(8) 



that the one percent which do return attain the average weight 

 of other waters and bring a price of five cents a pound, the Sal- 

 mon of the past season alone will more than pay the expense of 

 the whole season, including the Shad, Land-locked Salmon and 

 Trout. The immense losses in the eggs and fry of fish seems to 

 have been a great foresight of nature in giving to them the 

 gi eatest ova-bearing powers of any of the vertebrate animals. A 40- 

 pound Salmon produces 30,000 eggs annually; the Yellow Perch 

 (Raccoon Perch or Red-fin Trout) 20,000 to 30,000; White 

 fish of the Great Lakes 60,000 to 70,000; Shad 30,000; Carp over 

 300,000; Mackerel over 500,000; Turbot and Cod about 

 9,000,000; Sturgeon 7,000,000, and a species of Mullet 13,000,- 

 000 ! These figures are from scientists and fih-culturists, and 

 an annual value of the fish-catch of the world, amounting to 

 $120,000,000, will convey some idea of the millions and millions 

 of eggs annually produced 1rom a mass of fish aggregating so 

 many millions of dollars. On examination of the nests of the 

 California Salmon it is found that only eight per cent of the eggs 

 are impregnated. By the artificial method of impregnation we 

 secure ninety to ninety -five per cent ! After impregnation by 

 the natural method the eggs are left a prey to enemies of innu- 

 merable numbers. Shad eggs are exposed three to five days, and 

 our common pond fishes twenty to thirty, and the Salmon fifty 

 to seventy. After hatching, these fish are helpless, some a few 

 days, (shad a week) some for months as in the case of Salmon, 

 Mountain Trout and fall-spawning fish generally. By the arti- 

 ficial methods they are not only almost entirely impregnated, 

 but they are kept in cones, troughs and other vessels, and each 

 day the dead removed and further communication of fungoid 

 growth stopped. And when the young are ready to go out they 

 are conveyed to head streams, where other fish are scarce and 

 where cold water suppresses the numerous hosts of insects and 

 crustacenas that abound in the lower and warmer waters. We 

 can see readily, that few arrive at maturity, when we recall that 

 one single sturgeon produces seven million eggs and that a num- 

 ber less than ten thousand are taken annually in the Cape Fear. 

 Few realize the value of fish, but a moment of reflection will 

 sliow that they cost us nothing, and that by replacing them in 



