264 APPENDIX. 



to be to make a complete tour round their egg, for 

 they most certainly manage to perform the circuit 

 in about four or five quick and flea-Kke motions, 

 and they continue at this work all day long. 

 When hatched out, the little perch are so minute 

 and so transparent that it is almost impossible to 

 see them unless there are a number congregated 

 together. Hundreds were washed away with the 

 water through the perforated zinc ; but hundreds 

 were hatched every day to supply their place. Not 

 Kking to lose all these fish, I turned them into 

 the salmon and trout boxes, and was pleased to 

 find that these fish would feed famously on the 

 young perch; and many a fine course has taken 

 place in the tanks, the trout pursuing the young 

 perch like a greyhound a hare. These voracious 

 young creatures will also hunt and catch any 

 young grayling that comes down into their tank, 

 but they hke the young perch the best. I have 

 no idea how these young perch manage to exist 

 when bom in their native ponds or rivers : they 

 are so exceedingly minute and delicate, that I 

 should think everything would eat them. Not 

 only this ; but, even if not eaten, I find that they 

 will die at the slightest provocation, and it is on 

 this account difficult to rear them, or even to keep 

 them alive very long. 



PUEIFYIlfG PONDS. 



The great difficulty in the management of ponds 

 seems to be the fact that they so soon become filled 

 with mud, &c. A correspondent of " the Field," 



