TRIP TO EUROPE WITH EGGS OF QUINNAT SALMON. 815 



result of some experiments made formerly, that a living fish-egg evolves 

 licat as a fish does; whether by the friction of circulation, consumption 

 of oxygen, or otherwise, is not to the point here, but from the experi- 

 ments referred to, and the fact that after getting the eggs in the center 

 of the box as cold as those next the ice, and though completely sur- 

 rounded by others equally cold they would not remain so, it does appear 

 that such is the case. 



Had it been possible to have divested the boxes of the outside ferns 

 and crate, and then packed the boxes in the ice-room, there is no doubt 

 but what the decay of the dead eggs might have been retarded some, 

 and so have preserved the others from the heat; but the ice-room is 

 used for meat, fish, and vegetables, and unless the boxes were at the 

 bottom they might be damaged by overhauling, and should I have to 

 do it all over would use such a box as the one described with a slight 

 modification. 



In Germany the question was frequently asked, " When you felt sure 

 that you were right, why didn't you violate orders and repack them 

 all f to which I could only reply by saying that I did not know that the 

 box would be successful ; it only appeared to be the best, and if a man 

 violates his orders and is victorious he is forgiven, but if he fails he is 

 branded as a self-willed, obstinate fellow. 



Returning by way of Berlin, through the kindness of Herr von B^hr 

 Schmoldow, I met the Fischerei Verein, several members of which are 

 in the German Parliament; in fact, mbst public men in that country 

 take an interest in fish culture, and that it is in high favor may be 

 known by one of the titles of the Crown Prince, which is "Protector of 

 Fisheries." 



This lot of eggs was shipped from Sacramento October 2, and some 

 were opened on the 26th ; how long they had been packed before deliv- 

 ery to the express company I do not know. 



I am aware that in a previous year a successful shipment had some- 

 how been made to Xew Zealand, and now while writing this I have 

 received a letter stating that a shipment made this season to that coun- 

 try arrived in good order after an ocean voyage of eight weeks ; but it 

 does not state how carried, nor at what temperature. My own ex- 

 perience leads me to believe that a crate of eggs packed in California 

 will not keep in good state two weeks after arriving at New York, even 

 in a cool cellar with plenty of ice on top of the crate, and certainly not 

 in a hatchway where, after passing the Banks of Newfoundland, the air 

 ranged from 65° to 74°, as shown in the record above. 



As previously stated, one-half of the eggs taken to Hiiningen were 

 sent to the Freiburg Society for Fish Culture on the 29th, and after re- 

 maining four days at the fishery and seeing the first spawn of the sea- 

 son taken from the trout (Salmo fario) by the director, I went to inspect 

 the old salmon fishery belonging to Mr. Glazer, of Basil, situated ten 

 miles up the Ehine at the village of Ehinefelden, where an immense 



