78 PENIKESE. 



call from the few notes I was able to take at the time, 

 is what he said:* 



"Artificial fish-culture, means the culture of fishes 

 artificially: the surrounding of them with conditions of 

 growth which shall render their growth more favor- 

 able than as it is found occurring in Nature." We 

 understand, by this, that the lecturer would seek to 

 take away the deteriorating environments in Nature 

 which seek continually to undermine and undo that 

 which she seeks continually to do, by creating fish- 

 breeding establishments whose object shall be to as- 

 sist Nature in her best endeavors. 



"The true fishes," continued the lecturer, "are 

 egg-bearing animals which lay their eggs in the water. 

 In the salmon and trout, the female works a hole in 

 the ground with its nose and tail in w r hich to deposit 

 them. The shad lays its eggs differently: it comes 

 from the sea up the rivers to spawn, as the process of 

 laying the eggs is called, which occurrs free in the 

 water. They are light colored, transparent, globular, 

 and hatch in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. 

 The percoid fishes make holes or nests in the sand 

 and, after the eggs are deposited in them, watch 

 them with great care. 



"In breeding fishes one must be careful about four 

 things: raising the young from the egg; transporting 

 live breeders; dams; and protection from surround- 

 ing enemies." 



"The Salmonida include the salmon, trout, white- 

 fish (of the great lakes), smelt, and capereing,as prin- 

 cipal types; they are all good food fish but the last." 

 I cannot believe that the lecturer was fully aware, 

 however, of the extent to which the latter fish is an 

 article of food (caught, dried, and preserved for win- 



*Our object in quoting Dr. Lyman's lecture, is not so much 

 to inform one upon Fish-culture, though in this respect we 

 hope that it will not be without its fruits, as to show how lit- 

 tle we knew then of a subject which, in so few years, has 

 sprunar up to be one of the most important subjects of the 

 present day. 



