WORK OF THE COMMISSION. 137 
The following table shows the number of eggs of nine of the important species 
collected during the period under consideration. 
Species. 
Annual collections of eggs. 
Increase 
over 1895. 
1897. 
1896. 
1895. 
Cod 
180, 000, 000 
140,000,000 
140, 000, 000 
40, 000, 000 
Flatfish 
80, 000, 000 
11, 000, 000 
9, 263, 000 
70, 737, 000 
Lobsters 
128, 000, 000 
105, 000, 000 
82, 000, 000 
46,000,000 
203, 000, 000 
148, 000, 000 
118, 000, 000 
85, 000, 000 
Lake trout 
* 16, 0C0, 000 
16, 000, 000 
16, 400, 000 
Whitefisli 
* 200, 000, 000 
125, 000, 000 
234, 000, 000 
Atlantic salmon 
* 2, 800, 000 
2, 800, 000 
983, 000 
1,817,000 
Landlocked salmon 
* 1, 000, 000 
324, 000 
100, 000 
900, 000 
Quinnat salmon 
* 75, 000, 000 
37, 000, 000 
10, 000, 000 
65, 000, 000 
* Season not over; number estimated. 
The total output of artificially-hatched fishes in the United States at the present 
time amounts to over one billion annually. This is about five times as great as the 
combined production of all Europe. 
To further test the feasibility of the introduction of quinnat salmon in eastern 
waters, 5,000,000 eggs were transferred from the Battle Creek Station, California, 
during the fall of 1896, and as a result 4,000,000 fry were liberated during the past 
spring in the St. Lawrence, Hudson, and Delaware rivers in New York State, and in 
the Penobscot and Union rivers in the State of Maine. In addition to these plants, 
250,000 fry were retained to rear as yearlings for liberation in the Penobscot Biver 
during the present fall. 
The acclimatization of the steelhead trout in eastern waters was continued, and as 
a number of specimens have already been captured in the tributaries of Lake Superior, 
there is little doubt that this valuable game and food fish will be added to the food 
supply of this section of the country. 
Owing to the wide territory over which distributions are made, it is impracticable, 
except in a very small proportion of cases, to obtain exact information as to the 
results secured. Reports are forwarded by agents of the Commission in the field, by 
correspondents who have been interested in the introduction of fishes in certain 
waters, and by the State fish commissions, as to the results of plants made under 
their jurisdiction. From these sources assurance has been received of the successful 
introduction of the Atlantic salmon in the Hudson and Delaware rivers, numbers of 
specimens averaging 12 pounds in weight having been captured in New York Bay, 
while fully 300 were reported to have been taken in the Delaware River during the 
season of 1895. The rainbow trout, native only to the mountain streams of the Pacific 
Coast, has been successfully acclimatized in nearly every State east of the Rocky 
Mountains. Reports from all sections of the country indicate the successful estab- 
lishment of the large-mouth black bass in streams hitherto unoccupied by them. An 
introduction of both species of the crappie into the Potomac River has resulted from 
a small plant made by this Commission in 1894. As an indication of their abundance, 
it may be stated that 4,000 crappie, weighing between £ and 2 pounds, were removed 
from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the mouth of March and liberated in 
the Potomac. Considerable numbers have also been taken in the vicinity of Analostan 
Island, near the mouth of Little River, opposite Washington, D. C. 
