OF THE SALMONID^. 23 



the end of sixty-seven days, but when some 

 of the boxes were opened in the presence of 

 a number of practical and scientific men, 

 the microscope showed the great majority 

 of the ova to be alive and healthy, though 

 there was neither air, hght, nor a continuous 

 supply of water. Some boxes were allowed 

 to remain for one hundred and twenty days, 

 and still the ova were healthy and the moss 

 growing. The temperature had been about 

 .32° the whole time. From both sets of 

 boxes a fair proportion were afterwards 

 hatched out. Still more remarkable than 

 this was the case of one box placed in the 

 dry compartment of a patent refrigerator 

 surrounded by ice and proved to be air-tight 

 by inclosing in it a lighted candle, which 

 went out soon after the lid was shut. On 

 the ninetieth day this box was opened, the 

 moss was damp though the outside was dry, 

 and no less than seventy per cent, of these 

 ova were hatched. But by far the best 

 results were obtained from a box in the ice 

 compartment of the refrigerator, with blocks 

 of ice (renewed as they melted) piled upon 



