334 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



at Linlithgo by the express messenger. The amount of injury has not yet 

 been reported, but a great many eggs have been hurt in this way. 



Transportation Loss 



Two shipments of brook trout fry, obtained from the U. S. Bureau of 

 Fisheries Station at Cape Vincent, suffered serious loss in transportation 

 to the Pleasant Valley Station. The sac had been absorbed but the fish 

 all bunched up in the bottom of the cans and smothered, causing the loss 

 of about one-half of the shipment. 



Fish Food 



Fish preserved in salt furnished a considerable part of the fish food 

 supply at some of our stations. Such fish cannot be fed every day to the 

 stock, but may be used advantageously about three days in the week. 

 Along the sea coast the common killies are used very extensively for this 

 purpose. In the fresh waters the various minnows and suckers could be 

 put up in the same way and they would answer a very useful purpose, 

 furnishing cheap and nutritious food for bass and trout. 



The Commission has been requested from time to time to furnish 

 certain small fish as food for lake trout, brook trout and other species in 

 stocked waters. One correspondent desired to have " sawbellies." This 

 is one of the names applied to the common alewife of our eastern rivers, 

 now acclimated in certain large New York lakes. The Commission has no 

 facilities at present for furnishing alewives and it is very doubtful whether 

 it would be wise to plant this fish in the lakes. If it should thrive it would 

 soon become objectionable because of its wonderful fertility and its frequent 

 death from unknown causes, thereby becoming a nuisance on lake shores. 



Trout Hatching Period 



On April 30, 1909, Foreman Redband reported that all the fish were late 

 in hatching this season. The brook trout had been feeding only about six 

 weeks and were not very large. The last of the brown trout had not begun 

 to feed and the lake trout had been feeding: about four weeks. 



