MISCELLANY. 



503 



Bad Iloalth of American AVomen. By 

 James E. Reeves, M. D. Wheeling, Va. 

 Pp. 43. Price, 50 cents. 



Animal Yolition a Creator. By C. G. 

 Forshey. (New Orleans Academy of Sci- 

 ences.) 



Papers read before the Pi Eta Scien- 

 tific Society of Troy Polytechnic Institute. 

 Pp. '74. 



Oldbury. By Annie Keary. Philadel- 

 phia: Porter & Coates. Pp. 420. Price, 

 81.25. 



The Complete Arithmetic. Also, First 

 Book in Arithmetic (Fish). Ivison, Blake- 

 man, Taylor & Co. 



Determination of Minerals by Blow-pipe 

 (Danby). London : Field & Tuer. 



St. Louis Public Schools. 



Bulletin of the Bussey Institution. 



Morgan Expedition, IS'ZO-"?!. 



Archteological Researches in Kentucky 

 and Indiana (Putnam). 



Hygiene of the United States Army. 



MISCELLANY. 



Fish -Culture. The results so far at- 

 tained in this country in the artificial cult- 

 ure of fish are eminently satisfactory, and 

 the efforts made by the various fisheries 

 commissions to increase the supply of food 

 for the people are worthy of all commenda- 

 tion. Naturally, there exists a lively public 

 curiosity to know the processes of fish-cult- 

 ure, and information with regard to its his- 

 tory, its principles, and its methods, is 

 heartily welcomed. In response to this 

 general demand, Mr. Robert B. Roosevelt, 

 Fish Commissioner of the State of New 

 York, has given a public lecture on pisci- 

 culture, in which he very fully considers 

 the subject in all its aspects. The lecture 

 is very long, and we must be content with 

 indicating only a few of its points. There 

 are, he said, two divisions of fish in our 

 country which are subjects of fish-culture, 

 viz., the Scdmonidce, or salmon-tribe, and 

 the Alosidce, or shad-tribe. Under the former 

 head are included the salmon, the trout, 

 the salmon-trout (or lake-trout), the white- 



fish, and the California salmon. The A losufce 

 are represented in pisciculture only by the 

 shad, as yet. 



The first point in fish-culture is to ob- 

 tain the spawning-fish in proper condition. 

 In the Salmonidce, the eggs, when in a per- 

 fectly ripe condition, lie free in the abdo- 

 men, and may be extruded by gentle press- 

 ure. They are caught as they fall in a ba- 

 sin, and are vitalized by coming in contact 

 with the milt from the males. Formeriy, 

 the practice obtained of having this basin 

 full of water, it being supposed that this 

 arrangement more nearly reproduced the 

 natural conditions ; but subsequent discov- 

 eries led to a change of this method. The 

 eggs are fertilized by the spermatozoa of 

 the milt entering through the micropyle, 

 and taking up board and lodging within. 

 It was ascertained, however, in practice, 

 that these spermatozoa are not fond of 

 water, and, although very active when first 

 emitted, soon drowned. They retain their 

 vitality much longer when dropped among 

 the eggs in a comparatively dry state, and 

 this is the method universally pursued at 

 present. 



As soon as the operation is completed, 

 the eggs are placed in hatching-troughs. 

 These are made of various materials, but 

 are simply long, narrow boxes, say twelve 

 feet long by eighteen inches wide, and sub- 

 divided into compartments, to keep the eggs 

 from crowding on one another. Cold spring- 

 water, which has been carefully filtered by 

 passing through several flannel screens, 

 comes in at the head of these troughs, pass- 

 es over the eggs, in one compartment after 

 another, and escapes at the lower end. By 

 this means the greatest dangers to the life 

 of the embryo are avoided. Sediment and 

 confervas cannot pass the screens, insects 

 are kept out altogether, and ducks and eels 

 are disappointed of their prey. The eggs 

 require about two months to hatch, with 

 the water at the temperature of 45. They 

 demand constant care and attention, for, if 

 one egg dies or becomes diseased, it con- 

 taminates its neighbors. The advance of 

 the process is, however, soon visible in the 

 egg, either to the human eye or under the 

 microscope. At last the pisciculturist will 

 have evidence of his labors being successful. 

 Some morning, on going to his troughs, he 



