Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-05-15

a
TINY GHOST OF a FIsH-THE WAY THE
LITTLE FISH ARE sHIPPED-THE WORK OF
| THE SEASON.
"Do you mean to say that's a shad'"
"Yes-
allow old is it?"
about minute and a-half"
Then the visitor to the central station Of the
| fish commission, who asked the questions, put
ON his eye glasses, stopped down and scruti-
| nized the tiny, airy figure that disported itself
in the water in the dipper held in the hand of
| the official, who answered the questions.
About a minute and a-haIf DID," repeated
| the official. "Ifyou look closely in the tank,
you will see the little shad coming in through
the tube rs fast as they are born"
The tank from which the little shad was
dipped. was an ordinary glass aquarium about
or three glass Matching jars connected by
sIpnon tubes with the tank. A current OF water
is kept constantly running from jar to tank.
The motion OF the water gently agitates the
thousands of eggs, in the jar. The jars are
placed near this receiving tank when the eggs
are just about ready to hatch. The thousands
OF eggs in the jars little transparent globes
When the incubation Is far advanced one can
see imprisoned in each mute globe an embryo
sLad. kicking AT quite a lively rate against its
prison walls. The Tiny creature Is cuJ led up in
the globe, and is quite us transparent as its own
the eyes of the fish, are the only thing thai
enables one to tell where the little fish is The
eggs, asItated both by the current of water and
the hveiy struggles OF the little fish enclosed
within them, go moving about in q swirl.
JUST HATCHED.
Now and then a tiny fish gives an unusually
sharp blow with its little TAIL breaks its egg
shell and goes floating away in The ocean about
it-vast in comparison with its recent pent-up
quarters When the little siIad Is fairly free
from its prison il siraightens out its FORM and
one sees that it is quite - quarter of an inch in
length. One could hardly keep track OF il in
I
Is coiorless-a hlIny, Transparent apparition,
the mere ghost OF a fish. Tnis airy creature
rises In the water, willie its discarded shell
sinks TO tue bottom. soon IL begins a vigorous
lish1ns with its minute tail, quickly learns tue
art OF NAVIGATION and goes wigyling and sport
Ing about the jar in d most active manner until
III Is caught in the irresistible whirling mael-
strom That centers around the end OF the
slphon IT Is drawn into the mouth of the
slphon and shot with lightning like speed
throu.h the two or three feet OF tuoing INTO the
great tank. IL the jar vast, the tank is
almost an infihity of water.
IN TIRE TANK.
Here the new arrival is lost in the hundreds
OF thousands oflittle shad which have preceded
1t In the great tank. They are whirlng about
IN the water, keeping up such u continual
motion that one cannot follow auy individual
snao or Set anything more than an IMPRESSION
OF Il my fiitd vi llHS forms, with two black
spechs iol eyes, Chasing one another about in
ehaiess swlrls. Eacn little Hsh carries Win 1t,
fastened closely underneath its body a little
sac or lunch Dag, which Dame Nature gives it
to sustain life during the first few days after
leaving Inc egg. lnaSinueh as Mother Nature
sends the little shad into the watcry world AS
men iaunch shlp-, not fully rigsed, without
any moulin or stomach. IL Is considered no
more than fair and wise that she should give it
not oaiy something eat, but some way vi
eating It, This little sac, with its contents, are
absorbed by the little fish during these few
days, while Natures forces are at wGrl,
ltiaNing mouth and stomach. If when
tie sac mas been absorbed the snid cannot md
IN the water the animaiculae upon which it mas
then 10 feed, 1t Will sts,rve To death The sac is
ABSORBED usually III about the same number OF
days as are required 10 hatch the eggs--frOm
hFe 10 SIX days. Ii IL Is intended to send the
Shad Try a Ion. distance from the station care
Is taken TO hatch them as slowly possible as
the length OF time occupied In Matching de-
t"rInIhe> the length oil time they can be kept
In the Jars and cans before being deposited N
the iiNlhS streams Oh water. Shad fry have been
Carried tcfoss The continent rom Washington
but attempts To take them TO Europe nave
tailed, as the coInnissary sacs will not hold out
long enough. The little fish sIarve 10 death on
the way.
SHIPPING THE SHAD.
Inc little shad are taken from the tank and
placed in tin cans prepared for the PURPOSE
twenty thousand or more being placed in each
can. IN these receptacles they are carried to
the streams for which they are destined and
deposited. Ultimately they lind their way to
the ocean, TO return again to the streams in
t ., or tour years, when they have attained
Jieir majority and Uegiu To tuink OF raising a
iamliy. A shad's family, If every egg was safe
~ Matched, might number several million in
y. =
ever, that when left To the natural vay only n
very small per cent of the eggs are ever
patched. Tue per centage OF eggs safely hatched
pF the artlhciai method increases every
year. Last year about ten per cent U. the ep -
obtained were lost, or not Matched This wear
the percentage OF loss is about seven The eggs
supplied TO the central station, which il locaied
IN Tue Old Armory building on the mall are OBJ
tanned At the station established by the com
manipulated on screens and sent at once Ia the
central station. The work Oh slAd Matching at
tue central station this year has alreauy ex
ceeded the total OF last year.
THE SEASONS WORK.
The output up TO the present week has been
12.oOO,OOO young shad. These have bee;. sent
away, as fast as Matched, to various streams.
many in this vicinity, and deposited Three
nonored ana nity-six thousand have gone to
the Cheat river AT Grafton; $4,000 TO the CHAT
tauootcnle, Ga; 626, 100 to the Chickahominy.
329, 900 to the Dan; 7os, 900 to the Mattapony:
3oo.ooo TO the Panunky; 1,11O,OOO to the
Occo4uan; $4,000 10 the Shenandoah: 3sOO 600
10 the James; $4,000 to the Appomattox:
6oS,o9o to the Monoeacy; Cos, 900 10 tue Patux,
ent; 1,234,OOO 10 the Rivanna; 100000 10
Accoheek creek; $4,000 TO Aouia creek.
i,21o.oo0 to the Rapidan; 39I 900 To the North
1,2s2.OOO 10 the Little Falls OF the PotOmac.
i,Sso,ooo to the Hudson, and ,OOO,O TO the
All oi these fish are not, of course. counted
and numbered. They are measured in the Jars
III Is known by actual count how many eggs are
necessary TO MI jar 10 the depth oi an inch. A
quart, IL Is estimated, will hold 20, 600 eggs
Ten Hours Pay for Eight Hours Work.
To the Editor Of The EVENING STAR.
In answer to the article in Wednesdays Nav
II, supplement- OF your paper, entitled "Ten
Hours Pay TO Eight Hours Work." | would
answer that AN not a workman engaged in
securing the reduction of hours, nor a master
builder. nor capitalist as have to work for
my living.
The contest between employer and workman
is a reduction in hours. Thus by getting one
nth less work done by each man will give en-
Payment TO one-fiith more men to do the same