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like a cat with its head in a stocking, but was relieved by a 
sharp pair of scissors. In order to ascertain whether light 
exercised any deleterious effect upon eggs, several were 
_ placed upon a white earthenware palette in a hatching-tray, the 
cover of which was removed, but in due time all of them 
hatched. It has been from time to time promulgated that 
_ Salmon can spawn in the sea; in fact, one of the luminaries 
of the Scottish bar, distinguished for his grave eloquence, 
declared that were all the rivers in the kingdom blocked up, 
E they could then be forced to spawn in the sea. Here, then, was a 
_ question that seemed worthy of investigation, so having, through 
the kindness of a friend, obtained salt water from Weston- 
_ super-Mare, it was employed for this purpose, dilution being 
_ effected by means of pump water. On January 9th, 1885, two 
eggs of Loch Leven trout were placed in a pint tumbler of sea 
water, having a specific gravity of 1,019 degrees; there were 
2h inches of water above the eggs, while the tumbler was 
placed in a hatching-trough, through which water was kept 
flowing, but not sufficiently deep to reach more than two- 
thirds of the distance up the outside of the glass; this water 
was changed daily. They were dead in 48 hours. This experi- 
ment was repeated on the 21st, but they succumbed in about 
‘Ak days. On January 23rd two more Loch Leven trout eggs 
were similarly placed in saline water standing at 1,012 degrees; 
they lingered on but never hatched. January 24th two more 
e ges were placed in a tumbler of brackish water diluted to 
1,008 degrees, and treated as the preceding ones; on the 28th 
‘one hatched, and on March Ist the other, but scarcely in a 
normal manner. First the yolk-sac appeared, and, when the 
little one emerged, it was found to have dropsy, and lived only 
afew days. As dropsy of the sac is a disease due to want of 
vi ality, and as this was the only fish so affected, it is reason- 
able to conclude that the residence of the egg in brackish water 
had proved detrimental to the vigour of the offspring. To make 
ure that the plan adopted had not been injurious, two Loch 
Leven Trout-eggs were placed in a tumbler of fresh water, and 
hatched in due course. Salmon eggs having likewise been 
received from Howietoun, showed results very similar to those 
