BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 69 



30 PISCICULiTlJRE SIS EIVOI.AIVD. 



By J. J. MAWLEY, ITI. A. 



[From Journal of the Society of Arte, November 23, 1883.] 



Pisciculture, as applied to both salt and fresh water fish, was well 

 illustrated at the recent Fisheries Exhibition ; and it is expected that 

 an impetus will be given to its pursuit in this country, which has 

 hitherto been somewhat backward in this matter, except as regards the 

 artificial propagation of the Salmonidce family. The culture and accli- 

 matization of salt-water fish has made little progress among us, and 

 foreign countries have left us far behind. The Komans, in the time of the 

 empire, paid great attention to salt-water fish farming, rich men having 

 extensive and elaborate vivaria for amusement sake and gastronomic 

 pleasure, while others cultivated fish for profit. Arrangements were 

 made for the fish to run into the vivaria from the sea and deposit their 

 ova in them, and spawn was collected in the sea itself and brought into 

 the vivaria to hatch. Exotic fish, also, were brought from long distances. 

 But the artificial propagation of fish does not appear to have been prac- 

 ticed till the fifteenth century, and in this country not till within the 

 last fifty years ; and we are still without any recognized establishment 

 or enterprise for the culture of sea fish. The United States Government 

 is thus fir ahead of our own, and the shad has been artificially dissemi- 

 nated in many districts, to say nothing of the success in other branches 

 of pisciculture. Other Governments are following the example of the 

 United States; and in England it is hoped that the establishment of a 

 marine biological station, or stations, will lead before long to an exten- 

 sive system of marine pisciculture and the acclimatization of foreign fish. 

 The recent news from America, that the spat of the oyster has been suc- 

 cessfully impregnated by artificial means, will give a further impetus to 

 marine pisciculture. 



In the matter of pisciculture in fresh water, other countries, notably 

 France with its famous Huningue establishment, and Germany, are also 

 in advance of us, notwithstanding many admirable i)rivate enterprises, 

 such as those at Stormontfield, on the Tay, and of Sir J. Gibson Mait- 

 land, at Howietown. But there is no fear now that the culture of salmon 

 and trout and their allies will not make continued progress, and it is 

 already an established and remunerative industry. The culture of other 

 and commoner kinds of fresh-water fish is another matter, and this, too, 

 has, directly and indirectly, had fresh attention called to it by the Fish- 

 eries Exhibition ; and it is to this branch of pisciculture the following re- 

 marks are directed. 



The question seems to present three chief heads for consideration ; 

 the first, whetlier pisciculture applied to fresh water could be so carried 



