[9J FRESHWATER FISHERIES OF ICELAND. 331 



or five meshes). But the meshes vary in size. in the different nets. 

 The nets having the largest meshes are employed iu catching male 

 trout, because they have a thicker body, while the females are slender. 

 Th<? floating-nets are always heavier; they are 20 fathoms long, and iu 

 the middle 8 feet deep. Occasionally, however, some are used which 

 are 12 feet deep. 



Lakes Arnavatn and Sandvatn offer nothing of special interest to 

 the observer; the former contains trout and mountain trout, and the 

 latter mountain-trout alone. While the j)ack-horses were sent to Lun- 

 dabrekr I rode with my companion to the Krdkii, a considerable stream, 

 which had every appearance of being a trout stream, although at the 

 present time no fisheries were carried on. At Baldersheimar a farmer 

 informed me that in former times there had been fishing in this river ; 

 but now no one seemed to care for it. Quite accidentally a trout, weigh- 

 ing 9 pounds when cleaned, had been taken last year on a sandbank. 

 In the streams and ponds surrounding the lake there are small moun- 

 tain-trout. Fisheries are about to be begun on this river. I was still 

 more convinced of the correctness of my views when south of Balder- 

 sheimar I caught a young trout of this year's fry. 



The conditions in Lake Svartarvatn are a feeble imitation of those in 

 Lake Myvatn. A depression in a lava bed has to some extent called 

 this lake into existence, and the volume of its waters has been in- 

 creased by streams flowing into it from the surrounding lava beds. 

 The kinds of fish are the same as in Lake Myvatn, but they are smaller 

 and not so good, probably because the lake is gradually being filled 

 with sand, which kills all animal life. The depth of this lake is slight, 

 not exceeding 6 feet in any place. 



Einar Fridericksson deserves great credit for having endeavored to 

 improve the quality of the fish in his waters by introducing a larger 

 breed from Lake Myvatn. For this i)urpose he had in November, 1883, 

 and January, 1884, eggs of mountain-trout impregnated in Lake My- 

 vatn, and brought the impregnated eggs to Lake Svartarvatn, where 

 they were placed in one of the springs surrounded by stones, so that he 

 could easily inspect them. He brought the eggs from Lake Myvatn in 

 January. The temperature of the air was only 16^ Celsius at the time 

 the journey was made ; but the eggs were packed in moss and wrapped 

 in hay. After fifty days they were hatched. 



I examined the spawning places on the shores of the lake and on the 

 edge of the lava beds where the subterranean water gushes forth. The 

 temperature of the water was 3|o Celsius ; it never freezes in winter. 

 For the purpose of spawning, the fish go deep into the holes and caverns 

 under the lava beds ; but owing to the drifting sand these spawning 

 places are gradually losing much of their importance. Thus, some years 

 ago sixty male trout were caught in a shallow place with a fishspear 

 in a single day. The sand will probably eventually fill the entire lake 

 and leave only a few small streams flowing into the Svartd Kiver. 



