198 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



scarcity of whitefish in the lake cannot be determined without examination 

 of its waters. The spawning season is short and is very easily affected by 

 the weather. It may be, therefore, that the yield of eggs is no safe guide 

 to the abundance or scarcity of the fish. But the same falling off has been 

 noted in other lakes which are constantly receiving deposits of fry. This 

 renders it difficult to reach a satisfactory conclusion. 



During the egg collecting season some question arose as to the dispo- 

 sition of the whitefish after they had served their purpose of furnishing eggs, 

 and Mr. Brown was instructed to put back into the lake all the whitefish 

 handled. 



On Lake Placid the egg taking season began November 5th and closed 

 November 19th. The work was in charge of Foreman George F. Scriba. 

 Sixteen whitefish were caught in nets October 25th, but no ripe eggs were 

 obtained. At the close of the spawning season, November 19th, the total 

 collection of eggs numbered 4,704,000. The first eggs, amounting to three 

 quarts, or 126,000, were taken November 5th. 



There was a great scarcity of ripe males which resulted in the release, 

 November nth, of eighty-three females containing ripe eggs for lack of 

 male fish. 



In order to show the progress of the spawning period, it would be 

 interesting to note the following dates when eggs were taken, also the 

 number taken: 



November 5 3 quarts 



November 7 to 9 .28 quarts 



November 12 27 quarts 



November 13 14 quarts 



November 15 . . .26 quarts 



November 17 4 quarts 



November 19 4 quarts 



Again on November nth, eighty-eight ripe females had to be released 

 for want of males. Mr. Scriba thinks that the methods of netting whitefish 

 are unsatisfactory, for the yield of eggs is falling off in spite of continual 

 stocking. He believes that trap nets can be used to better advantage than 

 pound nets in many cases. These nets also have the advantage of being 



