54 



FISHES AND FISHING. 



There are more than nine millions of ova in a cod, 

 more than half a million in a mackerel, and seven to 

 eight thousand in a barbel. By the evidence given 

 before the Committee of the House of Commons, as be- 

 fore mentioned, salmon have from seventeen to twenty 

 thousand eggs, and trout probably, being of the same 

 genus, have as many. But the quantity of ova varies 

 according to the age of the fish ; as an instance, a 

 flounder of two ounces will contain 133,407 eggs, 

 whilst one of twenty-four ounces contained 1,857,403. 

 It must not be supposed that these enormous quantities 

 of eggs are all vivified ; many are greedily devoured by 

 other fish whilst in the ova state, and many more im- 

 mediately the ova attains vitality, and a very large 

 proportion when they assume their proper character. 

 A little well-known fish, called a stickleback or sharp- 

 ling, which I have elsewhere mentioned, is most 

 destructive of the spawn of all species ; it is a matter 

 of doubt, whether small eels or the stickleback de- 

 stroy most spawn. It is unsportsmanlike to take any 

 fish when full of spawn, for then man becomes a 

 wholesale destroyer of fish by tens, or even hundreds 

 of thousands; another practice is adopted by some 

 persons of using salmon roe as a bait, a practice inju- 

 rious to the breeding of this noble fish, and which 

 cannot be too strongly reprehended, for hundreds are 

 taken for the sake of the roe, which causes a diminu- 



