XXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Rainbow Trout. 



Two lots of eggs of this species were received during the month of 

 March, 1888, from Baird Station, California, 24,000 in all being good 

 on arrival. From this number, in addition to 1,000 eggs taken at the 

 station, 23,500 fry were produced, which were distributed to applicants 

 and deposited in suitable waters in New York State ; none of the fry 

 being retained at the hatchery. 



Shad. 



During the spring of 1888 the experiment was made of shipping 

 shad eggs by express, 5,000,000 having been forwarded in this manner 

 to the Cold Spring Harbor Station. The eggs reached destination in 

 good condition, but the losses in incubation were considerable, only 

 350,000 fry being produced, which were deposited in the Hudson River 

 at Albany, New York. The mortality in hatching was no doubt attrib- 

 utable to the use of a new pine supply pipe, and not to bad or un- 

 healthy eggs, which were found to be in very good condition on arrival. 



Neosho Station. 



During the summer of 1887, Mr. Marshall McDonald, acting under 

 instructions from Prof. S. F. Baird, Commissioner, made an exploration 

 of the Ozark region of southwest Missouri, with the object of ascertain- 

 ing a suitable site for a fish- cultural station, where the propagation of 

 species of fish suited to the streams of Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas, 

 could be conducted to advantage, and thus adequate provision made 

 for a section of the country too remote from the existing stations of the 

 Commission to be supplied to advantage from them. Mr. McDouald, 

 after completing the investigation, submitted a report to the Acting 

 Commissioner, Dr. J. H. Kidder, recommending the selection of a site 

 in the suburbs of Neosho, Missouri, for reasons fully set forth in the 

 report. 



On December 21, 1887, the United States Senate, by resolution, 

 directed the Commissioner of Fisheries " To report to the Senate at as 

 early a day as practicable what measures, if any, had been taken for 

 the selection of a site for, and the location of, a fish-cultural station of 

 the U. S. Fish Commission in the Ozark region of southwest Missouri, 

 with the views and recommendations of the Commissioner and the cost 

 thereof." To this resolution the Acting Commissioner, under date of 

 January 4, 1888, replied as follows, transmitting at the same time a copy 

 of Mr. McDonald's report : 



U. S. Commission of Pish and Fisheries, 



Washington, D. C. January 4, 1888. 

 Sir: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, agreed to on the 21st Decem- 

 ber, 1887 (a copy of which is appended hereto), I have the honor to report that the 

 availability of the Ozark region in-southwestern Missouri for a fish-cultural station 

 was made the subject of a personal investigation last summer by Mr. Marshall Mc- 

 Douald, under instructions from the late Commissioner Baird, modified and extended 

 by Acting Commissioner T. B. Ferguson. 



