166 American Fisheries Society. 



well known that free transportation is extended to messen- 

 gers of state fish commissions while regular fares are re- 

 quired of the bureau's messengers doing distribution work 

 within the limits of the same state. While, in special cases, 

 free transportation has been furnished the bureau's cars and 

 messengers, such courtesies on the part of the railroads call 

 for increased efficiency on the part of the recipient. That 

 free or reduced transportation is accorded is no excuse for 

 not employing efliicient and economical distribution methods. 

 As reduced transportation carries with it the obligation to 

 use the most efficient methods, it is an abuse of the privilege 

 the railroad company has extended to carry two or three 

 times as much water as is necessary for the safe transporta- 

 tion of the fish. Within recent years the public has been 

 taught, after a great deal of eft'ort, to judge a consignment 

 of fish not by gallons of water or number of cans but by its 

 value for stocking purposes. 



The railroad companies have been quick to grasp the 

 economic value of the new transportation pails described by 

 the writer before the meeting of this society last year, as 

 evidenced from the fact that the roads which formerly in- 

 sisted that not more than twenty of the old-style cans be 

 carried by a messenger are now permitting forty and sixty 

 of the new pails to be so handled, when stacked so as not 

 to require more floor space than was formerly required by 

 twenty milk cans. 



TEMPERATURE OF WATER DURING TRANSPORTATION 



In transporting fish an equable water temperature is of 

 vital importance. It is generally accepted that low water 

 temperature within reasonable limits is desirable as the cool- 

 er the water the more gaseous oxygen it holds in solution. 

 The temperature of the water from which the fish were 

 taken and the temperature of the water to be stocked 

 should guide the messenger in the regulation of the temper- 

 ature during the period that the fish are in transit. 



On each fish car there are two compartments, well in- 

 sulated, so that a proper temperature may be maintained in 

 the fish cans with a comparatively small amount of ice. 



AERATION 



For a number of years the bureau's distribution cars 

 have been equipped with air compressors operated by 10 

 H. P. boilers. The air is driven through air distributors in 

 the fish compartments, into rubber tubes leading to groups 



