ioo How to obtain it. 



When once a piece of water contains a proper assortment 

 and amount of plant life, there will be a good chance of 

 maintaining a sufficient stock of those creatures which form the 

 natural food of trout. Crustacea, mollusca, and other forms, 

 should be plentifully present in the water. The two former 

 are very easily introduced, and should be found in every 

 trout pond. They are very prolific, and when once put in soon 

 multiply and stock the water. The result of having a good 

 supply of these creatures has already been referred to in the case 

 of the Whitley and Dalbeattie reservoirs, which are by no means 

 exceptional instances of the rapid development of trout. The 

 famous gillaroo trout, named by some naturalists Salmo stoma- 

 chiiiis, on account of the toughness or thickness of the middle coat 

 of its stomach, has been found to feed very largely on shell fish. 

 The late Dr. Francis Day says : " Its stomachs are occasionally 

 served up as gizzards. Thompson obtained from the stomach of 

 one example, about eight inches long, about a thousand shells of 

 Limnea peregra, Vahata piscinalis, and a few specimens of 

 Sphoziium corneum" The well-known pink colour of the flesh is 

 undoubtedly attributable to the food on which the trout live, and 

 it has been found that the way to produce both a pink colour and 

 a delicate flavour is to feed largely on mollusca and crustaceans. 

 I once took in hand by way of an experiment the feeding of a 

 pond full of American trout (Sal/no fontinalis) entirely on shrimps 

 from the sea. These creatures were obtained by bushels and fed 

 to the fish. The diet was an expensive one, but the effect was 

 most satisfactory, resulting at the end of six months in beautifully 

 pink-fleshed and delicately-flavoured fish. Strange to say, the 

 trout took a violent dislike to these shrimps when unboiled, but 

 [boiled ones they eat eagerly. A diet of shell fish also produces 

 very good results as regards flavour and colour, and the rate of 

 growth is far above the average. 



Shell fish {Mollusca) may be introduced into any pond or 

 suitable stream without the slightest difficulty. They should be 

 put into the water in various places, where there is some 

 vegetation on which they can feed. They deposit their spawn 

 freely on water plants, any pieces of rotten wood, or even on 

 stones, and when once a brood has been secured they are never 



