36 



On the closing of Mr. Barnes' fisheries, on the 30th clay of 

 May, the men operating at this point were moved to the 

 "Susquehanna Flats," where they were employed in attending 

 the gill- nets, each night collecting eggs, which were taken to 

 the points above mentioned and placed in the hatching boxes 

 until matured. We also kept William Hamlen at the Light 

 House, who operated a gang of boxes there. It will be seen, 

 by reference to the tables, that at this point 459,000 Shad 

 were hatched and turned loose. 



We would here return our thanks to the gillers ©f Havre 

 de Grace and the adjoining country for the assistance which 

 they rendered, and uniform courtesy which we received at 

 their hands. With but a single exception they manifested 

 the greatest interest in our work, and appreciated the future 

 benefit which they would derive from its results. 



We are indebted also to Professor Baird for the gratuitous 

 services of many of his trained men, who assisted us mate- 

 rially in gathering spawn when they were at Havre de Grace 

 waiting for fish for transportation. These young men cheer- 

 fully aided in procuring eggs, going out nightly with the gil- 

 lers. They, with the regular employees of the Commission, 

 constituted quite a large and efiective force. 



As is shown in the tables given, the detailed account of the 

 several hatching stations during the last days of the season, 

 after the haul-seines had "cut-out," we hatched 2,081,000 

 Shad from eggs procured from the gill-nets alone. 



The great difiiculty that we encountered in collecting the 

 spawn from the fish taken in gill-nets, was the scarcity of 

 males. Almost any night we procured hundreds of thousands 

 of eggs, which we were compelled to throw away, not being 

 able to obtain the male fish from which to procure milt for 

 their impregnation. This is attributable to the fact that the 

 males are generally smaller than the females, and pass 

 through the large meshes of the gill-nets. 



The run of the ripe male fish generally precedes that of the 

 female, and in the early part of the season ripe males are 



