ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF THE WHITE-FISH. 525 



the encouragement of the Messrs. Clark and the United States Fish Commissioner, I doubled the 

 capacity of this hatching house and procured 1,000,000 of the ova from the same grounds, and 

 proceeded as before with some improvements I made in the modus operandi of hatching, about 

 February 20. Mr. Milner, deputy United States commissioner, arrived at this place for the pur- 

 pose of aiding me in packing and shipping a lot of the ova, which were then in an advanced stage 

 of incubation. We estimated from actual count that sixty-six per cent, were in such an advanced 

 state that they were secure from any further mortality. We then shipped to San Francisco 216,000 

 in the most perfect condition. About March 10 I received an order from the Commissioner at 

 Washington to send the same number again to the same place, which I should have done, but from 

 the fact that the eggs had become so far advanced that I felt quite confident they could not be 

 transported so great a distance successfully, and only sent 116,000, which I am most happy to 

 have heard arrived in excellent condition. Soon after this the weather became much warmer and 

 the ice all thawed from the pond, and by the 20th of the month the eggs then remaining in the 

 troughs commenced hatching. The water had then risen to a temperature of 45°, which sudden 

 change caused the eggs to turn white, and soon all were worthless. Quite a large number had 

 already hatched out, and I removed part of them to the same lake where Mr. George Clark and 

 myself had put in a large number the year before, and placed about 25,000 in a small lake at 

 Clarkston Village. 



" ' This sudden change in the condition of these eggs I cannot account for, only from the fact 

 of the change in the temperature of the water at this late stage of their development. I am fully 

 satisfied that if the ice had remained in the pond as late as the previous year I should not have 

 lost two per cent, from the time I made the last San Francisco shipment. This experience satis- 

 fled me that spring water, although it may not be used until it advances a long way down from its 

 source, is not the place to hatch White-fish. Although this pond was clear from ice March 15, the 

 ice remained in our lakes in this region until May 1. 



" 'This species of eggs, and especially those not good and not perfectly impregnated, placed in 

 spring water at a temperature of 46° (which is about the same as all good springs) in winter, will 

 start out a growth of vegetable fungi more than four times faster than if placed in water at 33°, 

 which is the temperature of ice-water, and it is next to impossible to employ help enough to pick 

 out the dead eggs (when in spring water) when you have over a million, as I had the last two 

 seasons. Even in ice-water last winter, which preserved the eggs much longer than in spring 

 water, it required from eight to ten persons to keep them in fair condition, and then sometimes 

 they were necessarily left too long in an unfavorable condition. 



"'These facts are conclusive proof to my mind that the ova of White-fish should be kept 

 entirely away from the influence of spring water, or any water which will be liable to change 

 during incubation, and all houses where White fish are to be hatched should be constructed upon 

 some lake or pond that freezes over early and does not thaw out until April 1 . It is stated as a 

 reason why spring water is better for hatching fish eggs than lake water, that it is generally more 

 free from sediment, some kinds of which are highly detrimental to the successful hatching of the 

 fish ova. Whereas our inland lakes freeze over early in the fall, and are not free from ice until 

 late in the spring, this ice is perfect protection against any agitation of the water, and gives an 

 opportunity for any sediment that may be in it to settle to the bottom, where it must remain until 

 spring, and until the eggs are hatched and distributed. Consequently the water in all of our 

 inland lakes is, during winter, as clear as crystal. 



"'Ton also wish me to give my views in reference to using Detroit River water. To this I will 



