REARING 193 



wasted. Even well-bred fry cannot be taught to 

 resist the temptation to seize the very largest piece 

 they can see and bolt it whole ; if, therefore, you 

 would avoid loss from death by choking, take care 

 not to allow the fish to have pieces of food too large 

 for their mouths. 



In a small model hatching-box of the size I have 

 mentioned, you would perhaps be able to keep two or 

 three hundred fry for about a fortnight after they had 

 begun to feed. At the end of this time it would be 

 necessary to thin them out in order to avoid the ill- 

 effects of overcrowding. 



It is a good plan, therefore, to have ready at hand 

 extra rearing-boxes, made on precisely the same plan 

 as the box which you have been using, only larger. 

 They may be placed out of doors, and it is better 

 that they should be supplied with brook-water, 

 although excellent results have been obtained by 

 using the spring-water of the hatching-house. 



An example of the successful rearing of fry to an 

 advanced stage indoors in a great city with water 

 supplied from the company's mains will be remem- 

 bered by visitors to the Imperial Institute of 1897, 

 who may have seen there the exhibit from the Weston 

 Fishery. In six weeks the fish had grown to two 

 inches in the boxes. 



o 



