32 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
tendent from the 7th to the 12th of December the following facts 
were developed: That the trout in the various lakes controlled by the 
St. Bernard Club do not ascend the streams to spawn, but spawn 
around the shores of the lakes; that while the fish in some of the 
smaller lakes may spawn as early as the latter part of October, 
the principal period of spawning extends from November 15 late into 
January, after the waters over the beds are covered with ice; further- 
more, that it would be unprofitable to collect eggs on these lakes by 
eatching the fish after they have arrived on the spawning-beds; that 
if the work is to be conducted there, the fish should be caught before 
the cold windy weather of October and November sets in, and retained 
in pens to ripen; that there is a great abundance of trout and a tre- 
mendous waste of eggs in the natural process of reproduction. 
At Lake Willie the trout spawned November 16 to 50, after the lake 
was frozen over, but before the ice was sufficiently strong to bear a 
man. Here one bed, a foot in diameter, was watched for half a day, 
and 26 male trout, 8 egg-bearing females, and 14 spent females were 
caught from it. Most of these fish were there to eat eggs, as was seen 
on opening them. 
At the request of Mr. W. H. Parker, the manager of the Lauren- 
tian Club, Lae La Peche, Province of Quebec, the superintendent, in 
June, made a reconnoitering trip of the preserves controlled by the 
Laurentian and Shawenegan clubs, in Canada. It is reeommended 
that another attempt be made to collect eggs of the brook trout and 
the so-called red trout, in cooperation with the clubs referred to. The 
red trout inhabits four lakes in the township of St. Alexis Des Monts, 
county of Maskinonge, Province of Quebec, and though it is impos- 
sible to judge as to their abundance, except during the spawning 
season, it is believed that their eggs can be successfully collected. 
The spawning season is from about the 20th to the 51st of December. 
This trout averages about the same in size as the brook trout, being 
about 9 inches long when matured. The largest of which the super- 
intendent had reliable information weighed 4 pounds, though some 
have been reported weighing 7 pounds. As food they are excellent, 
the flesh being red in color and not dry, more like the salmon than 
the speckled trout. They are usually caught by ‘‘still fishing,” with 
minnows or angleworms, though there are authentic reports that two 
have been taken on Lake Saccacomi with the fly and one by trolling. 
The field station for the collection of lake-trout eggs at Lake Dun- 
more, Vermont, was opened October 19, and from October 22 fishing 
was continuously condueted until November 6; 344 males and 106 
females were captured, which produced 162,000 eggs; 158,500 eggs 
were transferred to St. Johnsbury, where 125,400 fry were hatched 
from them. 
At Lake Mitchell operations extended from August 2 to December 
20, during which period 1,789 trout were caught. Of these 909 were 
