* Conservation Commission. 275 



the backbone. Upon dissection he found in a number of the fish 

 either a grub or a long white worm. Specimens were sent to the 

 office for examination. These larvae appear to represent one of 

 the broad flatworms. 



COST OF TROUT. 



The actual cost of fry and fingerling trout at the stations of 

 the Commission is not very easy to estimate because a large part 

 of the maintenance fund each year is devoted to repairs and im- 

 provements which may benefit the station for a term of years; 

 but a fair idea may be obtained by comparing the results accom- 

 plished at two of the stations in the same year. One station which 

 spent $7,000 distributed 2,435,613 trout, chiefly brook trout and 

 more than one-half of them of fingerling age. The other station, 

 not so favorably situated with regard to natural advantages, ex- 

 pended $5,000 and furnished 730,100 trout, of which 430,100 

 were fingerlings. The cost of trout at the first station was three 

 mills each, and at the second one six mills each, giving an average 

 cost of four and one-half mills per trout. This, of course, is far 

 below the market value of trout at commercial hatcheries. It 

 should be kept in mind that few of our stations have a brood stock 

 of trout and most of our eggs are bought in the eyed stage from 

 commercial hatcheries. 



TROUT PLANTING. 



It is a very common practice with applicants for trout to send 

 in a large number of requests for fish for the same stream. In 

 most cases all of the applicants ask to have trout delivered at the 

 same railroad station. This is not only unnecessary but it in- 

 volves a great waste of time and fish provided the requests were 

 granted in full. As a matter of fact the Commission does not 

 undertake to supply more than 500 fingerling trout for each mile 

 of the length of the stream to be stocked. The Federal Bureau 

 of Fisheries has fixed a still lower limit, namely, 400 fingerlings 

 to the mile. This is based upon the fact that the average trout 

 stream does not contain food enough for a greater number of trout 

 than the limit decided upon. It would be much better for appli- 



