244: PROPAGATION OF FISH. 



orange, but when impregnated change to a pale, trans- 

 parent yellow, with a small black spot in the centre, and 

 on losing their vitality turn white. When one dies in 

 artificial breeding, it communicates disease to the rest 

 unless it is removed, but in the natural method the cov- 

 ering of sand isolates them and appears to prevent this. 

 The water must now steadily, and, if not sufficiently 

 fresh and abundant, should be allowed to fall in little 

 cascades, to give it life. As the operation proceeds, the 

 change in the egg can be readily seen with the micro- 

 scope, the cells of which it is composed clustering to one 

 side. Any one curious on this subject is referred to Dr. 

 Garlick's interesting little work on fish culture. 



Every old fish having been carefully removed, the 

 breeding-pond is refilled immediately, and the young, 

 awkward, unwieldy little infants, soon make their appear- 

 ance, and after their thirty days of self-sustenance are fed 

 on worms cut in small pieces, on grated or pounded fish or 

 meat cooked. Before Summer is over they are a few 

 inches long, and are driven down into their new home 

 by again drawing oif the water of the breeding-pond 

 into the latter, and frightening them into it. 



The number raised in this manner is perfectly surpris- 

 ing. From about one hundred breeders, male and female, 

 we produced over seven thousand fish, the latter fact being 

 determined not by guesswork but by actual count. An 

 average of nearly one hundred and fifty young, in spite 

 of frogs and accidents. One is apt to under-estimate in- 

 stead of exaggerating the number by guessing ; they are 

 so small and lie so quiet that they almost escape obser- 

 vation. 



