REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
9 
New England States, in coast waters, in streams, and in lakes. Pre- 
liminary cultural operations in connection with the Green Lake 
(Maine) station resulted in the collection of 35,610,000 eggs, and 
from the experience gained it is apparent that artificial propagation 
may be conducted on a large scale and that the eggs may safely be 
shipped for long distances. Besides its excellent edible qualities, the 
smelt is valuable for planting in lakes containing trout and land- 
locked salmon as a food for those fishes. Experiments in the propa- 
gation of the white bass ( Roccus chrysops ) have begun at the Mam- 
moth Spring (Arkansas) station, and the indications are that work 
on an extensive scale is possible. The yellow bass ( Morone inter- 
rupt'd) has been successfully handled at the same station, where it 
has been demonstrated that the fish will reproduce naturally in arti- 
ficial ponds, and also that the eggs may be taken and fertilized arti- 
ficially; the incubatory period is five days in a water temperature 
of 59° F. 
The important work of rescuing fishes from the sloughs formed 
by the overflows of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers has been con- 
ducted under favorable conditions. Large numbers of valuable food 
fishes have been restored to the rivers, and many of the younger fish 
have been utilized for stocking public and private ponds and streams 
throughout the country. Operations of a similar nature were under- 
taken on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in the fall of 1908, on the 
occasion of the annual emptying of the canal. As the water falls 
the fish that have entered the canal from the river collect in the 
deeper places, where they would eventually be destroyed; and to 
these points the Bureau sent seining crews, which collected the fish 
and transferred them to the adjacent parts of the Potomac. About 75 
miles of the canal were thus covered, and 47,674 food fishes, consisting 
mostly of black bass, crappie, sunfish, rock bass, warmouth bass, cat- 
fish, and suckers, were saved. The work, however, was less successful 
than was anticipated, for the reason that persons living along the 
line of the canal were permitted to seine on some of the best grounds 
before the Bureau’s men arrived. 
CONSTRUCTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS AT HATCHERIES. 
The facilities for lobster culture at the Boothbay Harbor (Maine) 
station have been greatly increased by the purchase of a site near 
Pemaquid Harbor and the construction thereon of a lobster pound, in 
which egg-bearing lobsters may be safely kept pending the hatching 
season. This will permit the Bureau to collect seed lobsters as oppor- 
tunity is afforded throughout the year and hold them in large num- 
bers instead of having to depend, as heretofore, on possible collections 
from fishermen immediately before the hatching season. A note- 
worthy increase in the output of the station should result from this 
