344 AMERICAN FISHES. 



five to eight pound fish has eggs of the smaller size, while a twenty-five 

 pound one has them between an eighteenth and a seventeenth. 



"From w^eighing and measuring known quantities it is found that one 

 pound avoirdupois will contain 190,000 of the smaller size, or that 

 1,000,000 eggs well drained will weigh about five pounds. Again, by 

 assuming one-nineteenth of an inch as the standard, or by precipitating 

 a known quantity in chronic acid and measuring, we find one quart, or 

 fifty-seven cubic inches, and three-quarters to contain a little less than 

 400,000, or that 1,000,000 will measure between two and a half and three 

 quarts." 



With these facts in mind, it will be an easy matter to estimate the 

 quantity of eggs taken for hatching purposes during any given season. 



" When the little fish breaks through the shell of the egg," says Earll, 

 " the foetal curve or crook is still quite noticeable, but it soon straightens, 

 and is then about five-sixteenths of an inch in length. At this time the 

 yelk-sack, situated well forward, is quite large, but so transparent as to 

 escape the notice of the ordinary observer. This is gradually absorbed, 

 disappearing wholly in about ten to fifteen days, and the little fish begins 

 to move about with a peculiar serpentine motion, at .times darting quite 

 rapidly, and then remaining motionless, as if resting from its evolutions. 

 It now begins its independent existence, and moves about more frequently, 

 apparently in search of food. From this date it is impossible to follow 

 the Cod, for none have been confined, and it is only by catching large 

 numbers at different seasons and carefully recording their weights and 

 measurements that one is enabled to judge of their growth. The habits of 

 the species, that cause them to live near the shore for the first few years, 

 furnish excellent opportunities for such observations, and many were 

 examined during our stay at Cape Ann. 



" Evidence is not wanting to show that a Cod spawns every year, and 

 that it deposits the entire number of eggs in the ovaries each season. 

 We have examined hundreds of specimens and have failed to find a single 

 instance where the condition of the ovaries did not clearly indicate that 

 such was the case. During the first of the season no mature fish were 

 found in which eggs were not present, though they often varied greatly in 

 development from very small to nearly ripe Again, later in the season, 

 no spent fish were seen with any eggs remaining in the ovaries ; and no 

 fish were found during the spawning period in which the condition of the 



