238 NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION. 



velous. The former produces from 30,000 to 50,000 eggs ; 

 the shad from 50,000 to 100,000 ; and the trout from 1,000 

 to 8,000 ; according to their ages. It is apparent that by 

 judicious, skillful, and intelligent culture the increase must 

 be enormous and the pecuniary profits correspondingly large, 

 allowing liberally for casualties. It is said that an acre of 

 good water can be made to produce twice as much food as 

 an acre of good land. The calculation has been made upori 

 actual data, that a trout farm whose cost and expenses will 

 reach an aggregate of $47,000 in four years, will yield a net 

 profit at the end of that period of $421,000 ! These figures 

 are given, not as an inducement for everybody to embark in 

 fish-culture, but to show what proportionate results may be 

 expected from our protected rivers and streams when they 

 shall have become fully replenislfed. 



In the establishment of Andrew Gierke, Esq., New York, 

 is a hatching apparatus in full operation, where one can 

 watch the process through all its various stages. Last Jan- 

 uary the small-fry began to burst their envelopes and emerge 

 into fish-life. Among the rest was a double fish, or rather 

 two perfect fishes united just below the dorsal fin. From 

 the junction, tailward, there was a single body, like that of 

 any ordinary fish, with its second dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. 

 With a microscope it was quite easy to trace the anatomical 

 structure through the transparent flesh. There were two sep- 

 arate and perfectly distinct systems, with a vent common to 

 both. The nondescript seemed in perfect health and remark- 

 ably active. At last accounts it was alive and doing well. 

 There are many monstrosities in the piscatory kingdom, and 

 those who roam will often find them out ; but seldom does 

 a like phenomenon come under the notice of the " Fishing 

 Tourist." 



And now, at the conclusion of his wilderness ramblings, 

 with some fatigue of the protracted journey and an appetite 

 sharpened by its vicissitudes, he would fain sit down at even- 

 tide and rest ; 



