PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 311 



held up by the attendant is seized and treated in a similar man- 

 ner, and thus the ova of several fish arc taken in much less time 

 than it takes to write a description of the operation. A male 

 fish is then handed up and the milt expressed on to the ova, both 

 being carefully mixed by the hand, and a little water added. In 

 this way dish after dish is filled with ova until all are occupied, 

 when the contents of half the dishes are ready for washing, and 

 these are shot into a tank with a perforated outlet, in which they 

 are subjected to a current of water. The spawning then goes on, 

 and by the time the dishes are again filled the contents of the 

 rest are ready for washing. And so the work goes on, gallons 

 of ova being taken and got ready for the hatching-boxes in a 

 very short time. They are then decanted by means of a measure, 

 which holds enough to fill one grille, and thus the latter are 

 rapidly filled, and become the resting places of the ova until 

 *' fully eyed," when they are packed and distributed to all parts, 

 being largely and successfully used for planting in artificial 

 hatching beds and streams. This, if properly done, Mr. Armis- 

 tead considers the most economical method of stocking waters, 

 and the eggs are sold in large quantities at very low rates to 

 facilitate this important work. 



Leaving the work of the hatchery, we again took a walk 

 amongst the ponds, and were just in time to witness the sorting 

 of a splendid mass of delicious-looking Loch Leven trout. The 

 late fish were pitched into an empty pond adjoining the one from 

 which they had been taken, whilst those nearly ripe were put 

 into a carrier on wheels — a very convenient looking thing— and 

 hurried off to one of the spawning ponds to wait for a few days 

 before being operated upon. A few fully ripe fish (some 50 or 

 60) were carried off to a waiting tank ready to be operated upon 

 by Mr. Armistead as soon as practicable. A pond full of Ameri- 

 can trout specially engaged our attention in passing, many of 

 the fish being distinctly visible, their resplendently prismatic 

 colours and the deep orange and white of the under parts and 

 fins being distinctly seen, even while in the water. Several 

 botanical ponds were noted, some of the specimens in them being . 

 great rarities, A fine specimen of the Cape Water Lily {Aponoge- 



