AND OF STILL WATERS. 57 



with a cluster of microscopic globules, which before were 

 spread all over its surface. In half an hour the pear- 

 shaped excrescence is divided into four globules, which 

 in another quarter of an hour are subdivided into eight, 

 and after a similar period into thirty-two, which still 

 remain clustered together on the top of the egg. In 

 another half-hour more globules appear, which become 

 less in size as they increase in numbers, and at length, 

 from their minuteness, that part of the egg to which they 

 are attached becomes almost as smooth as before they 

 made their appearance. The embryo fish is now seen in 

 the form of a whitish transparent speck, which is the 

 rudiment of the backbone. The organization of the skin 

 then proceeds, and the embryo as it is coiled round the 

 yoke increases in length until the head becomes percep- 

 tible. In forty hours from the first this embryo tench 

 gives signs of motion, and in further twelve hours it has 

 freed itselt from the skin of the egg, at which time the 

 fish is two lines in length, and the blood is of its natural 

 colour. For some hours after leaving the egg the young 

 appear inert ; lying on their sides and unable to swim, 

 but when the swimming bladder becomes developed they 

 assume their proper position and activity." 



In stocking ponds with tench it will be found 

 that the larger and finer the fish that are turned 

 down for breeding the better; it is the most 

 certain way of obtaining good-sized fish for 

 table in the shortest space of time. Ponds 

 should not be allowed to get over-stocked, and 

 from the breeding-pond the small fish should 



