COD-FISHERIES OF CAFE ANN. 721 



net and returned to the water until one of the opposite sex could be- 

 secured. Thus all the fish were examined regidaily every second or 

 third day, and when ripe ones were found they were carried to the 

 hatchery, where the eggs were taken and impregnated. 



In " stripping" the fish the spawn-taker usually held its head firmly 

 in his left hand, with its back against his body and its left side upper- 

 most, and, owing to its size and .strength, a second party generally held 

 the tail and helped to keep the fish in position, while the spawn-taker, 

 with his right hand, gently pressed the eggs or milt from the abdomen 

 into a large pan placed just beneath to receive them. 



The methods employed in impregnating the eggs were similar to those 

 in use with eggs of the shad. They were usually taken in a i)an having 

 a little water in the bottom and the milt at once added, after which they 

 were "brought up" in the usual way, by slowly adding water at inter- 

 vals till the pan was nearly full. 



It was found desirable to leave the eggs with the milt for fully half an 

 hour before dipping them out, and at times it took even longer for them 

 to become well hardened. Several other ways for impregnating the 

 eggs were tried, such as taking them in a damp pan and introducing 

 the milt directly upon them before adding the water ; and of putting 

 the milt in the water first, and the eggs later ; and again, of introducing 

 the two at the same time ; but these seemed no improvement ujjon the 

 ordinary method. 



The first good eggs were taken November 13, and when placed in the 

 cones were found to remain constantly at the surface of the water, where 

 they soon clogged the screen through which the waste water made its 

 escape, causing the cones to overflow, and the eggs to be carried over 

 the toj) with the water. The plan of introducing the water at the top 

 and allowing it to escape at the bottom was equally unsuccessful, for 

 the downward current carried many of the eggs with it, thus clogging 

 the screen as efl'ectually as in the former case. The cones in their orig- 

 inal condition were thus rendered useless, and the question of so modi- 

 fying them as to make them answer the purpose, or of the invention of 

 new apparatus, at once became a very important one ; and one difficulty 

 after another had to be overcome before any degree of success could be 

 expected. 



Mr. Milner remained long enough, before leaving for the South, to 

 witness this stage of the difficulty, and was the first to suggest an alter- 

 ation in the apparatus. This consisted in a modification of the inverted 

 cone, so that the water should be introduced through a twisted tube at 

 the apex, thus giving it a spiral motion as it ascended, while the outflow 

 was in the form of a circle surrounding and just above the inflow, in a 

 line with the sides of the cone. On testing, this apparatus was found 

 to clog equally with the other, and was soon abandoned. 



In one end of the room was a Clark hatching-trough that had been 

 used in hatching eggs of the herring. This consisted of a long trough 

 40 F 



