56 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. 



eggs are ready to be placed in the hatching-trough. Al- 

 though they will be whirled about by the influx of the 

 water in washing, they are so much heavier, that they will 

 remain at the bottom of the pan. The washing should be 

 done with an effort to give them no more motion than is 

 required in the operation. 



There are sometimes four or five times as many males as 

 there are spawners taken in the trap, particularly at the 

 first of the season. An additional tub should therefore be 

 provided, and the excess of males placed in it for the time, 

 so that their milt may be used or not, as may be required. 



The plan pursued in France of holding the fish pendent 

 by the head, as is illustrated in the lower figure in the frontis- 

 piece, and allowing the spawn to fall into the pan of water 

 below, is not practised in this country by experienced fish 

 culturists. By the improved method of holding the vent 

 beneath the water, the unnatural falling of the eggs from a 

 height, and bringing them in contact with the air before 

 they are impregnated, is avoided. It is obvious also that 

 the new mode is more in accordance with the natural way 

 of the parent fish. 



Before depositing the eggs in the trough, an extra strip 

 an inch and a half, or two inches wide, if a notch is cut out 

 of the upper side, is placed above the strip at the lower end 

 of the nest, to dam the water and increase the depth. The 

 edge of the pan is then gently lowered beneath the surface 

 that some of the water of the trough may enter, and the 

 eggs poured slowly out, distributing them as evenly as possi- 

 ble over the nest. A more equal distribution should after- 



