54 AMERICAN FISH CULTUKE. 



water should be stirred gently, now and then, as each fish 

 is operated upon, and the fish (males or females) may be 

 handled as they come to hand. When enough eggs have 

 been taken tiP cover the bottom of the pan, and enough 

 milt to give the water a milky appearance,* the pan may be 

 covered and set aside ; the water of the pond surrounding 

 it, if the weather is cold, or it may be placed in an unoc- 

 cupied nest of one of the hatching-troughs. The eggs, in 

 a few minutes after receiving the milt, will adhere to the 

 bottom of the pan, and should not be disturbed until they 

 are loose, which will be in the course of fifteen or thirty 

 minutes. During this time impregnation takes place, and 



* About the middle of May, this year, I met Mr. Ainsworth by 

 appointment in Elk county, Pa., to enjoy a few days fly-fishing. 

 In our conversation on the impregnation of ova, he narrated the 

 following occurrence. Last fall, near the end of the spawning sea- 

 son, when the males had mostly cast their milt, he one day had 

 taken enough eggs to cover the bottom of the pan, and could only 

 procure a single male. From this he expressed not more than a 

 good sized drop of milt, not enough to tinge the water. He, never- 

 theless, set the pan away, giving the ova and this slightly sperm- 

 atized water the usual time, and then placed the eggs in a separate 

 nest in his hatching-trough, and was agreeably surprised in a few 

 days to find them all impregnated. In due time they hatched, but 

 few eggs being lost in incubation. Will any biologist give us the 

 result of his speculations as to the number of spermatozoa in this 

 drop of milt ? Although we cannot but admire this wonderful pro- 

 vision of nature, I cannot advise my readers to be as trustful of a 

 single drop of milt imparting its fecundating quality to two or three 

 quarts of water, unless it be for mere experiment. 



