REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 39 



St. Johnsbury Station, Vermont (J. W. Titcomh, Superintendent). 

 The fish on hand at the beginning of the year were as follows : 



Species. 



Calendar year in which fish 

 were hatched. 





1899. 



1898. 



1897. 



1896. 



1895. 



Rainbow trout 



310 

 4,335 

 7,665 

 42,329 

 2,241 

 8,000 







310 





Steelbead trout 



67 





36 



Brook trout . „ 









Landlocked salmon 











Hybrids (female brook trout crossed with lake trout) 











Grayling 





















Total 



64,880 



67 





310 



36 







The rainbow-trout fry on hand on July 1 were obtained from fish 

 hatched at the station in 1896, but only 77 of them lived to the close 

 of the year. From the 256 adults available in the spring 58,574 eggs 

 were taken, but many of them were shotty and hard, so that only 

 48,740 were placed in the troughs; and though these appeared to be 

 of good quality, onl}^ 6,000 of the frj^ hatched from them survived to 

 the close of the year. These are apparently strong and healthy. The 

 first eggs taken were laid down in cold water in the hatchery; later 

 on troughs were set up at the source of a spring and these eggs were 

 transferred to them, as well as all eggs subsequently taken, and it 

 was found that the eggs which had been carried in cold water for a few 

 weeks eyed about as well as the others, though most of them burst 

 before hatching. It is estimated that only 10,000 of the total take 

 were actually fertilized. 



Of the 4,335 steelhead-trout fry on hand at the beginning of the 

 year,. 3,340 were reared to the fingerling stage and 2,200 of them 

 were planted. The others were retained for domestication, but by the 

 last of the year their number had been reduced to 348. As the pond 

 in which they were held during the winter was covered with ice 2 feet 

 thick, it is impossible to assign any reason for so large a loss. 



Of the 7,665 brook-trout fry on hand at the first of the year, 6,310 

 were distributed as fingerlings and the balance retained; 470 of them 

 survived the winter. 



The landlocked salmon suffered extremely during the hot summer 

 months, and in the fall only 17,260 remained for distribution. In 

 order to keep landlocked salmon in a healthy condition it is neces- 

 sary to salt them thoroughly at least three times a week. 



The hybrid trout obtained by crossing the fontinalis with the namay- 

 cush were carried without difficulty for several weeks, when 100 were 

 delivered to Prof. W. J. Moenkhaus, of Harvard College, and 1,859 

 were planted in Caspian Lake. 



The 8,000 grayling fry resulting from a shipment of eggs from 

 Bozeman dwindled rapidly after the absorption of the sac, but the 

 few strong ones among them took food readil}^ and made a more rapid 

 growth than any other variety of fish ever hatched and reared at this 



