380 Fisminc ry AMERICAN WAtTERS. 
posit 250,000 ova. Granting that a considerable portion of 
these are hatched, is it ever found that a fiftieth or a bun- 
dredth part of the whole arrive at maturity? Far from this 
being the case, the number of trout will continue almost the 
same for years, without any perceptible increase. The rea- 
sonis plain. So soon as the fry are hatched, they are exposed 
to the attacks of the parent trout. Within the limits of the 
reservoir there is not the remotest chance of their ultimate 
escape. It is true, ifthe fingerlings knew enough, they might 
ascend the tributaries of the preserve to shoals where the 
parent trout could not follow; but they do not know, and 
man, being placed over the kingdoms of inferior animals, 
should preserve them for his own good. Salmon which 
spawn in the natural waters generally go to the heads of 
the streams during the fall floods and deposit their spawn; 
when the waters subside, the ova is sometimes destroyed by 
being left on dry land. Other fish deposit their spawn and 
cover it on prior beds of spawn. Others spawn in the cur- 
rent of the stream, and a freshet carries it down the current 
as food for all the inhabitants below. In other cases the fe- 
male salmon makes her spawning-bed, and deposits and cov- 
ers up the ova, while the male fish is down at the foot of the 
pool guarding it from the incursions of an army of water- 
guerrillas, Sometimes the place in the stream selected for 
the spawning-bed is very good while preparing the trenches 
for the spawn, but by the time the spawn is deposited the 
strerm has become a torrent, and washes away the ova; and 
yet—just like a headstrong specimen of humanity—if the fe- 
male makes up her mind that she will spawn at a place, the 
rapidity of the flood of water never daunts her, though the 
swiftness of the current prevents the roe from ever touching 
bottom. Long Island is formed of a net-work tracery of trout- 
streams, and yet there are but ten establishments for the arti- 
ficial propagation of trout. Some proprietors and the poach- 
ers of the island capture trout in winter to stock ponds which 
are kept for the commercial advantages of letting them to be 
