202 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



them the appearance of being wrapped in cotton. 

 These should be removed, as, though the other eggs 

 will not be immediately infected, yet the fibres of this 

 vegetable growth will in time get around them, and 

 prevent the water having free access to them, when 

 they, too, will die. The unfruitful salmon eggs should 

 be at once removed ; but when the ova are very small, 

 as is the case in trout, &c., it is better to wait till the 

 parasitical plant has appeared before removing " the 

 tares from the wheat," as the operation can then be 

 performed more easily. It is therefore much better not 

 to have a layer of small stones at the bottom of the 

 case, as many of the ova will sink between them, and 

 from remaining unperceived may in time cause great 

 damage. It is true that the salmon instinctively makes 

 a hole and covers her ova with small stones. But she, 

 in all probability, only adopts this precaution in order 

 to protect them against their numerous foes, and not 

 that the development of the embryo may be thereby in 

 any way accelerated. 



ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA. 



It might not unnaturally be supposed that it is best 

 to transport the ova in the same element as that in 

 which they are deposited in the ordinary course of 

 things, viz., in water. But it must at the same time 



