dian rivers,
might yet, perhaps, be made to yield the requisite quantity of spawn.

A preliminary examination of the river brought out the following facts:
The Penobscot is about 225 miles in length. The upper half of its
course and nearly all of its principal tributaries lie in an
uninhabited wilderness, and in this district are the breeding grounds
of the salmon. The fisheries, however, are all on the lower part of the
river and in the estuary into which it empties, Penobscot Bay. There
was no means of knowing how great a proportion of the salmon entering
this river succeeded in passing safely the traps and nets set to
intercept them, but supposing half of them to escape capture there
would still be but about 6,000 fish of both sexes scattered through the
hundreds of miles of rivers and streams forming the headwaters of the
Penobscot.

It was very doubtful whether they would be congregated about any one
spot in sufficient numbers to supply a breeding station, and it would
be impracticable to occupy any widely extended part of the river, on
account of the difficulties of communication. At the mouth of the
river, on the other hand, the supply of adult salmon could be found
with certainty, but they must be obtained from the ordinary salmon
fisheries in June and held in durance until October or November, and
the possibility of confining them without interfering seriously with
the normal action of their reproductive functions was not yet
established. The latter plan was finally adopted, and in 1871 the first
attempt at this method of breeding salmon was instituted by the
commissioners' of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The site fixed
upon for an inclosure was at Craig's Pond Brook in the town of Orland,
and arrangements for a supply of fish were made with two fishermen of
Verona at the very mouth of the river. The salmon first brought were
confined in a newly constructed artificial pond in the brook, which was
of such remarkable purity that a small coin could be distinctly seen at
the depth of 7 feet. All of these died except a few which after a short
stay were removed to other quarters. The most prominent symptom was the
appearance of a white fungoid growth in patches upon the exterior of
the fish. In a lake (locally designated as Craig's Pond) of equal
purity, but greater depth, several of these diseased fish recovered.

Of the salmon later obtained some were placed in an inclosure of nets
in the edge of a nat