WATER POACHERS 181 



whole is covered over, there to remain until spring. 

 The salmon deposits nearly a thousand eggs for every 

 pound of its live weight, and from the quantity of 

 spawn in some salmon rivers it would seem that 

 nothing which man could do save pollution 

 would have any appreciable influence upon the in- 

 crease of the species. The fecundity of trout is 

 even greater than that of salmon, while a tiny smelt 

 of only two ounces contains upwards of thirty-five 

 thousand eggs, and even these are as nothing com- 

 pared with the rate of increase of several marine and 

 " coarse " fish. An individual cod has yielded more 

 than six million; a turbot fourteen million; and a 

 twenty-eight pound conger eel fifteen million eggs. 



The eggs of salmon are nearly as large as the seed 

 of a garden pea, and those of good trout only slightly 

 less. The ova is of a delicate salmon colour and the 

 cell-walls are semi-transparent so much so that the 

 embryo shows plainly through. Although delicate 

 in appearance they are elastic and capable of sustain- 

 ing great pressure, and an egg thrown upon a flat 

 surface will rebound like an indiarubber ball. 



