HATCHING THE EGGS. TT5 



cells, and so on indefinitely. Therefore when it is 

 torn off or broken in pieces, as it constantly is, by the 

 action of running water, it is not destroyed, but ren- 

 dered tenfold more capable of injury ; for where one 

 plant existed before, now there are as many plants 

 as fragments. Thus having once found entrance, it 

 spreads over everything, and its removal is worse than 

 Hercules's task of killing the hundred-headed Hydra, 

 whose heads grew out as fast as they were cut off. 



This fungus, if once present in the hatching water, 

 will certainly attach itself to the eggs, and when it 

 does, their fate is sealed ; you cannot save them from 

 its effect, as it never lets go its hold. It will surely 

 eat out the vitality of the embryo within, and will 

 either kill it wholly or will leave a puny, lifeless, trans- 

 parent creature, which will in all probability never live 

 to grow up. It cannot therefore be guarded against 

 with too much care. 



If the eggs seem to hang together, or stick to the 

 bottom, or move about heavily, when they are agitated 

 with a feather, you should be on the watch for fungus, 

 for these are signs of it. It is detected for a certainty, 

 on the eggs, by placing a few in a clear homoeopathic 

 phial, and holding them up to the light. If there is 

 fungus on them, it will be seen as a collection of very 

 fine, ethereal, colorless threads floating over the eggs 

 like streamers. If you see this, the pestilence has 

 come. 



If it should by any accident form upon your eggs, 

 shut out at once all light from them this will check 

 its growth somewhat. Increase the current as much 



