392 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



York, through Ihe kindness of Sir Edward Thornton; The ova 

 have arrived in first-rate order, and are safely deposited in my 

 breeding-boxes. Four boxes contain the ova of the Coregomis 

 albus (white-fish), four, of Salmo amethystus (salmon-trout), and 

 four of Salmo fontinalis. The ova of the white-fish seem to travel 

 the least well of the three kinds, as there are many dead amongst 

 them, .while the other two sorts have arrived in perfect order. I 

 could have some ' Black Bass' sent over but am afraid of them, as 

 Mr. Roosvelt says that ' the Black Bass {Grystes idgricans) is a 

 fighting American, and -will swallow every British fish in your lakes. 

 It is our champion fish, and it can whip all creation of the fish 

 race.' After this description, I think that you will advise me to 

 have nothing to do with such a devil, if I want to get up trout and 

 Salmo fontinalis in my ponds. The fish hatched from eggs sent 

 me by Sir Edward Thornton last year are doing very well, and are 

 growing rapidly. They are principally salmon, white and big lake 

 trout, with a few white-fish. I hatched a good number of the 

 latter, but, unfortunately, lost most of them, through their escaping 

 down the waste-pipe of the lower large tank. I had a guard of 

 perforated zinc : -but the little white-fish seem to work themselves 

 through everything, and they got away, despite all my care and 

 that of my servant, who is a very good hand at fish-hafching. The 

 trout appear to grow rapidly ; I have taken out several over one 

 and two pounds weight this summer, while shifting my fish from 

 one pond to another ; and one trout was nearly three pounds in 

 weight. These fish had only been hatched a year, or a year and 

 a half at most.^ Amongst them, I took out about one dozen very 

 pretty fish, as bright as salmon, but different in form. They are 

 broader than salmon, flatter in the sides, and the head is of a dif- 

 ferent form from either the above-mentioned fish or the trout. 

 The scales were like salmon scales but rather coarser. I am sorry 

 now that I did not take fuller particulars of the fish before turning 

 them into the ponds, and I cannot get at them now. Not having 

 seen a full-grown American white-fish, I am unable to say if these 

 fish are the same ; but not having had any white-fish spawn sent 

 me the year before last, I do not think that my friends can be the 

 Coregonus albus. Anyhow they are very handsome fish, and they 

 came in the ova from the other side of the Atlantic, and were 

 hatched in my boxes here. 



I have no new discoveries to tell you of, but soon hope to find 



1 This must be an error, and must mean two or three years. 



