142 [FISH CULTUEE 



teen minutes or forty-eight hours ; why a ringer may 

 remain translucent until after good eggs are hatched ; 

 why false eggs may remaiu superficially as clean and 

 translucent as good eggs for three or four weeks, are 

 enigmas as bewildering as anything the Sphinx could 

 propound. Although it is claimed that ringers are 

 more abundant among fish which have been over-fed, 

 I have never heard any one offer a solution for the 

 appearance of them which seemed to me to be even 

 plausible. I have heard only one explanation of the 

 cause of a false egg which seemed at all enlightening. 

 As a false egg is seldom found in fish younger than 

 three years, it has been suggested that they are eggs 

 which have been soaked prematurely in the ovaries 

 when, as it sometimes happens, the female took water. 

 On several occasions I have found ripe four-year-old 

 females in July. I stripped them and found them all 

 carrying water, and the eggs were as thoroughly 

 soaked as they would have been after impregnation 

 and washing. These experiences indicate the plausi- 

 bility of the theory that a false egg is caused by being 

 soaked while in the ovaries. It is claimed also, by 

 some men, that a water-soaked egg is often carried by 

 the female over the year, or until the next spawning. 



Bead Eggs. — ^It is of course necessary tliat 

 all dead eggs be removed from the trays before 

 they develop fungus ; hence, picking should be- 

 gin not later than the day after the laden trays 



