46 Mr. J. J. Armistead [Feb. 14, 



agitated, and you get a motion wliicli is very akin to the motion 

 produced by the waves of the sea, and the results have been found 

 perfect. Before this was obtained a great many difficulties were 

 in the way. The eggs refused to live, and they got matted together, 

 and the modes that were used were to a certain extent imsuccessful. 

 Captain Dannevig has got over the difficulty ; and so I believe every 

 difficulty that we have to contend with in fish culture may be got 

 over if we only persevere and strive to overcome these hindrances. 



The way in which the loss may be counteracted with regard to 

 our fresh-water fishes is evidently by taking care of the eggs. It is 

 amongst the ova and the fish in its embryonic stage that the great 

 loss occurs, as I have said ; so, by making artificial ova beds and 

 laying the eggs down in them in places where the enemies of the fish 

 cannot get in, the eggs can rest there in perfect peace, and can be 

 allowed to hatch. The little fish after they come out can be cared 

 for and protected from their enemies until they have grown to such 

 a size that they can care for themselves; and it is astonishing to 

 see how soon nature teaches them to do this, and how soon they get 

 into the way of finding out shallows, and finding out eddies, and 

 getting behind stones and under cover, and keeping away from their 

 chief enemies, which, I am sorry to say, are often their own parents, 

 or, anyhow, fish of their own species. 



These ova beds are constructed just on the same principle that 

 the hatching boxes are constructed in the hatchery, with this differ- 

 ence, that the eggs are hatched among gravel instead of glass. We 

 place some perforated zinc a little way from the bottom of the box, 

 and on that some gravel, and place the eggs among it. The water 

 flowing down to the bottom of the box wells up through the gravel, 

 and so the eggs are incubated successfully. In this way enormous 

 numbers of ova can be hatched, and this plan has been already tried 

 on some of our streams, and has been found to be most successful. 

 The cost is very trifling, and, altogether, fish culture promises in 

 future to do a great deal for many of our rivers. 



I have spoken about the young fish beginning to feed. When 

 they begin to feed their troubles really begin. The artificial foods 

 upon which they are fed very naturally give them indigestion, and 

 they suffer from this and from a number of other complaints ; and 

 the consequence is that we lose a great many of them. At the present 

 time, if we succeed in rearing one-half of the fish that are hatched, 

 we consider that we are doing very good work. A little while ago, 

 the percentage was less than this. It was about one-third, or 33 per 

 cent, of the fish that were hatched, and this was considered very 

 good work. I believe that we shall very soon get on to raise the 

 percentage to 70 or 80. 



Here we have some fry ponds for rearing the fry (Fig. 5). After 

 the latter have begun to feed, they are left in the hatching boxes a 

 short time, just to ge'c accustomed to it. Then they are taken out and 

 put into these narrow ponds, and we have a current of water running 

 through the ponds, and the young fish thrive there, and are fed four 



