XLIV REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



lected was 235,099,000, of which there were lost during incubation at 

 hatcheries and in transportation 81,208,700, the total number of fish 

 and eggs distributed being 153,890,300. The number of eggs collected 

 and of fish and eggs distributed by stations is shown in the tables of 

 distribution in the appendix. 



Summary by river basins of shad fry distribiited during 1888. 



River basin. 



Tributaries of Narragansett Bay 



Tributaries of North Atlantic coast 



Hudson River and tributaries 



Hudson River and tributaries, from eggs batched at Cold Spring Harbor, New York.. 



Delaware Bay and tributaries 



Delaware Bay and tributaries, from eggs batched at Wilmington, Delaware 



Cbesapeake Bay and tributaries 



Tributaries of South Atlantic coast 



Tributaries of Gulf of Mexico 



Inland waters (Salt Lake, Utah) 



Total 



Total number 

 shad depos- 

 ited. 



3,764,000 



3, 404, 000 



4, 040, 000 

 160, 000 



34, 159, 000 

 3, 560, 800 



84, 136, 000 

 3, 921, 500 



16, 820, 000 

 1,925,000 



153, 890, 300 



The Carp (Cyprinus carpio). 



The pond area devoted to this species in the Washington carp ponds 

 up to 1888 amounted to 23 J acres, but this was reduced to 17 acres "by 

 the filling of Babcock Lake. A new pond of 3 acres was established ; 

 235,687 carp were collected during 1887, and in 1888, 600,000 fry were 

 produced. Gravid carp were placed in the ponds May 15, 17, 18, and 

 19, 1888, water temperature 65° to 68°, increasing within a few days to 

 72° to 73°, when the fish began to deposit their eggs in great numbers 

 upon the roots and lower branches of water plants. On the night of 

 May 25, and subsequently, a sudden fall in temperature stopped the 

 development of eggs, and killed many of them ; the number of young fish 

 hatched out decreased so greatly that it was necessary to restock the 

 ponds. In breeding ponds of about 40 by 60 feet and 1J feet deep it is 

 easy to hatch out more young carp than the water will nourish. The 

 pond may be completely filled with young carp, but within a few days 

 thousands of them will perish by hunger for the want of natural food. 



They will not take artificial food during the first three or four weeks ? 

 but live upon algse and animalculne. 6,000 carp were produced at the 

 Wytheville Station and 440,000 fry were received during the summer of 

 1888 and released in the rearing ponds at Wytheville. The results 

 were not very favorable. During the summer of 1887, water snakes 

 killed a great many young carp in the west pond at Washington, District 

 of Columbia ; 40 fish were found in the stomach of a snake 3J feet long. 

 Mr. Ilessel thinks the water snake one of the most destructive enemies 

 of young fish. 



On December 14, 1887, 5,000 carp were sent to the City of Mexico. 



