REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. LIII 



The bulk of these being lost en route, a second collection was made in 

 "November for shipment to the same point, which comprised 1,138 tautog 

 and 150 lobsters. The force was also utilized during the spring in col- 

 lecting a carload of live fishes, including forty-five species, for the 

 Omaha Exposition, and two carloads of salt water were filtered and 

 shipped to Omaha on May 1. 



Arrangements were made for gathering information in regard to 

 the movements, growth, spawning habits, etc., of the cod by attaching 

 small tags to brood fish liberated at the close of the season. 



The collection of brood codfish was made as usual by the schooner 

 Grampus and by purchase from fishing- smacks. The first fish were 

 received on October 8 and the last on November 9; in all 3,507 were 

 secured. The minimum weight of the fish accepted was pounds; 

 1,920 of them were caught by the Grampus and the remainder obtained 

 from the fishermen. They were carefully transferred from the vessel 

 to live-cars moored in the pool. The loss during October was normal, 

 but about the middle of November the mortality became very heavy, 

 and specimens of the dead fish were sent to Washington for examina- 

 tion. It was found that in a majority of cases the primary cause of 

 death could be traced to hook wounds or other injuries received at the 

 time of capture. 



From the penned brood-fish 57,034,000 eggs were secured. 



Arrangements were made for collecting cod eggs at Plymouth, Mass., 

 by Gapt. E. E. Hahn. A force of spawn -takers was stationed there 

 in November under direction of F. S. Conley, the first officer of the 

 Grampus, and the launch Cygnet, with a crew, was assigned for use in 

 transferring the spawn-takers from the shore to the fishing vessels. 

 About December 1 the force was increased to seven spawn-takers, the 

 collection of eggs was commenced, and although the work was fre- 

 quently interrupted by storms during winter, the season as a whole 

 was favorable, resulting in the collection of 90,700,000 eggs. 



The method of handling and packing eggs did not differ from that 

 followed at Kittery. The eggs were usually sent by express, though 

 in the case of large collections a messenger was sent with them to 

 guard against accident. The majority of the eggs arrived at the sta- 

 tion in excellent condition. The work was continued until February 

 26, at which time, as a result of the collections made at this point and 

 from the fish penned at the station, 147,794,000 eggs had been collected. 

 Several shipments were also received from Kittery Point, amounting 

 iu all to 5,642,000. These were sent by messenger as far as Boston, and 

 then shipped in care of the baggage-master to Woods Hole. The total 

 number of eggs handled at the station amounted to 153,436,000. 



The eggs were hatched, as usual, in the McDonald cod box, steam 

 being utilized to maintain an equable temperature of water when that 

 in the hatchery fell below 40°. The fry were planted on the spawning- 

 grounds off Gayhead, with the exception of 6,340,000, which were 

 deposited near Provincetown, Mass. 



