EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 33 



from those from Mill Creek, California, and the posterior half of the 

 anal fin on the ones from Kogue River. Some of the fi.sh first marked 

 were held over three weeks before being liberated, and their health 

 did not seem at all affected by the mutilation. 



Experiments at the Rogue River station, in Oregon, indicate that 

 green eggs can best be transported over the rough roads by transfer- 

 ring them to canton flannel trap's before the milt has been Avashed 

 from them. 



At the Bozeman station the superintendent continued his experi- 

 ments in the artificial feeding of grayling fry. Blood was last year 

 regarded as the most desirable food for young fry, and this season's 

 work has confirmed that belief. When the fry were placed in the 

 nursery ponds it was observed that they picked off the small organ- 

 isms lodged there, and, in imitation of the natural conditions, bunches 

 of water cress dipped in blood and liver emulsion were suspended in 

 the hatching troughs for the fry to feed upon. This device having 

 proved fairly successful, it was adopted in the nursery ponds, which, 

 being supplied with creek water, contained also small crustaceans and 

 other natural food. 



At the W3^theville, Va., station some experiments have been made 

 to test the merits of azotiue, a stockyards preparation, in comparison 

 with liver as food for trout. By way of preparation the azotine was^ 

 mixed Avith wheat middlings in equal parts, cooked into a mush, and 

 before feeding was pressed through a screen. The preparation is 

 nutritious, but uusuited to the delicate stomachs of small fry. After 

 the fish are two or three months old it appears to agree with them when 

 given alternatel}- with liver. The experiments have not been conclusive. 



It was noticed at the Put-in Bay station that the eggs of pike perch 

 which were placed on the batteries where they received the most light 

 and sunshine hatched in less time than those situated in the darker 

 part of the house; it was also noticed that those hatching in the shortest 

 tim.e produced the greatest percentage of hy. No direct experiment 

 was made along these lines, but the difi'erence was sufficient to attract 

 the attention of the superintendent. 



It is reported by Mr. Alex. Herbster, of Put-in Bay, that a pike 

 perch weighing about 8 pounds, in ripe spawning condition, was 

 caught by him with hook and line through the ice on January 14. 

 The earliest previous!}' recorded date for the spawning of pike perch 

 in Lake Erie is in the month of April, 



In the striped bass work at Weldon, N. C, the smallest yield of 

 eggs was 1-1,000 from a 3-pound fish, and the largest was 3,220,000 

 from one of 50 pounds. The largest yield of eggs previously recorded 

 is 2,200,000 from a fish whose weight is not given. It is reported 

 that there is an earl}^ and a late run of striped bass, with color 



F. C. 1904 3 



