American Fisheries Society. 225 
in the boxes, making a measured volume’ of twenty-three gallons 
(from the specially designated fifty-pound fish) while the aggre- 
gate water capacity of the boxes was only thirty-eight gallons. 
Left in the river over night, they died of suffocation, of course. 
The party of operatives was more quickly and_ hopelessly 
fatigued in consequence of the rain, which soaked our clothing. 
It was not intended when the eggs were put overboard to leave 
them in the river over night, nor did I for a single moment 
realize what a great quantity the seven boxes had received till 
the following day when the eggs were measured. In future 
operations, to avoid all risk from such gluts, sure to occur and 
with no means of foreknowing at what camp, I shall have one 
or two pans of eggs placed in the live boxes soon after they are 
taken and without waiting to fully water-harden them in the 
pans, as practiced heretofore. It is only by the adoption of 
such means that the usual detail of two spawn takers can cope 
with the egg gluts. Eggs collected at the more distant camps 
were invariably held over night in the live boxes, but in more 
reasonable numbers, and successfully. In the case of loss, just 
recited, the taking of 9,660,000 eggs in the space of two hours 
by four men was, indeed, overwhelming. 
Nine spawn-taking camps were established along the river, 
covering a distance of nearly twenty miles, two men to each, the 
crews living on the river shores and cooking for themselves. 
There were 10,463,000 eggs put in circulation in hatching 
jars, with the result that not a ticket representing the contents 
of a jar was crossed off in consequence of failure of the eggs to 
hatch, the number of fry produced being 7,219,000, or sixty-nine 
per cent, thus affording sure evidence that the eggs are capable 
of undergoing satisfactory manipulation. 
A third season of operations at Weldon will demonstrate to 
others that which I realize to be the fact, viz: that all obstacles 
to successful collecting and hatching of eggs on the Roanoke 
river have been met and overcome, and that confidence will 
attend efforts towards expansion there and elsewhere. 
It was found impracticable to hold fry in collector-aquaria 
with the metal screens used in current shad operations, and 
cheese cloth bags on wire frames were reverted to. On May 8, 
fully three-fourths of the fry (4,450,000), bursting from the 
