FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 195 



silver salmon, O. kisutch; brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis ; rainbow trout, Salmo 

 irideus; steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri ; black spotted or Rocky Mountain trout, 

 Salmo my kiss; Sunapee trout, Salvelinus alpimis aureolns ; lake trout, Cristivomer 

 namaycush ; Loch Leven trout, Salmo levenensis ; brown trout, Salmo fario; yellow 

 finned trout, Salmo mykiss macdonaldi ; whitefish, Coregonns clapeiformis ; striped 

 bass, Roccus lineatus ; shad, Alosa sapidissima ; pike-perch, Stisostedion vitreum ; 

 sea bass, Centropristes striatus ; Adirondack frostfish or round whitefish, Coregonus 

 quadrilateralis ; codfish, Gadus callarias ; alewives, Pomolobus cestivalis ; flatfish, 

 Pseudoplenronectes americanns ; crappies, Pomoxis sparoidcs, and P. annularis; 

 flounder, ParalicJithys oblongns ; haddock, Melanogrammus ceglcfinus ; lake 

 herring, Argyrosomus artedi ; lake sturgeon, Ancipenser rubicundis ; mackerel, 

 Scomber scombrus ; mascalonge, Lucius masquinongy ; sea herring, Clupea harengus ; 

 squeteague, Cynoscion regalis ; tautog or blackfish, Tautoga onitus ; tomcod, 

 Microgadus tomcod; smelt, Osmerus mordax, are some of the fishes, and it is not a 

 complete list, that are propagated in America. It will be observed that several of the 

 so-called trout in the foregoing list are charrs, salvelinus, but the word charr is never 

 used in America, as it is in England. All the members of the salmon family are 

 commonly called either salmon or trout, except the golden trout, found in Sunapee 

 Lake, in the State of New Hampshire ; and transplanted by this Commission to the 

 waters of this State; this fish is frequently called the American or Sunapee saibling. 



The first step in hatching fish eggs is to obtain ripe fish of both sexes, that is, fish 

 that are ready to deposit their ova naturally. Where stock fish are maintained, as at 

 a hatching station, all the fish are under observation and control and it is a simple 

 matter to pick out the fish ready to cast their ova, and wait for others to become ripe. 

 In wild waters where fish are netted to obtain their spawn, some species are placed in 

 breeding pens until they mature, but most commercial fishes are simply netted and 

 the ripe fish selected and all others returned to the water, and are perhaps netted 

 again and again before the season is over. 



Does it hurt the trout to take the spawn artificially ? No ; if the operator is a 

 skillful man in handling breeding fish, and none but skillful men are employed in the 

 business at the National and State hatcheries. Stock fish are handled year after year 

 at the spawning stations without injury, as a rule until, in fact, they cease to breed, 

 or make way for younger fish in the stock ponds. 



When, for instance, trout are ready to spawn at a hatching station, the male and 

 female fish are taken from the stock ponds with dip net and placed in tubs, the sexes 

 being separated. A pan, earthen or tin, generally the latter, is filled with water and 

 at once the water is poured from it, leaving only such moisture as may adhere to the 

 sides and bottom of the pan. A female fish is taken in hand by the operator, one 



