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tion ; the diffusion, in such an element as water, requires a proportionately 

 large amount of milt, to ensure its contact with the bulk of ova. 



The artificial production of fish is exceedingly simple. By causing the spawTi 

 to flow from the female into a vessel of water, and then the milt of the male into 

 the same vessel ; and by immediately stirring up the water, the ova are fecun- 

 dated. That fecundation has been effectual can be known instantly ; for, before 

 the milt and ova have been mixed, the latter are of a pale orange colour. After 

 they have been subjected to the influence of the milt, they are suddenly changed 

 from pale orange to brownish, and a minute black speck will be seen in the centre 

 of each. Some few white looking eggs will be perceived among the rest, and 

 these are barren. 



Xow if we consider the numbers thus produced, in comparison with those 

 abandoned to the open river, we shall at once see the immense Ijenefit this branch 

 of science must bestow. Estimating the salmon -large and small — to yield an 

 annual average of 10,000 eggs each female, and calculating — I believe with a con- 

 siderable degree of correctness— that not more than one per cent, becomes a 

 mature fish ; 100 only is therefore the produce of 10,000 ova when left in a natural 

 state. 



The causes of this production of mere units from thousands are sufliciently 

 obvious. In some cases a deposit of mud will accumulate over the spawn, and it 

 will perish. The water-ousel hunts eagerly for his favourite food ; and I have 

 watched this bird searching and scratching a salmon bed, and devouring the 

 spawn with the greatest avidity. When hatched, the trout, the pike, the eel, and 

 the perch, all prey upon the defenceless delicacy. Then comes man — perhaps as 

 great a destructive as all the others together. Taking these various causes for the 

 paucity of mature fish, compared with the mass of ova, it is perfectly credible 

 that not more than 100 result from 10,000 eggs. 



Mark the difference of artificial production. 



In 1852, Messrs. Grehin and Remy obtained from 3,000,000 of eggs 1,600,000 

 fish — more than the half, instead of the hundredth part ; and, with suflScient care, 

 I feel satisfied that scarcely ten per cent, would be lost ; thus introducing an 

 enormous mass of food into the country, at comparatively a very trifling outlay ; 

 a subject which certainly ought to engage the attention of the political economist 

 and those having the means of improving our fisheries. 



The most striking peculiarity of the salmon, and some few others, is the power 

 they possess of living in either fresh or salt water ; in fact, that an alteration is 

 essential to the continuance of the species. The salmon, too, affords the remark- 

 able example of the rapid growth of fish under certain circumstances. The 

 salmon, which at one and a half years old weighs only from two to three ounces, 

 goes down to the sea for the first time, and returns in about three months weighing 

 from two to five pounds, and occasionally more. 



