48 THE PROVEN CHER SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY OF CANADA 



separated, the first or spinous dorsal having high spines, while the 

 second is nearly as long as the first but soft and scarcely erectile. 

 Though often taken in nets, it affords good sport on a troll, and not 

 infrequently rises to the angler's flies. It is very common in 

 Quebec waters and numerous in the great lakes and attains a weight 

 of 8 to 12 pounds. 



Fish Culture 



Nature, with that admirable wisdom and foresight which 

 characterize all her processes, provides many species of spawning 

 fish,^ — trout among the number,^ — with more than a hundred fold 

 as many eggs as are intended for purposes of procreation, thus 

 making full provision for the use of many of such eggs as food fpr 

 other living creatures of fur, fin and feather. Under natural con- 

 ditions Nature cannot of course be improved upon. But when, in 

 addition to the natural loss of 90 to 95 and even to 99 per cent of 

 spawn in certain cases, large quantities of mature fish are taken 

 for sport or food, then Nature's balance is upset and artificial 

 propagation becomes necessary. Hence it cannot be too well 

 understood how very much it is to the interests of fish and game 

 clubs to have the assistance of hatcheries in increasing the natural 

 output of young fish in their waters. 



The provincial Government hatcheries return, in the shape 

 of fry, ten per cent of the eggs which they take from any club 

 waters, and which is many times more than is usually hatched by 

 nature. As a matter of fact. Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, a leading 

 authority, and a former State Fish Culturist of New York, asserts 

 that while "a mere fraction" of one per cent of all the eggs naturally 

 deposited ever become mature fish, the percentage of loss in hatch 

 ing by artificial propagation has been reduced to trifling propor- 

 tions. Professor Prince, LL.D., admits that it is easy to hatch 90 

 per cent of eggs in a hatchery, while Sir Humphrey Davy estimated 

 that not six per cent of the eggs deposited on the breeding grounds 

 by parent fish come to perfection, and Stoddard — a prominent 

 Scotch authority — held that only four or five fish fit for the table 

 were the result of 30,000 ova on the spawning grotmds. 



E. T. D. Chambers 



WHAT GOOD IS THE ROBIN? 



"Everybody knows the robin. A boy came along the road 

 with a .22 rifle, saw a robin sitting there, and killed it. I went 

 over and picked the robin up. Two cutworms were squirming on 

 the ground; the robin had had them in his beak. I held the bird 

 up, and two more fell out of his mouth. Remember, one cutworm 

 will cut down five tomatoe plants in a night. The cutworm does 

 his work and then hides under the soil; Mr. Robin comes hopping 

 along, picks in there and pulls him out — and turns him into a robin. 

 If anybody tells you that a robin will destroy one hundred cut- 

 worms in a day, take it from me that it is true." (Jack Miner) 



