165 



The eggs were quickly placed in the pans, and the milt 

 bag cut bodily from the male fish, and the milt pressed 

 out over the eggs. 



The eggs were found to come from the fish in an 

 agglutinated sticky mass, somewhat similar to the eggs 

 of the perch or the frog. In order to hatch in the shad 

 boxes, it was necessary that the eggs should be free and 

 not stick together. This is avoided in the case of stick- 

 ing eggs, by stirring them until the gummy envelope 

 dissolves, or is washed away. It was found almost im- 

 possible to do this in the case of sturgeon eggs, but by 

 constant stirring, the eggs appeared at last (thirty min- 

 utes to two hours) to be in a state which would justify a 

 trial in the shad boxes. The eggs are larger than those 

 of the white fish and measure about seven to the inch. 

 They are of a dark brownish color, with the yolk show- 

 ing black through the opaque brown. On June ninth, a 

 brown line showed itself around the eggs, being the first 

 visible formation of the fish. At 3 p. m. on that day, 

 about fifty-three hours after impregnation, the first 

 movement was observed in the fish. Almost all fish 

 embryos move the tail, the head being quiet, these stur- 

 geon seemed to move only the middle part of their 

 bodies, the head and tip of the tail being quiet. On 

 June tenth, at 6 p. m., the young sturgeon commenced 

 to hatch, the next morning by 5 a. m. they were all found 

 hatched out. When turned loose into the river the 

 young fish sought the bottom immediately, hiding in 

 the mud and among the stones. A few of the young 

 were kept until they were an inch long, a,nd could be 

 seen to pick up food from the sides of the box, but it is im- 

 probable that they could be kept in confinement by arti- 

 ficial feeding. The food sac was very small and apparent- 

 ly lasted about six days. The time of hatching was 



