CULTIVATION OP MARINE AND KKKSII-W ATKK ANIMALS IN JAPAN. 275 



crowded in hopeless tangles. They climb in their eagerness some distance up almost 

 vertical wooden walls, and, looking at them, one begins to understand how eels are 

 able to make their way into ponds and lakes which appear inaccessible to any fish 

 coming up from the sea. 



By July they weigh on an average 4-0 grams and are ready to be sent to the 

 market. When they were put in, in April, they were worth 0.80 yen per kwamme 

 (3.75 kilograms). Three months' culture has raised their value to l.."><» to 2 yen 

 per kwamme, giving thus a large margin of profit. They are all sold by April of 

 the next year, when the largest reach the weight of about 110 grams. The ponds 

 are then ready to receive the next lot. 



Eel culture, as I have said, has been mainly developed by the efforts of Mr. 

 Hattori, and all the piscicultural establishments which are more or less directly con- 

 nected with him are engaged in the business. These are in Fukagawa, Tokyo, and 

 in Maisaka, province Totomi, where the industry is being very widely taken up. I 

 believe that there are also some who have engaged in the business before or without 

 any relation to Mr. Hattori. but I am sorry I can not gather any facts about these at 

 present. 



THE GRAY MULLET, " IX A." 



Mugil a' ur Forskal. 



This is one of the commonest fishes in the estuaries, river mouths, etc., of Japan. 

 It penetrates in large numbers brackish ponds or any other brackish body of water, 

 where it may grow to a large size and may be gathered in by the proprietor without 

 his having spent any labor on it. .Mr. Hattori tells me that from the culturist's point 

 of view fear is not that there may lie too few, but that there may be too many, of 

 this fish that will get into culture ponds. The young are caught in April with a net 

 in the sea or river near the establishments. At that time they are no more than 4 to 

 ."> centimeters long. They are divided into two lots, according as they are to be sold 

 that year or the next. Those that are to be sold that year are given plenty of space. 

 not more than one or two per tsubo being put in ponds, and are fed abundantly. 

 By September they attain the length of about 25 centimeters and weigh 225 to 

 860 crams, and are sold for 0.50 to 0.80 .yen per kwamme. They are all sold by 

 the end of the year. 



Those that are to be sold the next year are not allowed to grow largerthan L'e> to 

 25 centimeters before April. This is accomplished by giving them not too much 

 food and by keeping them in ponds or streams where there is a good circulation and 

 current of water. It is found that those with plenty of fat will not live through the 

 winter. They are all sold off by the end of the second year, for beyond this they do 

 not keep well. They reach the length of 38 to 40 centimeters and 450 to 7.'>o grams 

 in weight, ami fetch 0.70 to L.10 yen per kwamme. 



I should say that practically there is no limit to the demand in the Tokyo market 

 for this fish or the eel. They can be sold in any quantity. The same is true more 

 or less in other parts of Japan. 



