584 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



great scientific interest, but wbicli may also lead to highly important 

 practical results. I here refer to the remarkable fact mentioned already 

 in my last report, viz, that the eggs of the codfish are not laid at the 

 bottom of the sea, but that during the whole period of their development 

 they float about near the surface of the water. As an unavoidable con- 

 sequence of this circumstance, enormous masses of eggs are either de- 

 stroyed by the waves, or washed ashore, or driven to distant places by 

 the current and the wind. If it were possible to assist nature by direct- 

 ing large masses of eggs to places where they could be safe from the 

 hurtful influences of wind and waves, a just hope might be entertained 

 that this would prove a decided benefit to the future of the fisheries, 

 The main object would be not so much to increase the number of fish as 

 to confine the fish to certain localities specially adapted to the fisheries. 



Tbe well-known Swedish naturalist, Nilsson, has already spoken of 

 the possibility of successfully applying pisciculture on our sea-coasts, 

 and as he is certainly an undoubted authority in all such matters, I shall 

 quote his words. In the introduction to his '•'• STiandinavick Fauna,'^ vol. 

 IV, part 3, he says, on page 32, after having mentioned the various meth- 

 ods of artificially hatching fresh-water fish : 



" If any one were to ask me whether artificial hatching could with 

 advantage be applied on our sea coasts, e. g., to the herring, I would 

 unhesitatingl}" answer in the affirmative. Since artificial hatching has 

 been so successful in fresh water, it should certainly also be tried on the 

 sea-coast, Lund's method being probably the best for the purpose. Since 

 it has been proved that, following its instinct, every fish goes to spawn 

 to the place where it was born, no fear need be entertained that this 

 artificial hatching would only prove a benefit to some other coast." 



The reason why, so far, no experiments have been made in this direc- 

 tion, must be found in the prejudices which are always opposed to any- 

 thing new ; but it must be said that there have also been other diflBcul 

 ties in the way of carrying out this idea, chiefly the way in which the 

 eggs are generally laid, and the very considerable depth which often 

 seems to be an essential condition of their successful development. 

 These difficulties, however, are not met with in the hatching of the cod- 

 fish-eggs. The experiments made by me this year have proved that 

 codfish-eggs may be artificially impregnated and hatched even under 

 the most unfavorable circumstances (I used, e.f/.y common glass vessels 

 containing sea-water) ; it is, moreover, very easy to obtain in a very 

 short time enormous quantities of codfish-eggs impregnated in a natural 

 manner, as they float freely in the water. 



During my observations of the development of the codfish I have 

 learned the following, which, in connection with what has been said 

 before, may deserve attention from a practical point of view : 



1. Only tbose eggs are fit for impregnation which, by a gentle press- 

 ure, may be squeezed out of the belly of the codfish ; by pressing hard 

 it often happens that eggs come out which outwardly look as if they 



