APPENDIX. 
105 
the rivers for long distances, or enter the slonghs or flooded lands in 
search of food, for after spawning they again become voracious feeders. 
In the years 1903, 1904, and 1905 spawn bass were so plentiful about 
Bouldin Island that the fishermen, in order not to glut the market, 
agreed among themselves to catch no more than 600 pounds to the boat 
each twenty-four hours. They frequently got more than double this 
amount at one drift of a gill net. 
Many of these fish were with mature <eggs, and the fishermen all 
testify that the bottoms of their fish lockers were covered with eggs. 
Although bass with mature eggs may be found between December and 
June, almost all are found between the middle of April and the last of 
May. When the question of artificially hatching the striped bass 
came up, and a desirable place for a hatchery was looked for, Bouldin 
Island seemed the only logical place. A hatchery was built here in 
1907, equipped with McDonald hatching jars and apparatus for getting 
the necessary water from the river. Before the hatchery was completed 
in April, many bass were being caught by the fishermen. The hatchery 
depended on the fishermen for any ripe eggs they might take. The 
fishermen took a lively interest and assisted in every way. Soon the 
capacity of the hatchery was taxed. At one time one fishing boat in 
one drift took eight female bass with eggs running freely, but there 
was room in the hatchery for the eggs of four of them only. From 
many lots of eggs no fish hatched. Other lots hatched 5 per cent only, 
and from that up to 50 and 60 per cent. One lot hatched a very high 
percentage of the eggs. 
The results of the season’s work were very encouraging, for hatching 
striped bass was still in the • experimental stage, and the results in 
number of eggs hatched during this season of 1907 were much better 
than had been obtained on the Atlantic coast. It was not determined 
just why so many eggs failed to hatch, but it was laid to unsuitable 
water or some defect in hatchery method. The run of bass, while not 
up to the average, had been very satisfactory. 
The season of 190S found the hatchery better prepared for work and 
equipped with microscopes and apparatus for determining the cause of 
the failure of so many eggs to hatch. The run of bass was almost a 
failure, and the take of eggs so small that many of the experiments 
came to nothing for lack of eggs to experiment with. 
It was soon found that the first cleavage of the germinal disc in the 
developing egg takes place about two hours after fertilization. So with 
the microscope it was possible to tell within two hours after the eggs 
were taken just what per cent was fertilized and developing. It was 
found that the loss of eggs was not due to bad water or any defective 
method of handling the eggs in the hatchery, but due to the nonfertili¬ 
zation of the eggs. 
