THE FISHERY INTERESTS Q? AUSTRIA. 583 



in the same water with the fish. This result is most easily obtained if, 

 besides the breeding fish, small fish are raised to serve for their food. 

 Tne eggs of the pollard, the ray, the minnow, &c, develop during the 

 summer months, up to July, in as many days as during the winter season 

 it takes weeks for the eggs of trout to develop. The manner of feeding 

 with water insects and plants is a very simple one. Care should there- 

 fore be taken that they should be protected during the spawning season ; 

 that the banks should be planted with trees or bushes ; that the water 

 should contain aquatic plants, to which insects come of their own ac- 

 cord ; that the scum of the water, which always attracts numerous in- 

 sects, should not be allowed to escape, &c. At a later period, other food 

 is used, such as various refuse, horse-flesh, coagulated blood, &c. The 

 views of pisciculturists on the best manner of feeding fish still vary a 

 great deal ; many attempts, especially in feeding large numbers, have 

 been made in vain ; but, as a general rule, it can be said that a great 

 deal of inventive genius has been displayed in procuring articles of 

 food, which nearly everywhere vary according to local circumstances, 

 (see the numerous propositions in the circulars of the Deutsche Fischerei- 

 verein.) 



Never were fish more plentifully supplied with food than by the lake- 

 dwellers. All the refuse of the kitchen, remains of vegetables, and of 

 wild and domestic animals, which the inhabitants had brought from the 

 shore into their villages built over the water, became the food of the fish 

 or of those aquatic animals which formed part of their food. This ex- 

 plains the fact, which Herodotus relates in that passage of his works 

 which has become so famous since the discovery of the remains of lake- 

 dwellings where he says that the inhabitants let down a basket into the 

 water, which, after a short time, they drew out filled with fish. 



Fish-breediug has also made it possible to stock bodies of water with 

 water with fine species, which hitherto were not found there. Although 

 acclimatization is not yet entirely founded on scientific principles, many 

 of the questions pertaining thereto are being gradually solved by con- 

 tinued experiments. Instances of magnificent results in experiments on 

 fish rearing are not wanting. 



The breeding-establishment founded by the French government at 

 Hiiningen, on the Upper Ehine, possesses vast arrangements, so that 

 eight millions of eggs of various species of trout are hatched at the 

 same time ; these eggs are partly obtained in the establishment, but 

 the larger number come from Switzerland, the Vosges Mountains, the 

 Black Forest, from Bavaria, and even from Upper Austria, and are 

 shipped when properly matured. The raising of fish is here only a 

 secondary consideration ; the chief object in view is to collect the largest 

 possible number of fish-eggs, and when these have become impregnated 

 to send them to all parts of the world either as an article of merchandise 

 or as presents. The eggs sent to Hiiningen by agents of the establish- 

 ment are carefully counted, which is done by weighing, and registered, 



