92 FISH CULTURE. 



certainly appears possible that the character of the 

 fish may have changed by degrees, through succes- 

 sive generations, and owing to being bred and fed 

 in a different manner from the other fish. I have 

 placed trout from one stream into another, and after 

 years could very easily distinguish them from their 

 compeers of the stream, but I doubt if their pro- 

 geny would show and retain their special charac- 

 teristics. 



Few experiments of any note have been tried in 

 the feeding of fish, this being as yet almost untrodden 

 ground ; but I once heard of an experiment being 

 tried in the following manner : — Equal numbers of 

 trout were confined for a certain time by gratings to 

 three several portions of the same stream. The fish 

 in one of the divisions were fed entirely upon flies ; 

 in another, upon minnows ; and in the third, upon 

 worms. At the end of a certain period, those which 

 had been fed on flies were the heaviest and in the 

 best condition ; those fed on minnows occupied the 

 second place ; while those fed on worms were in 

 much the worst order of the three. The probability 

 is, that had another pen been set off, and the fish 

 fed with a mixture of all three species of food, 

 the fish in it would have far exceeded any of the 

 others in weight and condition. 



