per cent., with the exception of those sent to Europe, of which mention will be made hereafter.

Nearly all the fish commissioners of the Eastern States reported the arrival of their quota in most admirable condition.

In the Appendix will be found the detailed report of Mr. Stone upon the work of 1877. In this is a very important series of indications of temperatures. From this it will be seen that during the season, when the eggs were being embryonized for shipment, namely, from August 28 to October, the temperature of the water varied from 48° to 58°, that of the air occasionally rising to 100°. The hatching was completed, however, with the water a few degrees lower.

The total yield of the season up to the 9th of October was a little over 7,000,000, about 1,000,000 more being taken afterward. The distribution of these eggs was made to twenty States, in addition to which a supply was sent to Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The total number of fish distributed from the various stations amounted to 6,983,000.

Foreign distribution of eggs of the Pacific salmon.—The very high estimation of the California salmon by the fish-breeders of the United States, based upon its hardiness, freedom from disease, rapidity of growth, voracity of feeding, &c., excited much attention among specialists in this line in Europe, and in the summer of 1876 application was made in behalf of Dr. Friedenthal, minister of agriculture of Germany, through the German commissioner at the Centennial, for the transmission of a supply of eggs of this fish. Similar requests were made by the officers of the Deutsche Fischerei Verein, an institution standing far in advance of all others in Europe organized for the protection and improvement of the national fisheries.

It was impossible to meet this call in 1876, but in 1877 arrangements to that effect were made, after an extended correspondence. Mr. Fred Mather was selected to accompany these eggs to Europe, it being understood that his expenses were to be paid by the German Government and the Fisherei-Verein. No charge was made by the United States for the eggs, their donation being considered right and proper, in view of the fact that Germany had presented, in 1873, 250,000 eggs of the Rhine salmon to the United States.

It was arranged that Mr. Mather was to meet the eggs at Chicago, and that no portion of his expenses from that point to Germany and back to New York was to be chargeable to the United States.

On the 7th of October, 1877, a refrigerator car from California reached Chicago with its precious freight of salmon eggs, and Mr. Mather, who was in attendance, received two crates of eggs for England, to be sent to Frank Buckland; two crates for France, for the Société d' Acclimatation, Paris; two crates for the Deutsche Fischerei-Verein, Germany; two for Dr. Friedenthal, minister of agriculture in Germany; and four for

Holland, care of C. B. Bottemanne, Royal Zoological Garden, Amsterdam.

Each crate contained 25,000 eggs, packed according to the usual method. Mr. Mather accompanied these eggs to New York, and as the German steamer did not sail until the 13th of the month he thought it advisable to take them to his house in Newark, where they could be stored in a cellar and properly protected. He had arranged to repack these eggs according to a method of his own devising, and had transferred 25,000 to their new crates when he was instructed, by telegraph, not to interfere with the packing they had received, it being thought that the risk involved would be greater in making the change.

The vessel selected for the shipment was the Mosel, of the North German Lloyds, Captain Neinaber in command, the company having offered every facility for the carrying out of this important experiment. A supply of ice was procured, and the eggs were placed in the forward hatchway on the main deck, properly packed to prevent injury. The proposition to surround the eggs with a lot of straw was not carried out, owing to the fear on the part of the captain of danger from fire. Although notice of the probable time of the arrival of the vessel at Southampton was telegraphed from New York, the messenger of Mr. Buckland, for some reason, did not reach that place until after the steamer had left for Bremen, and his quota of eggs were accordingly added to those for Germany.

The vessel was met at Bremerhaven by Dr. O. Finsch, curator of the Bremen Museum, in behalf of the Deutsche Fisherei Verein; by Director Haack, for Hüningen; by Mr. Heck, of Amsterdam, and Mr. Schreiber, of Hameln, who took charge of their respective packages. Perhaps in consequence of the situation of the eggs on the ship, all except those that had been repacked by Mr. Mather were in bad condition, so much so, indeed, that but few of them survived. Of the 25,000 repacked for Germany, only 396 were lost, proving the efficiency of Mr. Mather's method. Nearly all the remaining eggs were dead, or died soon after being transferred to the hatching-houses, a small percentage alone yielding any fish. Considerable vexation was expressed, by the fish-culturists of Germany and Holland, in regard to what they considered the impracticable method of packing the eggs adopted by Mr. Stone; but there is every assurance that if they had been placed under more favorable circumstances in the vessel, they would have gone through safely, as will be seen by the account of the shipment to New Zealand of eggs packed in precisely the same way, which reached their destination in good condition, after a voyage of eight weeks instead of two, the percentage of loss being very trifling.

