FISH-CULTURE. 173 



lumbering, old-fashioned stove over, and set it up on the floor at 

 Middlethird. The carpenter cut a round hole in the end of the 

 house for the chimney ; the keeper carried coals over in his game- 

 bag for the snow made all roads impassable for horses, and the 

 blacksmith fitted the stove-pipe ; then we lit the fire. Smoke, that 

 darkened the house, was the most visible result ; but after lengthen- 

 ing the chimney, we at last got the temperature up to 30 F. This 

 was about 8 P.M. I got the water to run nicely through the slate 

 trays over the ice, and as the temperature of the stream in the 

 aqueduct was 36 F., I hoped the worst had passed. But I did not 

 care to leave much to chance. I had my barrack bedstead carried 

 over, and some rugs, in case I was required all night. After 

 dinner I returned, and found the stove burning well. I stayed and 

 saw the new year in, then made up the fire, and, as everything was 

 improving, I walked back to Craigend about 1 A.M. 



On the 1st January I visited the hatching-house three times, and 

 found matters improving. In spite of the stove, the temperature 

 of the air in the house was only 32 F. It was not until the 3d of 

 January that the slate trays thawed out entirely. Then I counted 

 up my losses, and found Experiment G, which was in the lowest 

 tray, a total loss ; but as the question at issue was one of impreg- 

 nation, and as up to that date they had done well, the eye having 

 developed, and not a single bad egg having been picked, I was 

 satisfied. There was also a partial loss in three other trays. By 

 the 9th January all the rearing-boxes were in their place at 

 Middlethird, the first lot of Loch Leven eggs being only a week 

 from hatching. As a matter of fact, they did hatch on the 23d, 

 having well commenced on the 22d. The percentage of impregna- 

 tions was fully 99 per cent. The alevins were very lively, and dark 

 coloured, the yolk-sacs a deep orange, running far back, and 

 pointed. The water had risen to 42 F., although the air in the 

 hatching-house was only 35 F. The note in my book on 

 January 23d is : "Hatch nearly completed. The alevins very lively; 

 some few get against the screens, and the yolk-sac gradually goes 

 through the perforation of the zinc. The shells in box Z almost 

 clogged the screen entirely. The grilles on which the eggs were 



