THE CULTIVATION OF COARSE FISH. 381 



from the violence of the storm, from which cause alone millions 

 of eggs are frequently destroyed in the open water. The sides 

 of the box and the branches effectually prevent their destruction.' 

 Further, the numberless enemies of the egg are shut out, for 

 by placing a piece of wire netting over the top, the ravages of 

 swans, ducks, and wild fowl — those great destroyers of spawn — 

 are provided against. When I described Lund's box to a 

 meeting of anglers at the Society of Arts Room in 1882, its 

 manifest advantages for coarse fish culture were fully appreciated, 

 and a society was formed with the object of renting waters and 

 stocking them with fish, to experiment with Lund's box. Six 

 boxes were made and used, and I think I may say that in spite 

 of some errors inseparable from a first experiment of this kind, 

 they proved fairly successful. Spawn in large quantities was 

 deposited in some of the boxes, and large quantities of fry were 

 afterwards observed in and around them. . The only difficulty 

 experienced was in obtaining the parent fish. From what I have 

 seen of its practical working, I am perfectly assured that, provided 

 you can get an adequate stock of parent fish, the Lund box is 

 a most admirable contrivance for obtaining any quantity of fry. 

 When obtaining your parent fish you will find that by far the 

 larger proportion of them are females, in fact you will often 

 experience difficulty in getting any male fish ; remember, too, 

 that the males are, as a rule, much smaller than the females, 

 and that, therefore, even the smallest, say even of three inches, 

 length, should not be rejected. 



These boxes have since been most successfully tried on the 

 Thames, the Trent, and the Lea; and on the Kennet Mr. 

 Frank Gosden, pisciculturist to the Duke of Wellington, now 

 breeds miUions of perch fry every year to serve as food for his 

 young trout. The dimensions given by the Swedish Fisheries 

 Inspector are too large, it is better to have them about half 

 the width. It is also a good plan to have a door in the side to 

 let out the parent fish after they have spawned. 



