70 AMERICAN FISHES. 



of the side of the box, there were a number of hobs, to allow the exit 

 of the water ; the bottom of the box was filled with pebbles and gravel 

 of different sizes, which were kept covered with water that was always 

 in motion. In November, or the beginning of December, when the 

 Trout were in full maturity for spawning, and collected in the rivers 

 for this purpose, upon the beds of gravel, he caught the males and 

 females in a net, and by the pressure of his hands received the ova in 

 a basin of water, and suffered the melt, or seminal fluid, to pass into 

 the basin ; and after they had remained a few minutes together, he 

 introduced them upon the gravel in the box, which was placed under 

 a source of fresh, cool, and pure water. In a few weeks the eggs burst, 

 and the box was filled with an immense number of young Trout, which 

 had a small bag attached to the lower part of their body, containing a 

 part of the yolk of the egg, which was still their nourishment. In this 

 state they were easily carried from place to place, in confined portions 

 of fresh- water, for some* days, requiring apparently no food ; but after 

 about a week, the nourishment in their bag being exhausted, they 

 began to seek their food in the water, and rapidly increased in size. 

 As I have said before, Mr. Jacobi assures us that the experiment 

 succeeded as well with mature fish, that had been killed for the pur- 

 pose of procuring the roe and the melt, these having been mixed 

 together in cold water immediately after they were taken out of the 

 body. J have had this experiment tried twice," continues Sir Hum- 

 phrey, speaking in his own person, " and with perfect success ; and 

 it offers a very good mode of increasing to any extent the quantity 

 of Trout in rivers or lakes ; for the young ones are preserved from 

 the attacks of fishes, and other voracious animals or insects, at the 

 time when they are most easily destroyed, and perfectly helpless. The 

 same plan, I have no doubt, would answer equally well with Grayling, 

 and other varieties of the Salmo genus. But in all experiments of 

 this kind, the great principle is to have a constant current of fresh and 

 aerated water running over the eggs." 



Now it is manifest from this, that any person resident in the near 

 vicinity of any lake or river, abounding in any species of this family, 

 the Common Trout, the True Salmon, the Lake Trout, and probably 

 the Otsego Bass, Coregonus Otsego, which is one of the same family, 

 likewise, having also the command of the smallest possible source of 



