180 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



boxes. The boxes in which the fresh eggs are hatched 

 may be either made of wood (charred or carbonized), or 

 from stone, slate, or glass. On the bottom of these boxes 

 is placed gravel, perfectly clean, which has been boiled 

 to get rid of the insect life, in size about that of a pea; on 

 this gravel the eggs are placed, over which a flow of 

 water passes, about two inches deep, which must filter 

 through properly arranged flannel screens, to prevent 

 any sediment or impurity passing over and settling on 

 the eggs. Occasionally these are washed with the rose 

 of a watering pot to get rid of any glit or sediment which 

 may have settled on them ; allowing such to accumulate is 

 fatal. The hatching boxes should be covered with lids 

 fitting accurately, to prevent the ingress of frogs, snails, 

 mice, caddis worms, &c., which would prey upon the eggs. 

 During the process of incubation there are four enemies to 

 success, namely, fungus, living enemies, sediment, and 

 dryness. The first arises from the eggs themselves, and is 

 occasioned by allowing any decayed ones to remain among 

 the sound ; all these should be removed every twenty-four 

 hours during the period of incubation. Fungus is a great 

 pest, and can only be warded off by cleanliness and using 

 charcoal, having the boxes made from charred wood, and 

 keeping the water in the dark. Sediment can be guarded 

 against by judicious arrangement of the filters, and living 

 pests by closely-fitting lids, and guarding the ingress and 

 egress of water by fine wire nets. The period of incubation 

 in trout is from fifty to seventy days, according to the 

 temperature of the water the colder it is the longer the 

 hatching is retarded. Salmon eggs take longer, from 

 seventy to ninety days. A little practice is necessary to- 

 distinguish the bad eggs from the fertile. In the early days- 



