86 Thirty-ninth Annual Meeting 



W . H. Saliord, then acting- Superintendent of the Torres- 

 dale hatchery, on a suggestion from me secured 18 short- 

 nosed sturgeon from the shad fishermen and placed them in 

 the yellow perch pond on the hatchery grounds to ascertain 

 how they would do. The fish ranged in size from 18 inches 

 to 2Y2 feet in length. The pond is about 275 feet long, about 

 65 feet wide and has an average depth of 5 to 6 feet. It had 

 a muddy bottom and was fed by a small stream which flows 

 through the hatchery grounds and empties into the Delaware. 

 It is also afl:"ected by the tide in the river. 



The fish were given no food and they had to rely on what 

 they could pick up, yet the following spring they were not 

 only plump and healthy but one of two showed evidence of 

 developing eggs. 



At this time Mr. Jerry R. Berkhous had been given perma- 

 nent charge of the station, and acting under my direction he 

 secured from the fishermen an additional supply of sturgeon, 

 making the number between 80 and 90. An examination 

 showed tliat the proportion of sexes was over 50 per cent 

 females, at least among those which were far enough ad- 

 vanced towards maturity to make a determination of sex 

 reasonably certain. 



The fish were watched carefully and four of the females 

 ripened their eggs, while two males had ripe milt ; but as was 

 the case when Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the United 

 States worked together, the two sexes ripened at different 

 times. 



During the summer, the sturgeon were fed regularly with 

 liver and corn meal, and grew rapidly. Early in Septeml)er, 

 1908, they were transferred from the perch pond to a pond 

 containing white and yellow catfish of mature size. The cat- 

 fish pond is about 150 by 120 feet and when full of water 

 has a depth of five feet in the kettle and a shelf which shoals 

 to about one foot. Idie water is supplied by ])umping from 

 the Delaware twice a week. Vov many weeks the sturgeon 

 apparently did as well in their new quarters as they had done 

 in the perch pond. Shortly after the opening of the winter 



