American Fisheries Society. ees 
Battle Creek, California, where quinnat salmon have been propa- 
gated for a number of years. 
A barrier is placed across the stream at this point to prevent 
the ascent of the fish to their natural spawning grounds imme- 
diately above. Below this barrier or rack for a distance of 
about two and one-half miles to where Battle Creek empties 
into the Sacramento River, the current is moderate, the stream 
broadens and is much deeper in places. 
About one-half mile below the closed or upper rack, a second 
or retaining rack has been placed across the stream, so arranged 
as to permit free entrance to the fish and yet preventing in a 
ereat measure their dropping back. The fish are taken by sein- 
ing at various points between these racks, and range in size 
from about ten to forty pounds, the average being about twenty. 
The method of taking the eggs in 1903 1s practically the same as 
had been employed for several preceding years. The ripe fe- 
males, as fast as caught, are transferred to pens, whence all are 
removed daily and spawned. The crew for this purpose consists 
of ten men, as follows: One man to dip the males, one the fe- 
males, one tail-holder, one head-holder, one stripper for females 
and two for males, one egg mixer and two egg washers. 
A female is dipped from the pen and the net handle so bal- 
anced on a rest that the fish is swung a few inches above the 
floor. While in this position it struggles violently, but is seized 
at once with both hands by the tail-holder, who wears woolen 
gloves to secure a firmer hold, and raised to a vertical position. 
The head-holder, with hands protected by heavy horse-hide 
gloves, then grasps the fish by inserting his thumbs in its mouth 
and his fingers under the gills. The tail-holder, resting upon 
one knee, brings the tail of the fish to the floor and the vent just 
above the edge of the spawning pan, a rectangular vessel sim- 
ilar to the ordinary breadpan. The latter is placed in a frame to 
prevent overturning should the fish slip from the grasp of the 
attendants. The stripper then expels the eggs 1n the ordinary 
way, passing both hands two or three times down the full length 
of the abdomen. As a twenty or thirty-pound salmon has great 
strength and remarkable contractive powers, it is generally 
necessary for the stripper to exert his utmost strength to start 
the eggs, even when they are fully mature; in fact, strength 
