246 Thirty-fourth Annual. Meeting. 
earnest painstaking men, proved to be no better, and from the 
facts given in the foregoing statements we have arrived at the 
conclusion that the “Great Loss of Eggs” is not due so much to 
the manner of manipulating them at the time of taking, and 
carelessness in subsequent handling, as to the weather conditions, 
and the consequent effect upon the water temperature after they 
are placed in the jars, and during the process of incubation. 
However, we would not abate one whit from the former care 
and vigilance practiced in the field, but continue to be as careful 
and painstaking as possible in every detail, and then hope for 
the most favorable weather conditions afterward. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Whish: The state of New York began hatching pike- 
perch eggs in 1894. The highest take of eggs since the Con- 
stantia Hatchery was established was 78,000,000 this season. 
We base our estimate as to the number of fish we will have for 
distribution, in getting the application blanks ready for the 
hatchery, at 60 per cent, and for several years it has been 70 
per cent. 
Mr. Clark: The paper by Mr. Downing is very interesting 
indeed, and to me at the present time probably more so than to 
any other member present, as last spring I collected a large quan- 
tity of pike-perch eggs. Of course previously we had collected a 
great many, but not to so large a scale as this past spring. From 
the title of the paper, I was in hopes that some of the problems 
in regard to the great loss might be solved. However, consid- 
erable light has been thrown on the subject. 
Mr. Downing speaks of the question being asked if a tempera- 
ture of 40 degrees was not fatal. ‘This was brought up in the 
correspondence between myself and the Washington office, and 
at that time I stated in my report that the low temperature was 
causing a loss. Later on I revised my opinion in this regard 
somewhat; still I think that there may be times (as Mr. Down- 
ing says) when the low temperature may be very injurious. 
J wish to state here our experience last season. We took all 
told, 370,000,000 pike-perch eggs, at two field stations, one being 
on Saginaw Bay where we gathered the larger number—lI think 
