Other T routs and the Salmons, 173 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BARREN TROUT AND ANNUAL SPAWNERS. 



Occasionally we find a female trout which has no 

 eggs , at the spawning time. Many of these I have 

 opened; some had the little cluster which promises a 

 crop next year, but three had no sign of ever bearing 

 eggs. The fish had not spawned or the flabby sides 

 and swollen vent would have been present, and there 

 was no indication of these conditions. I paid little 

 attention to this matter until I received a letter from 

 Charles A. Hoxsie, Carolina, R. I., where trout are 

 raised for market. Under date of Jan. 21, 1889, Mr. 

 Hoxsie wrote a letter, from which I quote : 



"In the fall of 1887 I took some trout from my 

 natural pond, where they had been about a year, with 

 plenty of natural food. This pond has four acres in it. 

 On Oct. i they were put into a spawning pond, and 

 when the time came for them to go on the spawning 

 races I got spawn for a few days when not a' trout 

 would go on the beds. Upon examination there were 

 no eggs in them, and I thought they must have deposit- 

 ed- their spawn. I kept these fish until last fall, when I 

 again put them in the spawning pond, and the same 

 thing happened. 



"A careful examination showed that nine out of every 

 ten were barren, no eggs in them, nor had there been 

 any, and I concluded that they were barren the year 

 before. This is a new thing to me, and I would like 

 your opinion. Have you ever heard of such a thing?" 



My answer was that I had seen barren trout and had 



