REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 39 
DISTRIBUTION. 
In the distribution of fish it is the general policy of the Bureau to 
plant certain species as fingerlings or yearlings at an age of from 
two to twelve months. This is found especially desirable with such 
species as the brook trout, but as some of the stations are not adapted 
for the rearing of trout, owing either to the extreme high temperature 
of the water in summer or to the presence of bacteria, in these cases 
the product is planted as fry. At stations where fingerlings and year- 
lings are reared, it is necessary to reduce the stock to prevent over- 
crowding as the fish become larger, and in such cases, so far as it is 
possible to do so, the precaution is taken to select for the earliest 
distribution waters where the fish will be least preyed upon by the 
larger fishes and other aquatic animals. 
At the stations devoted to the propagation of black bass, much atten- 
tion has been given to the subject of the age for distribution. From 
experience thus far, it appears very desirable to distribute the young 
fish when they are from 1 to 3} inches in length, beginning the collec- 
tions for this purpose soon after the young fish have broken up their 
schools and are scattered along the shores of the ponds. Bass five- 
eighths of an inch long will eat their young companions, one of this 
length having been found at the Fish Lakes station choked to death in 
its attempt to eat a younger fish of its own species. At the San Marcos, 
Tex., station it is customary to begin the distribution of black bass 
and other pond fishes in April, continuing throughout the summer. 
The commercial species, such as the lake trout, white-fish, pike 
perch, cod, ete., which are hatched by the hundred million, are neces- 
sarily planted as fry, and it is customary to distribute them just 
before the umbilical sac is absorbed. 
The work of distributing the fish collected along the overflowed 
lands of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers is entirely dependent upon 
high and low water conditions. During the past year the water was 
so high throughout the summer that the work of saving fish usually 
confined and doomed to perish in the lagoons caused by the receding 
waters was unnecessary. The fish distributed from these collections 
vary in size from fingerlings to 6 to 8 inches in length. All fish 
seined from these overflowed lands are either planted in adjacent 
waters or transported by car to other parts of the country to supply 
individual applicants for both public and private waters. Prepara- 
tions were made during the past year for extending this field of oper- 
ations by the establishment of an additional distributing station at 
North McGregor, Iowa, for collections in the lagoons along both 
sides of the Mississippi River from Dubuque, Ia., to La Crosse, Wis. 
Tn the following tabulation all plants of fish and allotments of eggs 
are shown by species and waters stocked, the latter being grouped 
according to States, which are listed in alphabetical order. 
