FISH-CULTURE. 211 



' Queichy,' it being exactly 363 days since she spawned last year. 

 Total, 154 ova." This is absolute proof that a Loch Leven trout 

 can spawn two successive seasons, and that a complete year does 

 not always elapse between spawnings. I hope to be able to show 

 that, as a general rule, Loch Leven trout spawn earlier every 

 season, so that the oldest spawn first and the youngest last, only 

 as a general rule however, for by feeding certain kinds of food 

 the trout can all be made earlier, and by withholding food trout 

 may all be made later. There are, of course, certain yeld trout 

 in every water ; these I have almost invariably found to be females. 

 I cannot give a reason, but possibly the fish may have not got in 

 condition soon enough in spring to start the ovaries. 



On the same day that I spawned " Queichy " I pumped the pond 

 dry. This operation took two days and a half. Now, when all 

 the ponds can be emptied in a few hours without trouble, merely 

 by lifting a valve, it seems strange to look back at the immense 

 amount of manual labour required at that time. 



As soon as I was satisfied that no fish were left alive in the 

 pond, I refilled it ; and as by the 7th December the ice was caus- 

 ing much trouble in the 20-feets at Howietoun, I transferred 

 about half the Loch Leven springlings to the pond in front of 

 Craigend House (now called the upper 100-feet pond). I trans- 

 ferred the rest on December 14th, and also the hybrids. These 

 seem to have been placed partly in the 9 -feet plank pond, and 

 partly in a temporary earth pond. 



This season I sold for the Loch Leven Angling Association 

 16,000 ova (S. levenensis) and 1000 fry (ditto). I also liberated 

 22,000 in the tributaries of Loch Leven, and retained as many 

 fry as left me 7000 springlings on the 3d of December 1876. This 

 accounts for 46,000 of the 61,370 S. levenensis ova taken in the 

 autumn. Of the remaining 15,000 4000 were lost as eggs ; 10 

 per cent., or 4600, disappear as extra count, and the 6000 odd 

 represents the loss in rearing the fry and springlings. 



Of the whole 86,710 eggs laid down, 5777 were picked out 

 either as white or unimpregnated the numbers being, 2753 dead 

 ova, and 3024 picked out clear as unimpregnated eggs. This 



