i8o Modern Fishcnlturc in Fresh and Salt Water. 



case of the trout. About 3,000 eggs is the average for 

 a fish of 12 inches in length. The eggs are white and 

 as clear as a crystal. They are smaller than the native 

 trout (S. my kiss) eggs, but after impregnation and the 

 absorption of water will average 1-7 inch in diameter, 

 while the native trout eggs are 1-6 inch, and the brook 

 trout (S. fontinalis) eggs are 1-5 inch in diameter. 



"Soon after fertilization the eggs become glutinous 

 and adhesive, forming bunches or masses of various 

 sizes, when fungus rapidly develops and kills the egg. 

 This renders the work of picking laborious, but impera- 

 tive." 



The eggs of the Michigan grayling, now called T. 

 ontariensis, had no adhesive quality, and this, to me, is 

 evidence that there is difference enough to. warrant the 

 Montana grayling being classed as a different species. 



In England trout and grayling have lived in the same 

 streams for centuries, but the trout, it must be remem- 

 bered, is vS. fario and not ^. fontinalis. Grayling also 

 inhabit the same streams in Montana with the Dolly- 

 varden trout, both being indigenous. 



The Michigan Commission made persistent attempts 

 to propagate this fish in 1886, 1887 and 1888 with no 

 success, although they kept the fish under as favorable 

 conditions as possible, but got no eggs from them. 



So much for fact. Now for a bit of theory. In ex- 

 amining wild grayling I was at once struck by the sin- 

 gular stomach, which was so muscular as to remind one 

 of the gizzard of a fowl or that of the "gillaroo trout" of 

 Ireland. This latter fish is merely a brown trout which 

 has thickened its stomach by feeding on caddis worms 

 with stony cases (see chapter on "Insect Food"), and 

 the grayling has a stomach full of gravel and sand from 

 this cause. It is possible that a few might breed if in 