In the Appendix will be found a detailed account by Mr. Mather of his experiences.

Fifty thousand eggs were taken by Mr. Mather for the Société d'Ac

climatation, Paris, from Chicago to New York, and forwarded by the French Transatlantic steamer, arriving in unsatisfactory condition.

It is proposed to renew the shipments of eggs of California salmon to Europe in 1878, when, it is hoped, the experience gained will be available in securing their safe delivery at their destination.

The Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar).

The Bucksport, Maine, Station.-The cessation for the past year or two of operations at Bucksport looking towards securing eggs of the Atlantic salmon, has already been explained, on the ground of a desire to ascertain by the first experiment whether it would be possible to restore this fish to depleted waters, and to introduce them into streams where they had not previously occurred. No very positive results were presented in the early part of the year 1877, up to the time when it would be necessary to make proper provision for securing the parent fish. If, however, the salmon returns in any positive numbers to the waters which have been the subject of experiment hitherto, efforts will be made, with a suitable appropriation from Congress, to renew the work in 1878, on as large a scale as may be practicable.

Results obtained for labor of previous years.-It is, however, a fact, that in November of 1877, a mature female salmon was taken in the Delaware River, in the vicinity of Trenton, and presented by Mr. H. J. Reeder, one of the fish commissioners of Pennsylvania, to the United States Fish Commission. It is now on exhibition in the National Museum in the case devoted to the display of the results of artificial fish propagation. Mr. Reeder, in sending the specimen referred to, remarks that numerous rumors in regard to the occurrence of this fish in that river had previously come to his notice, and that the more authentic one was in regard to a salmon taken in a shad seine in the Delaware, and eaten as the first caught there. A second specimen was said to have been taken at Lambertsville, and another at Carpenter's Point, near Port Jervis, caught in a fish-basket, and weighing S pounds. Other cases were heard of, but in less detail.

Mr. Reeder is of the opinion that the salmon recently taken in the Bushkill could not have been the progeny of the spawning of 1871, as those were hatched in the Hudson River and brought, ten thousand in number, to the Delaware, nearly all dying on the way. About one thousand were placed in the water in a weak and greatly enfeebled condition, and there is no reason to believe that any of them survived.

In 1872 the State commissioners hatched out a number of eggs in a spring run, near the Bushkill, and about 10,000 young fish were planted in that stream. In 1873, about 25,000 were hatched on the banks of the Delaware and turned directly into the river itself. Mr. Reeder thinks that those placed in the Delaware could not have gone into the Bushkill, and that consequently the hatching of 1872 must be considered as the starting point of the specimen captured.

The question, however, as to the precise origin of the fish sent by Mr. Reeder and the others referred to by him is complicated by the fact that in 1872 the Bureau of the German Fisherei-Verein made arrangements for the presentation to the United States Government of 250,000 eggs of the Rhine salmon, obtained at the imperial estabjishment at Hüningen, and I purchased 500,000 in addition from Mr. Schuster, of Freiburg. When these had been properly brought forward in the respective establishments of Hüningen and Freiburg, they were placed in charge of Mr. Rudolph Hessel, now the superintendent of the United States carp ponds in Washington, and transferred to New York. Owing to the unseasonable warmth of the winter and to the absence of ice, these eggs could not be kept down to a sufficiently low temperature, and on arriving at New York it was found that the greater part had perished. The remainder were taken to the establishment of Dr. J. H. Slack, at Bloomsbury, N. J., and by diligent care on the part of Mr. Hessel about 5,000 were saved and hatched out. These were placed in the Muscanetkong, a tributary of the Delaware, in the spring of 1873. According to Dr. Hudson, a salmon, weighing 18 pounds, was taken in a gill-net near the mouth of the Connecticut on the 8th of June, 1876, and sold in the Hartford market for the sum of $10. A few were also seen in the summer of 1877.

