tion may be made to the people's food with scarcely any 

 expense. To persons engaged in the fishing trade in 

 rivers, and to professed anglers, it will, we conceive, re- 

 commend itself. 



I. 



The manner in which most fish propagate their species 

 is of course well known to all readers. 



"No sooner," in the words of a most distinguished 

 naturalist, " does the sun of spring begin to spread its 

 vivifying warmth, and no sooner does its renovating and 

 irresistible influence penetrate to the depths of the 

 waters," than a peculiar organ develops and increases in 

 male fish. This organ, which is double, and which ex- 

 tends itself in the superior part of the abdomen, almost 

 equalling it in length, has received the name of milt. 

 The milt is the seminal or fecundating liquor. It grows 

 gradually during several months ; and then softens, or so 

 to speak, melts or ripens, as spawning time approaches. 

 When discharged from the fish it is of a milky colour. 



When the "milt begins to form in the male, the ova- 

 ries of the female begin to fill with eggs, which how- 

 ever are almost imperceptible. These organs are two 

 in number in the greater part of fish, but only one in 

 the others. Confined in a membrane, they occupy in 

 the abdomen a place analogous to that which the milt 

 occupies in males, and are nearly equal to it in length. 

 The eggs they contain increase in proportion as the milt 

 becomes tumified. 



As the eggs grow they cause pain and become very 

 burdensome to the female ; until at length she is obliged 

 to relieve herself of their weight and volume. This she 



