52 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
October 29 and closing December 15. Owing probably to the high temperature of the 
water, which averaged 55.8° during the first run, the eggs hatched in 36 days. During 
the second run the temperature of the water averaged 46.8°, and the eggs were 64 
days in hatching. 
The seine hauls in August averaged from 18 to 20 fish, which were mostly small 
males. On August 18 a ripe female was taken. This is an unusually early spawning 
date. Owing to the high temperature the eye-spots appeared in the eggs on the 
fifteenth day and hatching began on the thirty-sixth day. The shortest incubation 
period heretofore was 40 days. 
The observations of persons living on the McCloud led to the expectation of a 
large run of salmon at Baird station late in October, and it was determined to continue 
the taking of eggs during this late run. The salmon arrived late in October and con- 
tinued to come during November. A large portion of the females caught October 28 
were not ready for spawning 
In the first run 375 females yielded 1,439,100 eggs, averaging nearly 4,000 each. 
In the second run 830 females furnished 3,862,000 eggs, an average of nearly 4,700 each. 
In 1889, salmon first appeared in McCloud Biver on August 14, when a ripe female 
was caught in the trap at Baird station. This was unusually early, and no more were 
taken until August 27, when very few salmon were in the river. The late run of-salmon 
commenced October 7, and many ascended the river while the racks were removed by a 
storm. On October 16, when fishing was resumed, 40 salmon, fresh from the sea and 
none of them ripe, were caught in one haul. On November 18 the run of fish ceased. 
Of the salmon taken from the first run 1,129 were males and 382 females, of which 
253 were gravid. In the second run 94 males and 170 females were taken; of the 
females 112 were ripe. The average yield of eggs from each female of the first run was 
4,385; of the second run, 5,075; the average from 371 females was 4,600. 
At the rack on the Clackamas in July, 1888, thousands of salmon which were 
prevented from ascending to their spawning grounds remained all summer until the 
spawning season arrived, the great mass of them always within 30 rods of the rack, 
which was continually attacked by relays of fish for the purpose of breaking it down. 
From 969 females at the Clackamas station were taken about 4,600,000 eggs, an 
average of nearly 4,750 each. 
On August 24, 1888, a number “of large males were caught, indicating a run of 
salmon. This run made its appearance, but was small. 
It was expected at Clackamas that the salmon which arrived at the rack in March 
and April would spawn about the middle of July, as they would have done at the 
sources of the river naturally ; but ripe eggs were not obtained until near the end of 
August, and Mr. Stone has reached the conclusion that u their eggs will not ripen until 
about the time for the regular spawning season to begin at that portion of the river 
where they happen to be at the time.” 
Mr. Stone also concluded “that the salmon can not deposit their spawn until the 
temperature of the water where they are has reached the degree of cold natural to the 
river at the time of the regular spawning season at that point; or, in other words, if 
the water is not cold enough the salmon can not deposit their spawn. It also appeared 
that if the salmon are kept too long in water not cold enough for them to spawn in 
they will die; and if in some exceptional instances loose and apparently ripe eggs are 
found in them the eggs are worthless,” In consequence of this belief it was decided 
