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that inflammation of the ovaries, if existing, had not been 
occasioned by improper handling. I might here state 
that it is poor workmanship to use any pressure on the 
abdomen of a trout in taking eggs. If the fish be ripe, and 
she is held in proper position, she will, by her own exer- 
tion, extrude her eggs. It is true that a gentle assistance 
will sometimes be necessary to enable her to pass the eggs 
from the anterior portion of the ovary to the vent; but 
the exercise of enough pressure to occasion inflammation 
would be inexcusable. Suchan amount of pressure may 
be; and is employed on fish caught and destined for im- 
mediate marketing, such as shad, whitefish, etc.; and, 
again, it is unreasonable to suppose that the exercise of 
pressure at one spawning sufficient to occasion inflamma- 
tion of the ovaries would not result in the death of the 
female before the occurrence of another spawning period? 
Or, if not in her death, at least is such a disorded con- 
dition as would be indicated by some outward sympton ? 
After reading the report of Prof. Riley, as above set 
forth, as to the presence of parasites, I thought that they, 
the parasites, might have been introduced into the domes- 
ticated rainbow trout by the use of beef liver, the almost 
universal fish food, somewhat in the way that trichina 
are introduced into the human system by the use of raw 
pork. Working in a preliminary, amateur fashion along 
this line, I addressed a number of letters to prominent 
fish culturists, asking if they cooked the liver or used it 
raw. Some used raw liver; others,a mixture of raw and 
cooked liver; and others, a mixture of raw liver and 
mush. But the answer which upset my theory came 
from my old preceptor, Mr. Fred Mather, who had ex- 
perienced the trouble of hard, glassy eggs from rainbow 
trout which had never been fed on any beef liver raw or 
cooked. Following on the heels of this came a letter 
from M. James Richardson, Superintendent of the Cali- 
fornia State Hatchery at Sisson. His communication 
contained a statement of a fact of which I had never 
