58 



water, the eggs are spread carefully in them till they are 

 full, and then they are put in the box. As the bottom 

 of one rests on the top of the other the eggs are kept in 

 place. Such a box will hold an immense number of eggs, 

 , but is only suited to being sent by a messenger who will 

 take charge of it, and cannot be trusted to express. 



CHAPTER VI. 



YOUNG TROUT AND SALMON. 



APPEARANCE. After the eggs have lain in the water 

 from fifty to seventy-five days, according to the temper- 

 ature, the Trout will begin to make their appearance, the 

 egg appears to be endowed with life, and the motions of 

 the Trout inside " kicking " against the shell to force 

 their way out can be planily perceived without the use 

 of a microscope. At length the Trout forces his way 

 through, head first or tail first, those that hatch head first 

 always dying however, and the useless shell floats away 

 down stream. The Trout is then about one-half inch 

 long, and the body proper as thin as a needle ; the most 

 prominent features being a pair of eyes, huge in compar- 

 ison with the rest of the body, and a sac nearly as large as 

 the egg. This sac is attached to the belly of the fish, 

 and contains food, which the fish gradually absorbs. If 

 the fish are hatched in fifty days the sac lasts about 

 thirty, if in seventy days, about forty-five. At this 

 period of their lives they will work down into the 

 crevices of the gravel and along the sides of the troughs 

 and stay there, nature seeming to give them the instinct 

 at this weak and defenceless period of their lives, when 

 they are burdened with a load which they can hardly 

 carry, to get out of sight and out of the way of harm as 



