<o 



hour after they were deadj and milt ial<en from dead males 

 caii^'lit three hours l)efore. 



May 21, St'. — Moruiiig catch one liuiidred and twenty-nine, 

 large portion females, unripe; evening catch ninety-six, five 

 ripe, 100,000 eggs; eggs taken on 20th from dead fisli, and 

 impregnated vrith milt from dead male;;, look very well; espe- 

 cially lot carried for twenty minutes in search of milt, tliey 

 were njore fully matured than others, and. nearly all good. 



May 22nd. — Morning catch ninety, none ripe: eggs look- 

 ing well; fish quite active in those of IDth; morning tide un- 

 usually low at 2i o'clock A. M. ; found fivehoxes of eggs taken 

 last evening entirely out oi' water; tem[)crature of air anil 

 water ahoiit tJie same; eggs ])eing moist were uninjured; (n'C-- 

 iiing, catch seventy-four rijio females. 100,000 eggs. 



May 2;)rd. — One seine hauled two hundred and sixty-five, 

 caught none ri|)e; savr large uiimher split i\i,onday; roe tirm 

 generally. 



May 24th. — Morning catch one hundred, none ripe; eve- 

 ning catcli fifty-eight, four ripe, 80,000 eggs; eggs of Satui- 

 day doing xell; up I'ivcr seine caught ]U")ne; alewives made 

 their appearance at "the Rocks,'" from this fact, some fisher- 

 men predict immediate decline of shad. 



May 25th. — Morning catch only twenty-five; rvening 

 catch one hundred and one, six ripe; yielded one hundred and 

 fifty thousand eggs, l^ot No. '.) taken Saturday, nearly all 

 hatclied, lost ahout twenly-five ])er cent. Lot No. 10, triken 

 Monday, doing well. 



May 2r)th. — Morning catch none; Lot No. 11 taken Tuea- 

 day, looking, except one box, very well; evening, catch one 

 hundred and sixteen, took spawn from 18; many eggs had 

 a dull look, even when ripe; in some fish all were dead; this 

 we find.- generally the case when a fish bears marks of a gill- 

 net: in some cases when no injury is perce])tiblG, we find all 

 the spawn dead. We think that whipping the river, tlius 

 Terrifying the shad, injures the eggs; the eggs talcen arc esti- 

 mated at 250,000, (Lot 12.) 



Ma^' 27th. — Morning haul yielded only one; evening haul 

 eighty-seven. Strijiped ten females and took 200,000 eggs. 

 In several fish, eggs dull color; many of Avhich failed to im- 

 pregnate, though treated with greatest care. 