The results of the experiment were more satisfactory in the Merrimack River than in either the Delaware or the Connecticut, as a considerable number made their appearance at the Lawrence fishway early in June, and at Manchester on the 13th of June. Quite a large number in all were noted, and the commissioners of Massachusetts and New Hampshire are determined to press the business of restocking the Merrimack with great vigor. A full-grown salmon was seen at the Lawrence fishway on the 3d of October, representing a later run during that month.

The Land-locked Salmon.

Grand Lake Stream Station, Maine.-The work of gathering and forwarding the eggs of land-locked salmon, during the season of 1877-'78, was, as heretofore, in charge of Mr. Charles G. Atkins, at the establishment on Grand Lake Stream, in Eastern Maine, the methods being similar to those of previous years. A series of stakes and fine meshed nets was set on the gravelly shoals below the dam of the outlet of Grand Lake, enough to entrap the whole run of breeding-fish. The eggs were brought forward in the old hatching-house at the spring on a little brook, a tributary of Grand Lake Stream.

The report of Mr. Atkins, as submitted in the Appendix, will explain all the details connected with this work, illustrated by a diagram of the grounds.

As in previous years, the State commissioners of Massachusetts and Connecticut co-operated with the Commissioner of the United States in carrying on the work, the division of eggs being made pro rata. The

total number obtained was 2,159,000, the number distributed being about 1,400,000. The remainder were hatched out and restored to the water of Grand Lake Stream. The eggs for the most part reached their destination in good condition, and were successfully hatched out. The table accompanying Mr. Atkins's report shows the precise location of the planting of the entire lot. In addition to the distribution of land-locked salmon made to various portions of the United States, 25,000 were sent to the Deutsche Fisherei-Verein in Germany and 55,000 to the Société d'Acclimation in Paris. Unfortunately, both lots were apparently so far advanced in development that it was impossible to retard their hatching until their arrival at their destination, and consequently all perished.

Lake Ontario Station.-It is well known that not many years ago salmon abounded in Lake Ontario, and that there were many important fisheries for them both on the Canadian and American shores. Of late years they have been exterminated on the American side, and were nearly extinct on the Canadian at the time when Mr. Samuel Wilmot began his celebrated experiments at Newcastle. These fish were in the habit of entering the short rivers, tributaries of the lake, at the proper season, for the purpose of spawning, and after remaining a short time returned to the lake. It was formerly supposed that all these fish came up in the spring from the ocean, by way of the Saint Lawrence River, returning in the autumn or winter. But Mr. Wilmot quite reasonably insisted that they never left the waters of Lake Ontario, and were in every respect to be considered as land locked salmon, corresponding to those of Sebago Pond and various other ponds along the coast of Maine, as also in similar localities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec.

Mr. Wilmot, from a single pair of breeding fish, occurring in a small stream, on which his hatching establishment is placed, and not more than a few feet across, now counts breeding fish by thousands. But the somewhat remarkable fact is developed that with all this certain increase in number but little impression has been made upon fish as an article for market purposes, it being found impossible to take them at the proper season. Mr. Wilmot's plan is now to place salmon in the waters of the north shore and in the interior, in the hope that in the future desirable river fisheries may be established. No increase in the number of salmon has been noted in the Upper Saint Lawrence, the fish being still taken, however, in considerable numbers in the lower part of the river. I have not been able to ascertain whether any are obtained as high up as Montreal and between that and the outlet of the lake.

Mr. Wilmot having very kindly offered to the United States Fish Commission 5,000 impregnated eggs from his hatching establishment at Newcastle, they were placed at the command of the New York fish commission, by which they were turned over to the New York Aquarium, and there hatched out. By the instructions of Mr. Roosevelt, 4,500 of these young fish were placed in Otsego Lake, at Cooperstown, in June, 1877. As this lake constitutes the headwaters of the Susquehanna River,