EXPERIMENTS IN PROPAGATING MAIFISCHE. 855 



deal of damage was inflicted on the Eliine and Moselle fisberies by 

 renting- out the fisheries to capitalists who understood nothing about 

 fishing. He likewise informed me that people were allowed to use nets 

 with narrow meshes for catching Cyprinus alhurtms, from the scales of 

 which artificial pearls are manufactured in Paris, and that this was a 

 great trade in Cologne. But with the small Cyprinus many young sal- 

 mon, " maifische," pike, perch, lampreys, barbel, pollard, mackerel, «&c., 

 &c., are caught, which being of no use to these fishermen, are destroyed. 

 By catching so many Cyprinus the quantity of food for the finer class 

 of fishes is diminished, and catching and destroying so many young 

 salmon of course does incalculable harm to the salmon-raising. Mr. 

 Glockuer thought that until these abuses were stopped the Rhine fish- 

 eries would not amount to anything. 



The same opinion was expressed to me by the following superintend- 

 ents of fisheries : Georg Weber in Irlicht, Christian Wattler in Cologne, 

 Hackenbroik and Schlomer in Dale near Deutz, all of whom urged me 

 to do all I could for having these abuses stopped. 



As no spawning " maifische" could be obtained from any of these gen- 

 tlemen, I came to the conclusion that the " maifische" must spawn farther 

 up the Rhine or its tributaries, and I therefore went to St. Goar, where 

 there are large salmon-fisheries belonging to the town, and was told by 

 Mr. Robert Herpell, inspector, and Mr. Klein, superintendent of fisheries 

 from St. Gorshauseu, that near St. Gear and as far up the Rhine as 

 Bingerbriick the current was too strong for catching " maifische." I 

 was likewise informed by these gentlemen that many "maifische" were 

 caught in the Neckar above Mannheim. I therefore traveled direct to 

 Ludwigshafen and remained there over night with the intention of mak- 

 ing further inquiries at Heidelberg the next day. 



At 8 a. m. on the 13th of June I arrived in Heidelberg in a pouring 

 rain. I immediately went to see some of the prominent fishermen, and 

 from them got all the information I desired ; but could unfortunately not 

 put it to any use, as the Keckar had risen 1^- meter during the night, and 

 its water was very muddy. The " maifische" do not like such water, and 

 let themselves be driven down the stream by it, so that within a quarter 

 of an hoiir about 30 "maifische" were handed to me from a stationary 

 fishing-apparatus which had been placed out in the stream, among 

 these 3 entirely firm " spawners," which, however, were not yet ready to 

 spawn. From the 23d to the 29th of May the weather had been remark- 

 ably fine, and the " maifische" had spawned in the Neckar in such enor- 

 mous quantities as never before, and the spawning season for the strag- 

 glers extends till near the end of June. Spawning might consequently 

 still be observed if only the water would get clear and the weather be 

 favorable ; but from all signs the rainy season had not yet come to an 

 end. As I had no time to wait any longer, I went home and sent Mr^. 

 Wilke, the superintendent of my fisheries, to Heidelberg to make further 

 investigations. The weather did unfortunately not get any better ; thun- 



