FOREST, FISH AXD GAME COMMISSIONER. 203 



quite beyond the control of fish culturists. At Caledonia a few of the brook 

 trout sent for examination show defective gills and imperfect tails — the 

 latter resulting either from nibbling or from the attack of the fungus. It is 

 noteworthy that this condition arose during a season of drought, and must 

 have been due to insufficient water supply and overcrowding. 



The losses in transportation were sometimes very serious. For example, 

 in March. 1906, 50,000 fry were shipped from Saranac Inn to the Pleasant 

 Valley station, and the mortality in transit was unusually heavy. These 

 fry were in such a stage of development as to make their transfer rather 

 difficult, and it is thought that the method of aerating the water en route, 

 viz.: by the use of a dipper lifting a quantity of water above the surface 

 and letting it fall through the air, ma} - have been the principal cause of 

 the losses. 



Gill Parasite of Brook Trout. 



Elsewhere in this report reference has been made to a crustacean 

 which attacks the gills of brook trout at the State fish ponds at Caledonia, 

 a species introduced there from Adirondack waters. In 1904 some specimens 

 of the parasitized brook trout were sent to me from Caledonia, but as I 

 am not a specialist en parasitic Crustacea, the examples were forwarded 

 to Prof. Chas. B. Wilson, Department of Biology, State Normal School, 

 Westfield, Mass. Prof. Wilson very kindly identified the parasite, and the 

 following extracts from his letter of March 11, 1904, will be interesting in 

 connection therewith: 



Westfield, Mass., March 11, 1904. 



Mr. Tarletox H. Beax, Chief Department of Fish and Game, Universal 

 Exposition, St. Louis, Mo.: 



Dear Sir. — I find upon examination that the parasites on the gills 

 are the form known as Lernaeopoda salmonea Linn. They seem to be fairly 

 common in this country as well as across the water for I have had specimens 

 sent me by the U. S. Fish Commission from the gills of trout in California, 

 in Canada, and from Maine. The form is a very degenerate one, and after 

 once attaching itself can never change its position. It does not seem to 

 injure the fish unless its numbers increase beyond the ordinary. Sometimes 

 in hatcheries or places where its natural enemies are removed or where the 

 conditions are peculiarly favorable it will increase so fast as to prove a serious 

 menace to the life of the fish. 



