THE TROUT. 161 



only the very large ones contain ten or even a hundred 

 times as many as the small. 



The time when the trout spawn is generally about 

 the month of November. The eggs, or roe, are first 

 deposited, and then the milt over them, and they are 

 wholly or partially covered with sand or gravel. The 

 bottom of clear running water is the best adapted for 

 the purpose ; and that is the kind of ground which the 

 trout instinctively choose for their operations. Four or 

 five weeks are supposed to be sufficient for the hatch- 

 ing of the eggs, but that depends a good deal upon the 

 situation and the weather; the eggs in a shallow moun- 

 tain stream which is apt to freeze, being supposed to 

 remain unhatched till the ice be cleared away in the 

 spring. When the young fish first make their appear- 

 ance, they are riot wholly detached from the egg, but 

 have a portion of the yolk attached to the lower part 

 of their bodies, which is understood to constitute their 

 first nutriment. It does not appear that the eggs can 

 be hatched in water that is distilled, or in any other 

 manner deprived of air, or in that which is impregnated 

 with lime, or any other ingredient that is deleterious 

 to the fish in a grown state. Some have even said 

 that they have seen the young trout still attached to 

 the remains of the eggs upon a shallow sand bank, 

 poking their little heads above the water ; but though 

 we have looked for this, we have not found it, neither 

 have we found the fry of the trout adhering to the 

 place where the spawn had been deposited. We have 

 seen it in the case of those of the salmon, and thus 

 can have no doubt that it also happens with trout. 



About a week or ten days after the first bursting of 

 p 3 



