American I'lslii-rics Society. ]oi> 



HINTS ON GRAYLING CULTURE. 



I)K. .|AMi:S A. IIKNSIIALL, BOZKMAX, MONTANA. 



The successful culiure of the Montana grayhn^- and tlie safe 

 transportation of gravHng egf^s. under proper conditions, are no 

 lonij^er matters of experiment. My first attempt, two years aj^^o, 

 to hatch and rear the QTayhng' on the same hues as those usually 

 pursued with trout, was almost a total failure, owing^ to a lack of 

 suitahle conditions and a want of experimental knowledge con- 

 cerning the character of the eggs and habits of the fry. 



The pul)lishe(l accounts of the experiments of Seth Green 

 and Fred Mather with the Michigan gra}ling in 1874 were both 

 meager and unsatisfactory, and availed nothing; nor was I able, 

 subsequently, to obtain any additional or definite information on 

 the subject from Mr. M?ther, who seemed to have forgotten all 

 the details connected with his experiment. Both Green and 

 Mather pursued the same method in hatching and feeding the 

 grayling as with brook trout, which leads me to doubt that either 

 of them succeeded in rearing the fry. 



In the first place, grayling fry cannot be reared in the 

 hatchery in cold spring water, owing to its low temperature, 

 and the entire absence of natural food ; for neither air nor food 

 exists in spring water as it issues from the ground. Xeither can 

 the fry be induced to take the artificial food generally used for 

 trout fry, to any great extent, in the hatching troughs. 



In my first experiments I was much chagrined and discour- 

 aged at seeing the diminutive organisms curl up and drop dead 

 to the bottom of the trough, notwithstanding a great variety of 

 substances had been offered, to induce them to feed. 



At this time I was impressed with the apparent resemblance 

 of the grayling fry to the lake whitefish fry, both in size and ap- 

 pearance, which led me to think that they also required similar 

 food. Upon examining the fry under the microscope I discovered 



