108 FISH CULTURE. 



reason be said that the absence of proper understand- 

 ing and cultivation of our waters may make just the 

 difference between wealth and poverty. Having said 

 so much, it is needless for me to pursue this fruitful 

 and important theme further. It is to be hoped that 

 public attention will be awakened, and that we shall 

 speedily begin to make up for the time we have 

 so lamentably lost. The subject of hybrids is one 

 which, in the present state of knowledge we have 

 upon it, possesses an interest in a scientific point 

 of view rather than a practical. That hybrids can 

 and have been produced we know, but whether they 

 are any improvement on the breeds of fish we already 

 have, seems to be a highly problematical question. 



