Science progress* 



No. 10. December, 1894. Vol. II. 



ON THE ARTIFICIAL HATCHING OF 

 MARINE FOOD-FISHES. 



THE artificial hatching of freshwater fishes, which was 

 known to the Egyptians and Romans as well as 

 to the Chinese and Japanese, has long been successfully 

 practised, especially since Jacobi of Hohenhausen, in Ger- 

 many (1748), and Remy, in France (1842), showed that it 

 could be made profitable. Before the latter date, however, 

 viz., in 1837, John Shaw, of Drumlanrig, in our own 

 country, had made important observations in connection 

 with the eggs and young of the salmon. By-and-by the 

 French, stimulated by M. Coste, who had the countenance 

 of the Emperor, made remarkable strides in this depart- 

 ment, so that the fine establishment at Huningue, in Alsace, 

 was soon equipped. The report of the French opera- 

 tions — especially that sent to Perthshire by Lord Gray — 

 attracted the attention of those who took an interest in fish- 

 culture, and various efforts — for example, those of Mr. 

 Ashworth at the fishings of Galway — were made in this 

 direction. The most notable, however, was the establish- 

 ment, by the proprietors, of the fishings of artificial salmon- 

 hatching at Stormontfield, on the Tay, in 1853. This 

 well-known station proved of great service in giving 

 opportunities for obtaining an accurate knowledge of the 

 development of the salmon and its life-history, as well as in 



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