l899-'00 TRANSACTIONS 175 



prices, or ignored their agreement and shipped the fish straight 

 from their nets to the markets, leaviiig the hatcher}^ officers in 

 the lurch. Many parties have entertained an ignorant prejuchce 

 against artificial hatching of salmon, not fishermen only, but 

 men of education and social standing. Thus the lessees of 

 certain rivers in Gaspe, refused to allow any salmon to be taken 

 for hatchery purposes, and anglers who have been known year 

 after year, to kill hundreds of salmon in famous pools, really 

 spawning grounds, have declaimed against the inhumanity of 

 taking the spawn from the small number of parent fish, which 

 are ample for supplying a salmon hatchery. 



Frank Buckland has truly observed that ' ' the success of 

 salmon egg-collecting depends upon very small circumstances, 

 and he specifies seven necessary provisions to be made by the. 

 " spawner," viz, : a water-proof suit, spawning pans of large 

 capacity, a long, shallow basket to hold the fish under water 

 until wanted, hose flannel in yard lengths for wrapping the 

 struggling fish when spawning, dry towels to wipe slime off the 

 hands, moss and trays, and lastly, nets. 



In a report published in the Marine and Fisheries Blue 

 Book, 1896, I described all the types of fishes' eggs known to 

 scientific experts. I grouped them under seven heads, accord- 

 ing to their special features, and I pointed out that they varied 

 in shape, size, external structure, etc. The smooth, spherical, 

 pea-like eggs of the salmon, trout, whitefish, and the like, are 

 far more favorable for artificial incubation than slimy eggs, eggs, 

 clinging in bunches, eggs in gelatinous strings, eggs covered 

 with spines, oval eggs, and other varieties. 



The eggs resembling peas vary in size in different species. 

 A quart measure is frequently used in counting eggs on account 

 of its convenience. The measure holds 57.75 cubic inches, and 

 has been found to be capable of containing 3,300 land-locked 

 salmon eggs ; 4,272 Atlantic salmon ; 3,696 Pacific salmon ; 

 5,525 Great L,ake Trout ; 8,311 to 9,935 English Brown trout ; 

 12,063 to 13,998 American brook trout- 24,363 striped bass ; 

 28,239 shad ; 36,800 lake whitefish ; 73,938 maskinonge ; 152,292 

 pike, perch or dore ; 233,280 tomcod ; 335,000 cod ; 496,000 

 smelt. In diameter the eggs vary from }( of an inch in the 

 Atlantic salmon, and 3/16 of an inch. in the brook trout, to 1/30 



