702 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



The principles of the McDonald Universal (patented) jar are familiar." 

 By substituting foi the closed top a screw-cap rim to which has been soldered 

 a pitcher-like spout, the Universal or automatic jar may be converted into an 

 open-top jar and thus is the preferable equipment at hatcheries where both 

 closed and open-top jars are required. As an open-top jar it is operated the 

 same as the Chase and Downing jars. At hatcheries where only open-top jars 

 are used the Downing pattern is preferred. 



RIVER FISHES OF THE EAST COAST. 

 SHAD. 



The most important fish of the east-coast streams, the shad, is the especial 

 object of three hatcheries — at Havre de Grace, Md., on the Susquehanna River; 

 at Bryans Point, Md., on the Potomac; and at Edenton, N. C, on Albemarle 

 Soimd. The steamer Fish Hawk is also equipped as a hatchery, and utilized 

 at such points as may be advantageous. 



As all of the eggs for the hatcheries are obtained from market fish, the shad 

 work is primarily conservation. The exhaustive fishing at the mouths of the 

 rivers leaves, moreover, so few fish to reach the spawning grounds that the 

 fishery is now, in the northern streams, entirely dependent upon the hatcheries, 

 which are themselves interfered with by the scarcity of ripe fish. Recent legis- 

 lation in North Carolina has widely restricted fishing so that there has been a 

 notable improvement of conditions in that region, and much larger collection of 

 eggs at Edenton. 



Curiously enough shad are seldom caught in ripe condition during daylight 

 until late in the afternoon. Thus the fishermen's catch of the late morning or 

 early afternoon is not available for the rescue work of the spawn taker. But 

 on the approach of evening during the spawning season of the shad, the Bureau's 

 agents may be found leaving their camps to embark preparatory to being dis- 

 tributed on the various fishing boats or to fishing shores where shad in ripe 

 spawning condition are to be had. 



In the collection of shad eggs the fishermen often personally manipulate 

 the ripe fish for eggs and milt, and it is customary for the Bureau to provide all 

 such men with the usual spawntaker's equipment of pans, buckets, etc. It is 

 always necessary to employ a force of experienced men to go among the fisher- 

 men, to see that the eggs of all ripe fish are saved, fertilized, and properly cared 

 for until they reach the hatchery. It may not be amiss to say that spawntakers 

 should also be experienced boatmen, not only as a matter of safety to them- 

 selves, but because the fishermen are averse to allowing inexperienced men in 

 their boats. 



"■ Manual of Fish Culture, revised edition, 1900, p. 138. Published by U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



