473 



The number of eggs which can be accommodated in a jar varies with the par- 

 ticular species — with recently gathered Whitefish eggs 3 quarts (108,000 eggs) 

 are regarded as sufficient for a jar, but four or five quarts may be accommodated 

 in the same jar when the eggs have become " eyed." 



The amount of movement of the contained egg^ can be readily controlled in 

 such a jar by pushing the inlet tube further out or in ; Whitefish eggs, e.g., when 

 first taken, are glutinous and require to be worked rapidly under a full current 

 with the inlet tube pushed down. Dead eggs, on the other hand, can be removed 

 by pushing the outlet tube down into the superficial layer of eggs. When the 

 hatching time arrives and the embryos are freed from the egg-membranes, they 

 pass out frjm the outlet tube into a glass receiving tank, the current outward 

 being barely sufficient to induce the fish to swim out. 



Whitefish embryos when first hatched are light gray in colour; they are- 

 dormant for two hours but then become quite active, more so than Salmon or 

 Trout fry. The young may be fed on a paste made of 2 J parts meal, | blood, 6 

 water. Experiments are at present in progress on this phase of fish-breeding 

 operations. 



It is now very generally conceded that it would be advantageous to reserve 

 the fry of Salmonidae till they have attained to some considerable strength and size 

 before being turned out. The trouble is to find suitable food as nearly related 

 as possible to their ordinary food. An effort has been made in the South of 

 France to overcome this difficulty by raising water fleas (Daphnia p. 437) in basins 

 intended for the purpose. It has been possible by allowing such basins to dry up 

 to kill out noxious insects ; this desiccation, however, appears to be favourable to 

 the winter-eggs of the Daphnias, which hatch out in enormous numbers on the 

 ponds being subsequently flooded. 



From the last report of Fish-breeding operations in Canada the following 

 statistics relating to Ontario are extracted : — 



There exist three hatcheries, the oldest one at Newcastle, where Mr. Samuel 

 Wilmott made the first experiments and researches on this subject ; the second at 

 Sandwich ; and a third recently erected at Ottawa as an experimental and educa- 

 tional station. The Newcastle hatchery is chiefly devoted to Lake and Brook Trout. 

 The Lake Trout are secured in two pounds at Wiarton during November ; and in 

 1890, 11,125,000 eggs were obtained from 3,222 female fish taken in the pounds. 



It is interesting to note that there were captured at the same time 1,396 

 males — an indication of the relative abundance of the two sexes. Of the eo-trs 

 thus obtained 4,700,000 were put out as fry ; l,.iOO,000 in the Georgian Bay, 

 2,300,000 in Lake Ontario, and 450,000 in Lake Simcoe, while of the remainder 

 5,500,000 were sent elsewhere in the Dominion as semi-hatched or eyed eggs. 



About 400,000 eggs of Brook Trout were secured, one-fourth of which were 

 distributed as eyed eggs, the remainder placed in various streams and ponds as fry. 



Of 2,750,000 Whitefish fry hatched out from eggs received from the Sandwich 

 hatchery there were distributed to Lake Ontario (1,650,000), Georgian Bay 

 (1,000,000), and Lake Simcoe (100,000). 



The Sandwich hatchery deals chiefly with Whitefish and Pickerel eggs, the 

 latter being hatched out in the spring after the Whitefish fry have been disposed 

 of. Ninety million Whitefish eggs were obtained in the Detroit River, which is 



