24 THE ACCLIMATISATION 



it, the water being allowed to percolate 

 through it. Of these ova the extraordinary 

 number of ninety-nine per cent, produced 

 healthy fish after they had been under this 

 treatment ninety days ! Two more boxes 

 were somewhat differently treated, and this 

 was essentially the method adopted in all 

 future shipments. They were covered and 

 surrounded by blocks of ice, and consequently 

 were not entirely deprived of air, and, of 

 course, received the cooled water from the 

 melting ice. In one of these boxes the moss 

 was still green and living, and the ova were 

 healthy; but in the other the moss had 

 been attacked by a fungus, which had ex- 

 tended to the ova and destroyed many of 

 them. The conclusion arrived at was that 

 neither light nor a large supply of water 

 was necessary to the vitality of salmon ova, 

 that retardation could be safely carried to 

 a hundred days, and that moss, with the 

 roots attached, would continue to grow 

 under these singular conditions, and assist, 

 both directly and in'directly, in maintaining 

 the health of the ova. 



