473 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



Scotland, by Mr. Shaw, to which I have referred in the intro- 

 duction. 



" During their change the eggs should not be left to them- 

 selves ; they require, on the contrary, a certain watchfulness 

 and frequent visits, in, fact, such care as can be easily 

 bestowed by the aid of the hatching apparatus which I use. 



"Whether the artificial streamlets, which I propose, be 

 used, or in preference to them any other mode, one precaution 

 should always be taken ; the eggs should never be heaped 

 upon one another. Their accumulation prevents a proper 

 surveillance of all of them, and besides may retard or even 

 prevent their development. Another and more serious incon- 

 venience often results : if one of the eggs becomes spoiled and 

 covered with byssus, this byssus spreads to the adjoining 

 eggs, and in a few days reaches all that are contiguous and 

 destroys them. The only mode to diminish the extent or 

 arrest the progress of this evil, when the eggs have not been 

 heaped up, is to remove, at once, from the hatching-place all 

 that show the least trace of alteration. If in place of sacrific- 

 ing, an attempt is made to save them by freeing them, with 

 the aid of a brush, from the vegetable parasites covering 

 them, not only will it be a useless trouble, since the tainted 

 eggs are already struck with death, but the evil will be 

 aggravated by spreading over the healthy eggs the particles 

 of destructive byssus, by the very operation of cleansing." 



Fig. 2, in the preceding cut, shows the appearance of a young 

 Salmon on emerging fr< m the egg; 3 its size at two, and 4 

 when three months old. The umbilical bladder sustains it for 

 about four weeks, during which time it refuses other nourish- 

 ment ; at the end of this time, the nutritive matter of the 

 bladder is consumed or rather absorbed, when the young fish 

 instinctively begins to seek its food. Previous to this, any 

 attempt to feed them is not only unnecessary but hurtful, as 



