C ULTLTRE OF Till! \V 1 1 1 T K -FISH. 53 1 



"Upon receipt of the instructions to ship a quantity of eggs to the State commissioners of 

 California, a case similar t<> Mr. ('lark's was made, substituting a good quality of tin for the zinc, 

 and adding a second square can, lar^c enough to contain the can with the trays and cups, and 

 leave the space of an inch on all sides. 



"Arriving at Clarkston on the 18th of January, the weather was considered too severe to hazard 

 the shipment of the eggs at the time, and it was delayed until the 20th. The thick covering of 

 frozen snow ami ice pn -vented the possibility of obtaining moss, and a good quality of sponge wan 

 substituted. This was prepared first by whipping out the calcareous dust that it contained, and, 

 after being cut in thin slices, was thoroughly washed through several changes of warm water. 

 Pieces were then titled to the bottom of the cups, and while standing in a pan of water a half 

 tablespoonful of eggs was poured in, a thin slice of sponge, fitting the inside of the cup, laid 

 lightly over the eggs, and the remainder of the spoonful poured in, when a third piece of spongo 

 was put over ihem to cover them. The tray, with the cups, was then put into the inner can, 

 which was placed within the second can, with one inch of sawdust filling the vacant space on the 

 sides, bottom, and top. A piece of bnrlaps was tied over the top, and the whole placed upon the 

 springs, within the packing box, and the lid fastened down. The packing-box had two half-inch 

 holes bored near the bottom to admit the air. The filling of sawdust was considered as a neces- 

 sary safeguard against the cold weather of the time. 



"The case was put in charge of the baggage-master, and I accompanied it as far as Omaha, 

 Nebraska, attending to its transfer from one train to another, and regulating its position in the 

 car. At Omaha it was given in charge of the express company, and the messenger instructed as 

 to the effect of heat and cold upon the eggs, and a letter containing full instructions sent with the 

 box to be delivered to the messenger at Ogden, where the box was transferred to his care, there 

 being no further change of messenger between that and San Francisco, California. On two sides 

 of the box, in distinct letters, was printed the caution, 'Fish-eggs; must not be jolted or allowed 

 to freeze.' 



"The weather continued cold throughout the time the eggs were on the way, and they 

 arrived at their destination in very bad condition. Mr. Stone attributed the damage to the use of 

 sponge, and the sawdust packing preventing ventilation. Mr. Rudolph Hessel, an experienced 

 fish -cult nrist of Offenburg, Germany, while visiting Washington, informed me that he had used 

 sponge for packing eggs for long distances with entire success. The lack of ventilation is a more 

 probable cause, though the description given by Mr. Bucklaud of the method of packing the eggs 

 received from Seth Green's establishment in January, 1870, was similar in the fact that the cups 

 containing the moss and eggs were buried in the sawdust. A small quantity, received from Mr. 

 N. W. Clark at the Smithsonian Institution this winter, was packed in the same manner, using 

 sponge and burying the cups in a pail of sawdust, and they were found to be all alive after a fifty 

 hours' journey. 



"The necessity of a certain supply of oxygen to the eggs has been very thoroughly proven by 

 the researches of W. H. Ransom, M. D., of Nottingham, England, published in the first volume of 

 the 'Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.' The experiments were made while investigating the* 

 nature of the rhythmic contractions of the yelk, known to occur in the living eggs of fishes.. 

 Among several experiments, in which by ingenious methods the oxygen of the atmosphere wa 

 kept from contact with the eggs, those of the stickleback being employed, he relates as follows : 



"'I therefore made a series of suflocative experiments on impregnated and unimpregnated 

 eggs, using aerated distilled water in cells, all of the capacity of .05 cubic inch, sealing the covers 

 with hot wax, and varying the number of eggs in each cell. Five observations were made with 



