HARD AND SOFT ROE. 17 



You may be desirous of knowing how 

 these ova are formed. Here is a preparation 

 from a salmon, which will show you that the 

 ova are thrown off from a long finger-like 

 membrane, one side of which is laminated like 

 the leaves of an opened book ; it is in these 

 leaves that the ova are secreted, and you 

 may see some of them still adhering in situ. 



I have ascertained for a fact that behind 

 the ova ready to be extruded, say this 

 year, are other ova, as small as pins' heads, 

 which will arrive at maturity next year. 



When the ova are ripe they detach them- 

 selves from the membrane and lie quite loose 

 in the cavity of the abdomen ; they are not, 

 however, I believe, all shed at the same 

 moment, but at various intervals, so say 

 observers of salmon spawning. They say cor- 



