958 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



scratching up everything they came in contact with and would be con- 

 stantly rusting. Trays of this width fit well in troughs 12f inches wide. 

 Their length may be equal to their width, as I prefer, or greater. 



The wire-cloth heretofore commonly used is woven of annealed iron 

 wire, in square mcslies. This answers admirably when the wires are 

 from 1^ to |- inch apart, (not wider than ^ if brook-trout eggs are in 

 hand,) so long as the fishes remain in the egg. But as soon as hatched 

 they begin to poke their heads and tails down through the meshes, or some- 

 times their sacks are drawn through, and being unable to extricate 

 themselves, they perish miserably. If, therefore, square meshes are to 

 be used they should be very small, — not over -^ inch wide. This 

 sort of wire-cloth has, however, still this slight drawback, — that while 

 the eggs are hatching the picking must be done in the trough, or if 

 the trays are taken out the young alevins must come out into tlie 

 air also. There is not, to be sure, much danger of injuring the fry by 

 exposure for a moment to the air, but a good deal of extra care is involved, 

 and it is much better not to have to take them from the water at all. 

 These little troubles are all avoided by using cloth with a long mesh, (see 

 Fig. 7,) — for Atlantic and land-locked salmon a mesh \ inch wide and 

 |- to I inch long, — through which the soft bodies of the fishes easily slide 



Fig. 7. 



as soon as they have broken the shell, while the whole eggs are retained 

 upon the trays and can at any time be lifted out without lifting the fish. 

 Any one who is so situated as to get wire woven to order had better adopt 

 the long meshes, woven of wire as small as can be well worked, which may 

 be left to the judgment of the weaver. If, however, this cannot be had, then 



