1882. ] FISH COMMISSIONERS’ REPORT. 23 
holding the shad out of water, did not change in size. So in this 
case it does not follow that the eggs are impregnated always when 
they adhere to the pan, for I have been unable to find any trace of 
an embryo in the eggs we have taken, which did not change to 
the standard size. 
We made numerous other experiments which I do not deem 
worthy of mention, as in our desire for success we were like a 
drowning man grasping at straws. We tried some experiments 
which I have not spoken of, which, under other circumstances, we 
would regard as foolishness. 
Notwithstanding the three weeks’ unsuccessful experiments to 
hatch shad in salt water, it may open a path for the future, but I 
very much doubt it. We have been repeatedly told by the Sound 
fishermen that shad do ripen in salt water and they believe if they 
ripen there, they hatch there. That they catch ripe shad in their 
pounds there is no doubt, but under what circumstances do they 
ripen, and are they in normal condition ? My theory is that when 
they are on their migratory trip to fresh water they are detained 
in the Sound by numerous fishing contrivances on their way which 
check them even if they are not caught. Nature is all the time 
advancing with its never-failing work, and hence there is an un- 
natural ripening, for in the pounds we find them ripe in daylight 
as well as night, while it has been the experience of us all at shad- 
hatching stations not to get any ripe shad except between sundown 
and sunrise. Therefore, I think the so-called ripe shad caught in 
the pounds are not in a normal condition. The shad in the pens 
stood handling remarkably well. We tied a string to the tail in 
some cases, and would have the fish out of water nearly every day 
for two weeks. It would live, although the scales were worn off 
and the nose and tail sore, and the fish would remain plump, in 
good condition and the stomach invariably full. 
Friday, July 22.—Temperature of water 67°. At 1] a. mM. we 
examined the shad in the pens, and finding them all diseased 
turned them loose. 
Saturday, July 23.—Temperature of water 66°. We examined 
a box of eggs that we sunk in the Sound the 20th, and found 
those that were taken from the two females, about 1,000, looking 
the same as all eggs previously taken, when three days old. We 
took up the pound and pens to-day, turned loose the remaining 
shad, and closed our experiments. 
HENRY J. FENTON. 
