104 INTRODUCTION. 



King Leopold, near his new palace of Ardennes ; 

 and, that it may be equally applied to Grayling, 

 Tench, Pike, and other fish, will admit of no doubt. 

 When once properly impregnated, the ova of all fish 

 can be conveyed, as correctly stated by Prof. Agassiz, 

 in water of moderate temperature, even across the 

 Atlantic, as safely as if they were naturally deposited 

 by the parent fish in its new locality ; so that any 

 quantity, of any kind of spawn, may be conveyed 

 to other streams, however distant, with success. 



Whether the Chinese plan of hatching fry under 

 fowls may ever be practised in this country with 

 advantage, we know not; but being a curious in- 

 stance of the ingenuity of that extraordinary people, 

 we shall here record it : For this purpose they col- 

 lect the spawn from lakes and rivers, place it in 

 vessels, and dispose of it to the proprietors of ponds. 

 When the hatching season arrives, they empty a 

 hen's egg of its natural contents, and substitute the 

 spawn for it. The opening is then closed up, the 

 egg is put under its natural parent, and is, after a 

 few days, removed, re-opened, and placed in a ves- 

 sel of water warmed by the heat of the sun, where 

 it is kept till the young fish are developed, and ac- 

 quire sufficient strength to bear the ordinary tem- 

 perature of common water. (Bulletin Universe^ 

 1829, p. 82). It is by such means and care as this 

 that the vast population of the Celestial Empire 

 can obtain, according to Du Halde, even in inland 

 districts, excellent fish at the rate of a farthing and 

 a halfpenny a pound. 



