324 DR DAVY’S OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARR. 
nating the ova after they have lost their power of spontaneous motion, I cannot 
offer any decided opinion ; from the few trials I have made, I am led to believe 
that the one quality or power is distinctive of the other, and that, ceasing to move, 
they become inert. 
In a charr weighing about half a pound I have found the number of ova to be 
1230, all nearly of full size. As the volume of the mature and distended testes 
is about the same as that of the ripe ovaries, the number of spermatozoa belong- 
ing to them must almost baffle calculation ; and if, as there is reason to believe, 
a single one may suffice to impregnate an ovum, the whole from one male may, it 
is presumed, be more than adequate to effect the impregnation of the entire eggs 
of many females, especially taking into account how readily these minute bodies 
are suspended and diffused in water. 
2. Of the time required for the hatching of the Ova; and of the young Charr in their 
early stage. 
The principal spawning season of the charr in the several lakes of the Lake 
District in which this fish occurs, is the beginning of winter, from about the first 
week in November to the first in December, when the water over the spawning- 
beds has become comparatively cool, reduced from about 60° Fahr. to about 50°. 
Whether this is the only season is somewhat doubtful; the fishermen of Winder- 
mere speak of a later one, in which it is believed by them that fish of the larger 
size and few in number deposit their spawn, viz., in February and March.* Be 
this as it may, all the observations I have recorded were made on spawn obtained 
during the first period mentioned. 
From analogy, it might be inferred that the time required for the hatching of 
the charr would be a variable one, depending on the degree of temperature of the 
water and on other less appreciable circumstances. In 1850-51, Mr Reynotps, 
as he informs me, found none hatched in a shorter period than 60 days; the 
greater number on the 70th, and from that to the 75th day ; some few as late as 
the 90th. The average temperature of the water in the breeding boxes was about 
40°. Ata higher temperature, viz., an average one of about 55°, I have wit- 
nessed the completion of the process in the short period of 41 days. In this in- 
stance the milt and the roe were mixed as soon as they were taken from the fish 
on the 29th of last October; a certain number of the ova were put into a glass 
vessel and covered with water to the depth of about an inch, which was changed 
twice daily, and kept in a room the temperature of which was very uniform,— 
* T am disposed to think that the breeding-time of the charr in Windermere is even less limited 
than is stated above, having found in the latter end of February individuals with the testes nearly of 
their full size, and this not in large fish; and others with ovaries containing eggs varying in size 
from a mustard to a millet seed. These fish were all from the lake; I have never heard of one being 
taken or seen in the Brathay (a river flowing into the lake, to be mentioned hereafter) after Decem- 
ber. 

