79 



167. The animals ciiHivated are cliiefly the carp, eel, grey mullet, 

 snapping turtle, gold fish, salmon and ti'oat, oyster, pearl oyster, the 

 ark shell (Area granosa), razor clam (solecurtns constricta), ])inna, 

 barnacles, and trepang (bcche-de-raer). Of these the gold fish need 

 merely passing mention as an instance of the skill exhibited in breed- 

 ing ; for centuries, Japanese breeders have shown their skill in 

 modifying the forms and coloration of these fish, which in their hands 

 prove to be almost " plastic material ^' : the extraordinarj' and 

 beautiful results must be seen, as they maybe seen anywhere in Japan, 

 to be appreciated, and from a biological point of view, the skill and 

 the results must be of surpassing interest. Dr. Mitsiikuri's instructive 

 paraplilct has many excellent illustrations. 



1G8. Gallium {OncorJiynchu^ heta). — This salmon abounds in 

 Hokkaido (the northern island), the various rivers being, at the season, 

 full of salmon running up for spawning, but, consequent on the 

 development of communications and industry which followed on the 

 Restoration (1867), the catches became so destructive that the need of 

 conservation and ariifici:il propagation was evident, and the Govern- 

 ment sent over a local expert to America to study the hatcheries 

 there ; after his return, the Cbitose Government hatchery was 

 established in 1888 on the higher waters of the stream and has been 

 followed by 17 smaller ones maintained by private associations with 

 some State aid : there are also a few smaller ones on the main island. 

 The Chitose is a tributary of a larger river up which and its branches, 

 as in other rivers in Hokkaido, the salmon annually swarmed in 

 vast numbers ; the hatchery occupies 31^ acres, chiefly, of course, ponds 

 in which the fry are reared till liberation, with an annual output up to 

 15 million fry : all stations together protably liberate between 35 and 

 £0 million fry annually. The system is adopted bodily from America 

 and will therefore not be described here, nor would such hatchery at 

 present be useful in this Presidency ; the points for notice are the 

 rapidity with which a river fishery, especially of anadronious fish such 

 as the salmon (and hilsa) may be destroyed by overfishing, the promp- 

 titude with which Government noticed the destruction of the fishery 

 and adopted measures for its rehabilitation, and the readiness with 

 which private associations followed the lead. It may be mentioned that 

 so early as 1876 a Government official, seemingly on his own initiative, 

 had studied fish culture in America and started experiments ; apparently 

 he was a little before his time as not much came of it except the trout 

 mentioned below. Trout have also been successfully hatched, but seems 

 to have been little successful except that at Chuzenji near Nikko the 

 lake has been well stocked. 



169. The edible oyster. — As in ancient and modern Italy, so in Japan^ 

 the oyster has long been cultivated with great success and though at 

 present the Indian does not cp-re for this mpUusc, yet since it provides 



