THE SALMON FAMILY. 275 



ford, and another just below them devouring the ova as fast 

 as they were deposited by the spawner. The Keeper netted 

 all three fish ; and in the stomach of the third, which was 

 in very good condition, were found upwards of two ounces 

 of solid ova, or about 300 eggs. Some of these were placed 

 in the breeding-apparatus, and have since hatched. 



In striking contrast to this wholesale system of destruc- 

 tion must appear the exceedingly small percentage of loss 

 attending the artificial impregnating and hatching of the 

 ova as now practised on a large scale in many places in the 

 United Kingdom and on the Continent. This percentage 

 would seem to have reached its minimum in the pre* 

 sent year's hatching at the Thames Society's Establish- 

 ment at Hampton, where, as I am informed by Mr. Pon- 

 der, the able Superintendent, it has amounted to only 

 three per cent, on the whole number of eggs introduced 

 into the breeding-boxes. The young fry are carefully 

 reared until they arrive at an age when they can shift 

 for themselves, and are then turned into the river, thus 

 escaping the thousand-and-one enemies to which they 

 would be otherwise exposed. The consequence has been a 

 very decided improvement in the Thames * Trout-fisheries. 



* The Thames fishing can never do justice to the labour and ex- 

 pense bestowed upon it, so long as the present number of swans are 

 maintained. The destruction effected amongst the spawn and fry by 

 one of these mischievous birds would be hardly credited by those who 

 have not had ocular proof of the fact from watching them at work on 

 the spawning-beds. All anglers should unite to rid the river of these 

 ornamental pests. 



