1002 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AKD FISHERIES. [2] 



frigid winter weather of the Pacific slope described as extremely cold, 

 or even moderately cold. l^Tevertheless, the nature of the Western cold 

 is such that, although it does not have the contracting effect on inani- 

 mate objects — the mercury of the thermometer included — it is often less 

 endurable than the more intense Eastern cold. For example, a person 

 will often suffer more from cold in driving for an hour or two along the 

 coast line near San Francisco in August, when the thermometer hardly 

 stands below 55° F., than one would, with similar clothing, in the in- 

 terior of New England on a frosty morning with the thermometer thirty 

 degrees lower. In consequence of this peculiarity of the cold weather 

 here, the men who spawned the trout were subjected to a very severe 

 ordeal in performing their task, although the thermometer did not reg- 

 ister a greater degree of cold than 20° F. 



Mr. Loren Green took most of the eggs this season, and is entitled to 

 much credit for the endurance and perseverance that he exhibited in 

 accomplishing his work. I may add here that Mr. Myron Green, who 

 has had charge of the trout-ponds ever since they were started, resigned 

 his position this summer, owing to his health having become impaired 

 by exposure during the rainy seasons of this climate. 



It will be observed by looking at the daily record of eggs taken that 

 there was an interval of two weeks, from January 5 to January 19, when 

 no eggs were taken. This was owing to the very cold weather, which, 

 coming also without rain, seemed to check almost entirely the spawning 

 of the trout. When the weather grew warmer, and particularly when 

 it also rained, the spawning trout came on very rapidly, Mr. Green 

 says, and when it was clear and cold they seemed to have no disposi- 

 tion at all to deposit their eggs. It will, also be observed, by looking at 

 the record of the daily yield of eggs, that the spawning season extended 

 over a period of three months, from January 4 to April 4, and that even 

 after April 4 some eggs were taken, which were hatched for the river. 

 This long period of spawning is probably due, I think, to, the fact that 

 the creek on which the trout-ponds are built is supplied very largely by 

 springs, it being a well-known fact among trout raisers that the pres- 

 ence of spring water in a stream prolongs the spawning season; and in 

 a large stream, fed wholly by springs, the trout, at least in the eastern 

 waters of the United States, continue their spawning operations sev- 

 eral months longer than those in brooks not fed by springs. 



Up to the present season no systematic attempt has been made at the 

 McCloud Eiver trout-ponds to rear young trout, the surplus of young 

 fry at the end of each season having been turned into the river, and I 

 may add here that it is very proper, and perhaps indispensable, that a 

 considerable number of young fish should be put into the river each year 

 in order to keep up the river's stock, the yearly draft on the natural 

 supply of trout in the river, caused by our capture of breeding fish for 

 the ponds, being now quite perceptible in its effects. 



