LOCH LEFEN TROUr 



glass grilles ; and the most approved piscicultural 

 apparatus is employed, the proprietor having 

 adopted the principle that " it is of no use to hatch 

 unless the ova have been so incubated as to endow 

 the fry with strong constitutions." Age and selec- 

 tion are recognized as the chief factors in determin- 

 ing the hardihood of eggs and alevins. On the 

 principle that old spawners produce strong and 

 healthy fry, while young spawners, though com- 

 paratively more prolific, give being to weaker 

 young, the maturity of the parents is taken into 

 account as of paramount importance in bettering 

 the chance of offspring in the struggle for exis- 

 tence. The stock is fed on machine-minced horse- 

 flesh (old horses cost from nothing to two pounds 

 each, furnishing the least expensive provender) and 

 New Haven clams partially boiled, a number of 

 girls being constantly employed in preparing either 

 food. The ova of trout fed on horse-flesh are 

 white, while clams impart a rich salmon hue and 

 unwonted vigor and size both to ova and fish. 

 And this is but natural, since the Loch Leven trout, 

 among the varied nutriments afforded in its native 

 waters (including an abundant and constantly 

 renewed supply of crustacean, insect, and vegetable 

 food, besides aquatic worms and small fishes) feeds 

 largely on a water snail about one-third of an inch 



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