American Fisheries Society. 227 
From information gathered at Weldon I entertain the opin- 
ion that the sturgeon has habitually sought the falls of the Roan- 
oke river for casting its eggs in the identical swift waters in 
which the striped bass reproduce. This choice of partially cat- 
aract waters may be known to others but it was new to me. When 
in 1887 I spent three weeks at Delaware City, Delaware, looking 
for spawning sturgeon for the United States Fish Commission, 
I doubtless should have been among the foothills of Pennsyl- 
vania, 150 miles further up stream. The falls at Weldon are so 
swift that a boat cannot be successfully paddled against the cur- 
rent. The boat has to be shoved with a pole. ‘There is a ten- 
foot fall to the mile. 
Apparently, river sturgeon spawn in head waters in rapids. 
Last fall and winter I made investigations for the Bureau of 
Fisheries, of the spawning habits of commercial fishes at Beau- 
fort, N. C., and at a minimum cost acquired a knowledge of the 
jumping mullet and Spanish mackerel, which I believe will 
bring these fish under artificial hatching methods almost imme- 
diately. The former, as a pickled fish, is so highly esteemed in 
the North Carolina region of abundance, that it is destined to 
find a more widely extended market. It is almost beyond doubt 
superior to salt mackerel. In September, just prior to its spawn- 
ing, it is in highest condition as food. I anticipate, with confi- 
dence, that I shall gather and hatch its eggs in October of this 
year. I am nearly as positive that I can gather Spanish mack- 
erel eggs at the first attempt, when a letup in other duties per- 
mits a trial. A partial knowledge of the spawning habits and 
egos of this fish has been acquired, and it only needs that a sup- 
ply of eggs in volume be found to permit artificial propagation 
to gain a footing. I believe that I have discovered the locality 
of regular and abundant egg supply. The spawning habits of 
the jumping mullet have remained unknown, in the face of 
systematic efforts to disclose them, until last November, when I 
found females in all stages from full roe to empty downrunners. 
I was absent in October when the main school appeared and 
spawned. 
While investigating at Beaufort, I also became almost cer- 
tainly convinced that the Menhaden spawns in the vicinity of 
Beaufort, in the month of November. I handled a number of 
