l899-'00 TRANSACTIONS 173 



(6) Instead of securing the parent fish, or obtaining the 

 eggs after being deposited, tli:: small fry, incubated and hatched 

 naturally, are netted and used for purposes of stocking waters. 

 Trout and black bass have been mainly introduced into new 

 waters by this method. Black bass, when very j^oung, devour 

 each other, even when only a little over an inch in length, and 

 the Caledonia (N. Y.) Hatchery ofi&cers have reported that their 

 young black bass grow so rapidly that they niust be shipped 

 immediately after being collected in the adjacent marsh ponds. 

 Nearly 400,000 of these fry are annually distributed from the 

 American hatchery named. 



It is plain that if we can secure the eggs from the ripe 

 parent fish, fertilize them by the dry method, and hatch them 

 under the care of experts, the results must infinitely surpass 

 those possible under natural conditions, where a small propor- 

 tion only can be expected to surmount all th'e dangers and diffi- 

 culties of their environment. lyet me give an illustration of this 

 waste of eggs on the natural spawning beds — a waste not con- 

 trary to natural law, but obedient to the principle of compensa- 

 tion and adjustment, universal in the world of nature. In 1S95 

 I spent some time closely observing certain spawning beds of the 

 Fraser River salmon, commonly called sockeye or blueback. I 

 noticed, not once, but scores of times, pairs of fish busy nesting, the 

 male fish lingering near his partner until she shed a shower of eggs. 

 Just as the eggs were cast into the rapid stream, the male fish 

 had his attention attracted by a rival, and darted with lightening 

 speed to drive him off, both male fish tearing at each other 

 with gaping jaws, armed with formidable teeth, the teeth at 

 this time being of abnormal size. Time after time I saw female 

 fish wasting their eggs in this way, for the eggs deposited in the 

 gravel bj^ the female, while her partner was engaged in a fight 

 twenty or thirty yards away, were unfertilized and would, of 

 course, perish or be eaten b}^ hungry enemies, suckers, trout, 

 etc. , which hovered near in hordes. 



The curious fact repeately noticed by observers, that male 

 salmon outnumber the female; and the fierce fights and number- 

 less resulting deaths, may be a device for reducing the surplus 

 number of one sex. "To me it is the strangest puzzle," said 

 Frank Buckland, " why the male fish always predominate over 



