REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 4] 
water. The river that the spawning sturgeon of Lake Champlain 
first ascend is the Missisquoi, in the extreme northwestern corner of 
Vermont. They ascend this stream very soon after the pike perch 
have finished spawning in the river, which is usually the latter part 
of April. The largest number of ripe fish appeared this season about 
May 13, and were all gone by May 20. 
The sturgeon ascend the Lamoille, a Vermont river, which flows into 
the lake about 30 miles south of the Missisquoi, somewhat later. This 
year their first appearance at the mouth of this river was about the 
middle of May, and they collected in the sturgeon hole in the greatest 
numbers for spawning on May 25. By the end of the month they had 
all left the river. 
The lake sturgeon spawn inthe shallow waters of the lake in June. 
At least, there is a spawning-bed in the shallow water of the bay just 
south of the mouth of the Lamoille, where the sturgeon come at that 
time to deposit their eggs. Parent fish collect in this bay to spawn 
about two weeks later than when they are found in the greatest 
numbers in the sturgeon hole of the Lamoille. The largest number 
of ripe ones was observed on June 4, and by June 15 they had all left 
the spawning-grounds of the bay. 
As far as could be observed, lake sturgeon will not spawn until the 
water reaches a temperature of 60° F. It is concluded, therefore, that 
they require water at or above 60°, though of course this must be 
accepted only as an inference. 
The lake sturgeon spawn at other places later than they do in the 
bay just mentioned, as is evidenced by the fact that parent fish were 
captured in June with eggs that would not have been ripe for a fort- 
night, and others with eggs that would not have ripened for a month 
or longer. Sturgeon do not seem to ripen their eggs well in confine- 
ment, unless very nearly ripe when captured. If the fish in the pens 
were confined too long their eggs caked together and were otherwise 
very poor, and probably would not have been susceptible to impreg- 
nation even if they had ripened sufficiently to be extruded from the 
fish; but this should not be accepted as conelusive, as means will 
probably be eventually found for keeping sturgeon in captivity without 
injury to their eggs till ready to spawn. 
The spawning season at the various grounds of the lake sturgeon 
is very short. They are doubtless spawning somewhere all summer, 
but at any specified ground it is not believed they are in the act of 
spawning over three or four days. In order to be on the safe side, 
wide limits have been set to the period during which the spawning 
sturgeon remain on the spawning-beds, but after a more thorough 
investigation these limits may be much narrowed. 
Unless some device has been adopted for forcibly retaining the 
eggs in the sturgeon, it seems almost useless to attempt to strip a 
ripe fish after it has once been lifted from the water alive, as a few 
seconds of time and a few powerful strokes of the tail hopelessly 
