American Fisheries Society 149 



and 300,000. The last shipment of fry was made June 17 and 

 there were a few more to be planted in Chautauqua Lake. Mr. 

 Brown did not attempt to rear any in 1907. 



The muskalonge kept in a small creek in the hatchery 

 grounds at Bemus Point grew faster than those in the artesian 

 water in the hatchery troughs and ponds. The artesian water 

 apparently lacks something which the young fish require. 



Muskalonge fry can be kept very easily until they begin to 

 swim up, but after that period the losses through cannibalism 

 are so serious that it has been found impossible to rear them 

 either at Bemus Point or at Gorry, to which latter station some 

 of the eggs and fry from Bemus Point were shipped in exchange. 

 On June 28, 1907, Foreman Brown was still holding 100,000 

 of the fry at Bemus Point. On May 30 80,000 of the fry were 

 taken to Corry, Pa., in two rather small cans. The shipment 

 was successful, notwithstanding the crowded condition of the 

 fry and the high temperature of the air. 



The embryo muskalonge does not swim up as soon as the 

 young of most other fishes, and it is much afEected by the qual- 

 ity of the egg. Sudden changes of temperature of the water in- 

 jure the egg very seriously. The lake water warms up very 

 rapidly during the egg taking season so that a difference of sev- 

 en or eight degrees is often observed when the eggs are trans- 

 ferred from lake water to hatchery water. This seems to ac- 

 count for the rather small percentage of fry obtained from eggs 

 — a percentage sometimes not exceeding sixty degrees. The best 

 water for developing this species is, undoubtedly, the lake water 

 which could be introduced by pumping. Incidentally this would 

 be the means of increasing the capacity of the Bemus Point sta- 

 tion to any desired limit. 



Many attempts have been made to rear the muskalonge to 

 fingerling size, but none have succeeded on account of the can- 

 nibalism so characteristic of the young. The fry are liberated 

 as soon as they are able to swim freely, and most of the product 

 of the hatchery is placed in Chautauqua Lake. The young fry 

 are usually ready for planting about the end of May, or in June. 



The best illustration of this muskalonge is the color plate bv 

 Louis Rhead in the report of the New York Forest, Fish and 

 Game Commission for 1904-1906, recently published. The study 



