the drainage of fields, and the grasses growing and de- 

 caying. Should the lot taken last night do better than those 

 taken previously, I will attribute it to the late rain. The 

 catch of tlie seine last night was sixty-nine. That of tlie gil- 

 Icrs light. We got nine or ten spawners in all. 



Your's, very truly, 



Alex. Kent. 

 On receipt of this report from Mi'. Kent operating at Co})- 

 pagc's Landing, the instructions below were given. 



Maryland Commission, Fish and Fisheries. 



192 N. Charles St., Baltiniore, 

 June IWi, 1875. 

 Mr. Alex. Kent, Copjiage's Landing, 



Dear Sir : 



* * * * * * * * 



I have been thinking of the probable causes of the loss of 

 eggs, which your re})ort mentions, and think it might be 

 from the heat of the sun upon tlie surface of the water. I 

 wish you would try the experiment of submerging a box of 

 eggs, so that they would not be so near the surface of the 

 water. You might do this by taking off the floats from the 

 box you put the eggs in, then fasten another box on as a 

 cover, to prevent the egg coming out. Remove the floats of 

 the top box, nearer to the top, and put it in the stream. The 

 floats should be ari'anged to cause tlie bottom of the lower 

 box to be inclined to the current like the figure below. I 

 wish I had thought of it sooner, 1 would have liked to liave 

 tried some of my jars, and if it was not so late, Avould send 

 you some of them witli a tank to use as a reservoir. 



* * * ""■■ •■■ * * * 



Very truly your's 



t'. B. Ferguson, 

 Commissioner, 



