1046 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. [2] 



May 17, eggs taken from female from basin on tlie IStli still looking 

 well. Haul seine came in at 7 a. m. Put 16 females, nearly ripe, in the 

 basin. Seine laid out at 3.30 p. m. and hauled in at 6 p. m. Caught 

 100 shad; one ripe female. Put 16 males and 11 females in crate. 



May 18, eggs from basin, taken the 13th, are in excellent shape, 90 per 

 cent good. Examined fish in crate at noon ; they are doiug well. Ex- 

 amined them again at 6 p. m. ; still looking well. Seine was not hauled 

 to-day. Of a few eggs taken from a shad after it had been dressed, 

 about 10 per cent came up and were in good condition. 



May 19, eggs in jar from fish from basin have begun to hatch. 

 These are the first from the penned fish. The form of the fish is visi- 

 ble in some of the eggs taken yesterday from a dressed shad. Tem- 

 perature at 2 p. m. of water in basin at north end, 69<^ F. ; near east 

 gate, 67° ; at end of west pier, 66°. At 2 p. m. seine was hauled in 

 basin, the fish handled very carefully, and 11 females, hard, returned ; 

 15 males and 2 females were found ripe — 1 with rotten eggs an«] the 

 other with a portion of her eggs blighted and some of them looking 

 fairly well, but on adding milt or water they did not come up. Fish in 

 crate were overhauled at 2.30 p. ra. Found 7 dead females nearly eaten 

 up by eels ; 3 were alive, but quite badly laden with fungus ; eels had 

 been at them. Males looking fairly. The 3 females that were alive 

 were brought ashore and cut open. In 2 the spawn looked normal; 

 in the other it did not. The 2 that were apparently all right would, 

 not have spawned, probably, for a week or longer. In the evening a 

 female shad brought in by the gillers, out of water one hour, was used 

 with a male from the crate and a good percentage of impregnation ob- 

 tained. Later in the evening 2 females that had been caught one and 

 one-half hours were stripped and the eggs, fertilized with a live milter 

 from the crate, looked very well. 



May 20, 3 live males still in the crate. Eggs taken yesterday from 

 fish caught one and one-half hours are looking well. Ko eggs taken 

 to-day. Two degrees difierence in temperature of water at warmest 

 place in basin and west end pier, 69° and 67°. 



May 21, males in crate still alive. Seine hauled ; landed at 8 p. m. 

 Placed 3 females, nearly ripe, and 8 males in a large tank and gave 

 them a constant supply of fresh water from the pump. At 10 p. m. 

 the females were all dead, but the males were doing well. 



May 22, 2 of the males in tank in poor condition this morning. 

 Took them all out at noon ; experiment of holding them in tanks a 

 failure. One male left in crate. Divided the basin into two sections 

 by placing a net across from north side of east gate to north side of 

 west gate. 



May 23, seine hauled ; taken through gate into basin without hand- 

 ling the fish. Do not know how many fish were caught. 



May 25, seine was not put out to-day. At 6 p. m. a haul of 32 fish 

 was made in basin ; these were from the lot hauled into basin through 



