260 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 



tlie spawning-race. They apparently made all their prep- 

 arations for spawning, began digging their nests, stayed 

 about them, and proceeded in the regular way, except 

 that they were never in pairs, but always single. This 

 was not natural, and led to a careful examination of them 

 individually. After examining some fifty out of the 

 sixty, the conclusion was reached that they were all fe- 

 males, which eventually turned out to be the case. This 

 was in the latter part of November, 1879. Some dozen 

 male brook-trout were then placed among the hybrids, to 

 see if they w r ould induce the latter to spawn. Everything 

 soon appeared favorable for this result, the trout paired 

 with the trout-salmon, they entered the race-way together, 

 and occupied themselves with parental duties, but no re- 

 sults were perceived. For some reason the spawn was 

 not deposited. Then some of the fish w r ere selected to be 

 stripped by hand, and were found to be ripe, but the eggs 

 were all crushed in passing from them. The vent of the 

 ovaries or ovaduct was too small to allow the eggs, 

 which had delicate shells, to pass. Attempts w r ere then 

 made to enlarge the vent, and some thousands of eggs 

 were finally obtained in this way uninjured. To impreg- 

 nate these the milt of the male trout was used. The par- 

 ent fish were left in their pond and seemed to be uneasy. 

 They were doubtless incommoded by the eggs which they 

 could not pass, and moved about slowly with their heads 

 towards the bottom, their tails upward, and their bodies 

 at an angle to the surface. The eggs which it was hoped 

 might be impregnated by hand, were retained until Jan- 

 uary 25, 1880, when it was found they were unimpreg- 

 nated and dead, and they were thrown away. 



Thus two extraordinary facts were ascertained, one that 



