340 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
a partially unfinished state, the l'esult was deemed good, impregnation by the 
methods at first employed was not always assured, and the losses were in consequence 
somewhat augmented. 
After stripping began daily temperature observations of the hatchery water 
were recorded, from which the table below has been condensed. The highest 
temperature recorded during the summer (1896) was 48° F., and the lowest, during 
the following winter, 33° F. 
Month and year. 
Temperature of hatchery 
water. 
Month and year. 
Temperature of hatchery 
water. 
Max. 
Min. 
Mean. 
Max. 
Min. 
Mean. 
O 
O 
O 
o 
o 
o 
36 
42.5 
35 
33 
+34 
Oct,, 1896 
40 
35 
39 
Feb., 1897 
35 
33 
+34 
Nov., 1896 
86 
33 
35.2 
Mar.. 1897 
34 
33 
33.8 
Dec., 1896 
35 
33 
+ 34 
These figures represent the temperature of the feed water as it came from the 
creek under natural conditions. During part of the time the water in the hatching- 
troughs was warmed artificially and the temperature there was somewhat higher. 
Unfortunately no exact data of thermal conditions during the forcing or hastening 
process were kept, but it is stated that the temperature was slowly raised 10° or 12° 
above that then prevailing, and then kept at that point, about 46° to 48° F. 
The temperature of the air outside of the hatchery for November and December, 
1896, and January, February, and March, 1897, is summarized as follows: 
Temperature. 
Period. 
Days. hrs. 
2 15 
5 21 
Between 10° and 20° above 
Between 20° and 30° above 
21 7 
41 11 
71 4 
8 14 
The eggs taken August 29, 1896, eyed in 60 days, with the water in the troughs 
ranging between 45° and 35° and the mean 40.5° F. These eggs hatched out in 165 
days. The eggs taken September 16 eyed in 100 days, with the temperature ranging 
between 44° and 33° and the mean 36. 2° F. These also hatched in 165 days, but during 
the last 42 days of the incubating period artificial heat was used. The eggs taken 
September 23 were eyed in 111 days, temperature ranging between -13° and 33° and 
mean 34.5° F. Artificial heat was employed to hasten development during a period 
of about six weeks at the latter end of this period. 
In 1897 spawn-taking was carried on from August 19 to December 9, and 2,285 
females were stripped. Less than 1 per cent of them were spawned in August, about 
85 per cent in September, and 14 per cent in October, November, and December. 
From September 6 to 20, only 15 da\+s, 65.5 per cent of the salmon were spawned. 
The greatest number spawned in one day was 224, on September 25. 
Concerning the relative proportion of males to females taken and their mortality 
in the stock ponds, or corrals, the following note is of interest: Of 6,640 salmon 
