How to obtain it. 149 



in the impregnated eggs, but no further development taking place 

 it simply remains, presenting the appearance of a globular shaped 

 body, and in about three weeks or a little more, according to 

 temperature hastening or retarding the development of the fertilized 

 eggs, these unfertilized ova may be picked out. They are 

 commonly called " blind " eggs because they never show the eye 

 spots, which are, later on, such a prominent feature amongst the 

 good eggs. 



The so-called "dry method," by which trout eggs are now 

 taken was discovered in Russia, by M. Vrasski. Experiments had 

 also been tried in France to test the vitality of milt, and these had 

 led to the discovery that the spermatozoa could be kept alive 

 much longer out of water than in it. If the air be kept from it, 

 as for instance when taken direct from the glands into a tube and 

 hermetically sealed, it will sometimes keep good for a considerable 

 length of time, and I have sent it by post to a friend, who found 

 it to be quite fit for use at the end of twenty-four hours or more. 



By this " dry method " of impregnation a much larger 

 number of eggs is rendered fertile than formerly, when a 

 spawning dish half full of water was used. In those days we 

 used to think seventy-five per cent, and less a very good result; 

 now we get ninety-five per cent. Sometimes, all the eggs are 

 impregnated, but usually a few escape, and these are afterwards 

 picked out, and will be alluded to in another chapter. Talking 

 of percentages reminds me of a very irrelevant question a fish 

 culturist was once asked by a juror at an exhibition. Instead of 

 confining his queries to the subject of the exhibits, the juror asked 

 what was the greatest percentage of alevins he had ever obtained 

 from the ova laid down in his hatchery ? He knowingly answered, 

 " a hundred and one per cent.," which for a moment puzzled the 

 judge, until he remembered that one egg sometimes yielded two 

 or even three fish. Do not be disappointed if you do not always 

 get a good result at first. There are many things to learn in 

 connection with this important branch of the work. Sometimes 

 the ova may not have been properly developed in the ovary ; 

 sometimes the constitutional weakness of the fish may be to 

 blame ; sometimes the eggs may have absorbed water ; or even, 

 owing it may be to a defective micropyle, the spermatozoa fail to 



