FISH HATCHING ON A MODEST SCALE 427 



it is placed in water in the covered pails, not mixing 

 the ova of sea-trout and trout, say, indiscriminately, but 

 using separate pails for the ova of each species of fish 

 stripped. When enough ova has been collected, or all 

 we can get on this occasion, we re-enter our conveyance 

 and make for the hatchery with it. 



It may be said at this point that the whole operation 

 in principle is the same for salmon, sea-trout, and trout, 

 but as salmon spawn when the weather is as a rule very 

 cold, their eggs take longer to fertilise than do those of 

 trout or sea-trout. A female salmon in most books is 

 credited with providing one thousand eggs for each 

 pound of her weight. This is probably an overestimate, 

 but the figure gives a rough indication of the total 

 quantity of ova obtained. An average sea-trout or trout 

 provides about eight hundred eggs for each pound of 

 weight. In the operations described there is not the 

 slightest difficulty, except that it is sometimes not easy 

 to get a ripe male at the same time as a ripe female, and 

 a male may require to be floated with the party down 

 or upstream in the small bag-net. Sometimes, too, 

 darkness descends on the scene and the work has to be 

 done by lantern light, while frost always protracts the 

 work. The great matter is to have one person in sole 

 command, whose duty it will be to see that everything 

 is done systematically and rapidly, not in a flurry and 

 hurry. 



Arrived safely at the hatchery the ova has now to 

 be deposited on the grilles or in the zinc baskets. This 



