53 



lay and every injurious agency can be watched and de- 

 stroyed before serious damage is done. 



DIFFICULTY OF KEEPING AKTIFICIALLY IMPKEGNATED 



EGGS ALIVE. 



During my sojourn at St. Jerome's Creek, experiments 

 made witli a view to keep tlie young oysters alive wliick 

 had developed from artificially impregnated eggs, met 

 with no better success than the attempts previously made 

 by Prof. W. K. Brooks. The difficulties experienced 

 were the same as those encountered by him, that is, it 

 was found impossible to renew the water on the swim- 

 ming embryos without losing many of them. Whether 

 the mortality experienced is altogether due to the de- 

 composition of organic material, sudden or violent 

 changes of the temperature and weather, or a want of 

 more frequent changes of water, I am not prepared to say. 

 Heavy storms no doubt affect the eggs and embryos very 

 much ; sometimes mortally, as Prof. Brooks* experience 

 as well as my own would seem to indicate. Floating 

 boxes with muslin bottoms were tried, but with indiffer- 

 ent success, although the boxes were covered, violent 

 rains seemed to kill the embryos. The muslin bottom 

 which was employed was soon found to become loaded 

 with organic matter and small organisms, so that it soon 

 became practically impervious to water. The develoj)- 

 ment of minute life was rai^kl, and the sides and bottom 

 on the inside were soon covered with a slime loaded Avith 

 vibriones, monads and infusoria into which tlie delicate 

 eggs probably sank to be smothered or consumed as food 

 by this microscopic host. Repetitions of the experiment 

 met with the same bad success, until at the suggestion 

 of Major Ferguson a large flannel pen was constructed 

 into which a, quantity of eggs, numbei'ing many millions, 

 were placed. The pen, although so large, 6 feet long, 4 

 deep and 8 wide, gave results of little more value; though 

 I obtained a single young oyster which fixed itself on 



