174 WINTER ANGLING 



by means of a sort of undulating movement from 

 head to tail. Both male and female assist in this ; 

 and when a suitable cavity is formed, the female 

 deposits the eggs, which are about the size of a 

 small pea, and of a beautiful salmon-flesh color. 

 The male then impregnates them, and they both 

 set to and cover them up. After about a hundred 

 days the eggs burst, letting out the tiny fish, which 

 for a considerable time lie helpless, feeding only 

 by absorption from an oil-bag, or vesicle, which in 

 time becomes the stomach of the perfectly formed 

 fish. After this it feeds, and takes its chance in 

 the struggle for existence. 



Such is a short history of the natural process of 

 breeding. The artificial method, of which the la- 

 mented Seth Green and his yet living brother and 

 others were and are apostles, consists in taking 

 a fish full of spawn and catching the eggs from it 

 in a suitable vessel. These are then impregnated 

 and passed on in an artificial stream of water until 

 they hatch, after which, as soon as they can feed, 

 they are fed, and so grown on. It is a part of the 

 artificial method I am going to explain. 



The artificial spawning of fish is manifestly im- 

 practicable for most of my readers ; but as there 



