American Fisheries Society 193 



Mr. Meehan : What is the longest ribbon you iiavo seen in your 

 experience ? 



Mr. Ward T. Bowek : Eighty-eight inches, I tliink. 



Mr. Meehan : Our longest string was seven feet four inclies — same 

 length. It weighed nearly five pounds. Do I understand that there 

 has been some trouble in handling yellow perch in jars, and that a 

 fungus growth has prevented the eggs from hatching? 



Mr. Ward T. Bower: 1 ha\e not seen anything of the kind, but Mr. 

 Clark told me a short time ago that he has experienced some such 

 diflficulties. 



Mr. Meehan : We had little or no tr()ul)le in handling the eggs either 

 before or after they were put in the jars, provided we did not put too 

 many in a jar. A Downing jar will carry four quarts safely and with 

 no tendency to settle. At a certain period after the strings separated 

 the eggs had a tendency to rise like dough and go over the top of the 

 jar. This was overcome by putting a piece of mosquito netting around 

 on the inside of the jar. If further trouble was experienced we turned 

 the water off and allowed the eggs to settle, after which the water was 

 slowly turned on again. Sometimes they would rise a second time, but 

 not often. Occasionally the mass of eggs would get thick and when 

 hatched the fry had some troul)le in getting free of the mass, but the 

 loss was very small, not worth considering. If the eggs were dirty wc 

 washed them. The dead eggs were removed without injury to the rest. 

 This cannot be done with pickerel eggs. You cannot touch the latter 

 after they are in the jars. We found that neither yellow perch nor 

 chain pickerel eggs could be successfully hatched in spring water. They 

 would die within twenty-four hours, whether the temperature of the 

 spring water was 48, 50 or 52 degrees Fahrenheit. If the spring was far 

 enough away for the water to become aerated there was no trouble. 



Mr. Ward T. Bower : W' e have had very little difficulty in the propa- 

 gation of yellow perch. At the Bryan Point station on the Potomac 

 River, where several hundred millions were Iiandled this year, the per- 

 centage hatched was over ninet\'-five. 



Mr. Meehan: We get about ninety-five per cent of hatch. 



Mr. Ward T. Bower : In addition to its direct value as a food and 

 game fish, the yellow perch is very prolific and therefore furnishes an 

 important source of food for black bass and other predaceous species. 



Mr. Meehan : At my suggestion, the Blooming Grove Park Associa- 

 tion in Pennsylvania lias put up a hatchery to hatcli large numbers of 

 these fish. 



Mr. Titcomb : I understand tliat tiie yellow perch is perhaps more 

 easily propagated than any other species. Simple methods and appa- 

 ratus answer the purpose, and a large flow of water is not necessary. 

 The eggs may be hatched in an aquarium, a trout trough or any equally 

 simple device : but to handle the eggs to the best advantage and with a 

 knowledge of just what you are doing, the open jar seems to be the best. 

 The Bureau is now hatching them in this manner at several stations. 



And by the way, speaking of propagating perch as food for bass, one 



