8G 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
On July 16 at least 1,000,000 eggs were impregnated near Gliickstadt. When the 
young fish had so far developed that they would have been ready for planting in the 
Elbe on the following day, the hatching apparatus was tossed about so violently by a 
rough sea that most of the young fish escaped. The remainder were liberated in the 
Elbe on the morning of July 21 by Mr. Eisner, but he was unable to give a detailed 
statement regarding the precise results of this trial. The number of fish hatched in 
the apparatus was estimated at 400,000. At the same time about 30,000 young sturgeon 
had been successfully hatched at Kollmar on the Elbe. 
On July 25 and 26 all the Gliickstadt apparatus was again filled with impregnated 
eggs, and on July 31 400,000 young sturgeon were planted in the Elbe. The last 
hatching of the season occurred near Gliickstadt August 4, from eggs which had been 
impregnated on July 31, and produced about 9,000 young fish. The labors of this year 
may, therefore, be said to have given very favorable results, and our fish culturists 
have gained a great deal of experience. 
In still another direction we are able to record important results, which will be 
explained in a full and detailed report at some future time. 
In the name of the board of directors of the Central Fishery Association of Schles- 
wig-Holstein. 
Von Stemann. 
Elsner. 
LETTER OF DR. PANCRITIUS. 
It gives me great pleasure to answer your questions of August 20, which I do as 
follows : 
1. How long do the young sturgeon remain in the rivers before migrating to the sea? 
It must be assumed that the sturgeon go into salt water in the beginning of the 
second spring, as sturgeon measuring 10 to 12 centimeters in length have been caught 
at sea. In the inlets and bays on our coasts many sturgeon of that size are likewise 
caught, and it must certainly be presumed that these fish are on their way to the sea. 
2. How old are the sturgeon when they return from the sea? 
Unfortunately we lack precise observations on this point, and without such data 
it will be absolutely impossible to answer this question. With this object in view, 
regular observations have, at our suggestion, been made at Heukrug (on the Baltic), 
and we are now looking for other suitable places where similar observations can be 
taken in our bays and rivers. A comparison of all these will probably furnish mate- 
rial for replying to this question. 
3. The bulk of the sturgeon captured weigh from 25 to 35 kilograms each [55 to 77 
pounds]. Are sturgeon of this weight the first to return from the open sea? 
This question, like the second, can not be answered at present, as all the sturgeon 
on which I have had reports were caught in salt water. 
4. Is it known where the sturgeon that spawn in the rivers of the Baltic live during 
the time they are at sea ? 
Our coasts furnish sufficient food for the sturgeon, and we therefore have a con- 
siderable number, though not a superabundance of them. It is probable that it might 
be ascertained whether these sturgeon have been hatched in the rivers on these coasts 
by marking some of the young fish. 
We have now commenced to keep very full and careful records respecting the 
salmon and sturgeon, and we think that uniform and simultaneous observations of this 
