Spawning. 35 



tail, it is then suddenly closed, and the fish 

 "tailed out " on to the bank, and 'put into a tub 

 or foot-pan of water whilst others are sought 

 for. 



When all have been caught, the sexes should 

 be determined, and the unripe fish, if any, 

 transferred to the box mentioned at the end of 

 the previous chapter. 



The sexes are readily distinguished, as at 

 spawning time the eggs will be felt in the 

 spawner or hen fish, whilst in the male the milt 

 being a liquid, is easily recognized. In taking a 

 fish out of a net, if in anything like proper order 

 for spawning, a few eggs or a drop of milt will 

 generally appear, even with the gentlest hand- 

 ling. Unless a fish is thoroughly ripe it should 

 be kept #1 the box till it is so, as unripe eggs 

 or milt are quite useless for hatching purposes. 



When the sexes are determined, and the 

 ripe fish separated, we have to consider the pro- 

 portionate numbers of each sex. Some days we 



D 2 



