THE SALMON FAMILY 75 



temperature of ordinary spring water during winter, viz. 

 48° Fahrenheit, would hatch in, say, fifty-three days, 

 may be retarded from hatching for one hundred and 

 thirty days by being placed in a cold chamber or packed 

 on ice. 



The actual procedure in collecting the eggs is as 



follows : — 



Permission having been obtained from the owners 

 and conservators of a river, men and gear are sent to 

 the spot to be in readiness for the run of fish. The gear 

 consists of nets, retaining cages, spawning apparatus and 

 travelling cans for the eggs, and I might add there is also 

 required patience, endurance, and immunity from being 

 upset by trifles. 



The men wait for the flood which will bring the 

 salmon from the sea. At last it comes ; for several days 

 the river is a raging torrent, and netting is impossible 

 until the water subsides. During this period of inac- 

 tivity, the sight of the fish leaping one after another into 

 the various pools, as they ascend the river, may gladden 

 the heart of the collector, and he can start his work with 

 the certainty that some hundreds of fish are gathered 

 together in the field of capture. Should the flood con- 

 tinue, however, there is always the possibility that the 

 fish will run clean through the pools in which the collector 

 is entitled to net. When the river subsides, the water is 

 eagerly scanned. Here and there huge dorsal fins appear 

 above the surface where the broken water rushes over 

 a shallow, or long, red-brown shadows may be seen 



