ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 13 
of an accident. I had been thinking of transporting shad eggs 
for some time, and had constructed an apparatus for carrying 
400,000 in a man’s hand, when we were suddenly called upon to 
use it. The Fish Commission had a lot of eggs in water on 
board of a steam launch on the way from the spawning grounds 
on the Potomac to the hatchery in the Navy Yard. I filled my 
box, and took it in my hand to Washington, where they hatched 
after being fifteen hours out of water, and proved to be avery 
strong lot of fish. This accidental discovery has resulted in a 
great saving in the expense of artificial propagation, and has 
made possible the establishment of a central hatching station, at 
which the government will hereafter hatch all the impregnated 
spawn taken in the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers. Men 
will have buckets and take the eggs from the grounds to the 
hatchery in the armory at Washington. 
The PREsIDENT.—Who invented this apparatus ? 
Cot. McDonatp.—It was not a new invention. It was the 
same system used in transporting salmon eggs on flannel trays, 
but it had not been tried with shad, and it has generally been 
believed that shad eggs are too delicate to transport in this 
way. | 
The Presipent.—What has been done in the hatching of cod 
eggs? 
CoL. McDonaLp—The eggs of the cod, Spanish mackerel, sea 
mackerel, bonita, and other fish whose eggs float on the water, 
cannot be hatched in the closed apparatus used for propagating 
shad eggs. Just how to hatch them while being transported is 
a question that the Fish Commission is now trying to solve. 
The trouble is that the eggs are so buoyant that they will follow 
the current and pile up against the screens and clog them. A 
series of experiments is being made with a funnel-shaped appa- 
tus, which is fed from the bottom with pure salt water. To 
carry off the impure water a syphon is used, the arm inserted in 
the upper portion of the apparatus, being long enough to reach 
below the mass of floating eggs. The experiments have proved 
