THE HATCHING AND PROPAGATION OF FISH 13 



During the first month the eggs can be packed in 

 especially prepared boxes, and sent without injury to 

 any part of the world. After being placed in troughs 

 or hatching boxes, through which a stream of cold 

 water constantly flows, they must be examined fre- 

 quently, and all imperfect ones removed. A few bad 

 ones mingled with the others would soon cause all 

 to be covered with a fungus-like growth that would 

 spoil the entire number in the trough. Usually about 

 three months are required to hatch out the eg^s. de- 



T. OO " 



pendent entirely upon the coldness of the water. If 

 it is very cold 35 to 40 four or five months will 

 be necessary. 



Great care must -be taken in handling the eggs, 

 to avoid shaking or jarring them, as any violent or 

 sudden motion is liable to divide the yolks and 

 destroy the germs. Incidentally, it may be men- 

 tioned here that the famous double- tailed goldfish 

 frequently seen are raised in Japan, and are pro- 

 duced by violently shaking the eggs in a pan. This 

 causes the hatching of many monstrosities, some 

 with double heads or double bodies, others with 

 double tails, but generally only the latter survive. 

 With the exercise of the greatest care quite a large 

 number of odd fish are hatched out, some having 

 several heads or tails, many double bodies, or are dis- 

 torted in some strange way. The most peculiar are 



