WRONG IMPRESSIONS IN FISH CULTURE. 47 



there which their nature requires. It is only by aid- 

 ing Nature in her unchangeable course that success 

 is attained. 



Another point which has frequently come to my 

 notice is, that in the artificial manipulation of fish, 

 the erroneous impression has been gained by many 

 intelligent people, that young fry can be produced 

 from the eggs of a fish in which life had departed. 

 It is my opinion, based upon actual experiment, that 

 the eggs cannot be vitalized, after the heart has 

 ceased to beat. To test this matter correctly, it is 

 necessary to wait some time an hour at least 

 after the fish has ceased to exhibit any outward 

 signs of life; as I have ascertained by examining 

 young fry under the microscope, that the blood will 

 flow and the heart beat for twenty minutes to a half 

 hour after the fish is to all outward appearances dead. 

 In order to obtain the best results from artificial im- 

 pregnation, both parent fish must be alive and in a 

 healthy condition, and the eggs fully matured 

 naturally. If the eggs are forced from the fish pre- 

 maturely, the operation will result in failure and the 

 fish thus operated upon will almost always die. 



Another false idea, which is by no means uncom- 

 mon, is that fish can live and thrive without food. 

 This is a mistake ; fish require food the same as any 

 other living creature, and in abundance, according 

 to their size. This wrong impression has been 

 gained through keeping gold fish in aquariums in 

 which they have been known to live for months, and 

 in some cases years, without putting in food ; but 

 the means through which they live is by sucking the 

 greenish matter from the sides of the aquarium and 



