20 FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. [Jan., 
main in the sunlight, and covered others to keep them dark, think- 
ing the sunlight might have some effect on the manipulation, but 
the results were the same. The eggs remained transparent and 
good color, but never increased any in size after being taken from 
the fish. Examined the roes of two female shad and found the 
one pan in which the eggs looked mushy to be full of watery mat- 
ter. The roe pan, the shad from which the eggs looked well, ap- 
peared to be all right and in normal condition. Not being quite 
satisfied with conducting our experiments with the naked eye, I 
went home to-night to get a powerful microscope to make more 
thorough examinations of the eggs. 
Wednesday, July 13.—Temperature of the water 65°. Returned 
at 1 p.m. Found Mr. Rankin at the boxes. He came in and 
said that the eggs taken yesterday from the best shad, impregna- 
ted in salt water, were all lost. On examining the box of eggs 
impregnated in fresh water, I found remaining about 25 per cent. 
of the amount put in. The rest had disappeared. My theory is 
that the shells of the eggs are tender, and the eggs break and the 
shells disappear through the coarse wire cloth. The box of eggs 
taken from the shad whose eggs appeared mushy are all gone. 
We hauled the pound and caught 16 shad: 8 males and 8 fe- 
males; none ripe. 
Thursday, July 14.—-Temperature of the water 67°. At 10 A.M. 
we stripped two females and amale. The eggs of one looked well; 
those from the other looked mushy. The good eggs adhered to 
the pan and appeared transparent, but did not change in size. 
The mushy eggs all turned opaque. JI examined with my micro- 
scope the eggs that were taken the 12th from the best shad and 
remained transparent. I could see that the oil cells looked all 
right, but there was no sign of life. The germ disk looked a 
brown color and dull, whereas in a normal state it should have a 
bright, silvery sparkle. The eggs did not show any fish devel- 
oping. 
Friday, July 15.—Temperature of water 66°. I again examined 
with the microscope eggs taken on the 12th, but could find no 
trace of young fish, the eggs all looking opaque and disappearing. 
Examined shad in the pens at 10 a.m. and found ripe males and 
two good females. The eggs of the other ripe females were mushy, 
At my suggestion we stripped one pair of the prime shad in a fine 
wire hatching box, holding the vents of both fish together under 
water. ‘This produced the desired result. The eggs were impreg- 
