THIRTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. iil 
the completion of the great tidal reservoir, but we were enabled 
to hold the water as high as half tide and to begin work. The 
hot air engine worked very well, and we hatched the eggs of 
the little tomcod (M/icrogadus tomcodus), locally known as “‘frost- 
fish” in the fall of the year, and as tomcod in the spring. I sent 
some of these eggsto Prof. T. J. Ryder, at the Central Hatching 
Station of the United States Fish Commission, and he hatched 
them in artificial sea water. The spawning season of this fish is 
in November and December, and they had finished spawning be- 
fore our engine was in position, but we gathered the eggs from 
the seaweed, to which they are attached, in bunches the size of a 
hen’s egg, and are easily obtained by the oystermen when raking 
for oysters. 
We also obtained several millions codfish eggs from the cars 
at Fulton Market, but none of them were good. They showed 
the shrunken vitellus which gives both them and shad eggs a 
“speckled” appearance, which indicates that there is no possi- 
bility of impregnating such an egg. In every case the parent 
fish had been brought in the well of a fishing smack, and after 
being dipped out had been thrown into the floating car along- 
side, falling from four to six feet, usually on the abdomen. 
This, in my opinion, is more than the delicate cod egg can 
stand. 
The membrane, or shell, covering the egg of the codfish, is 
so delicate that a light touch of the finger, when the egg is on 
any hard substance, will burst it like a soap bubble, while a 
trout’s egg will bear the hardest squeeze that can be given be- 
tween the finger and thumb. It is possible that the eggs will 
have to be obtained from the fishing grounds and be taken when 
the fish are first hauled in, although they may possibly be found 
to be good after the smacks arrive and before the fish are put 
in the cars. 
POSSIBILITIES OF THE STATION. 
In addition to the salt-water fishes mentioned, it is possible 
to hatch many other species. The density of the water varies 
from 1.018 to 1.022, sea water being 1.028 and distilled water 1. 
The temperature of the water in the hatching jars has, during. 
the months of January, February and March, varied from 33 to 
