107 



Number of Eggs. — The number of spawn which a 

 trout will give has been variously estimated. They 

 commence spawning at two years old if well fed and 

 large. It has been asserted that eggs have been taken 

 from a trout one year old, or rather taken in the winter 

 of the same year in which it was hatched. This may be 

 so, but it is more interesting in a physiological point ot 

 view than for any practical purpose, as there are so few 

 that it is not worth while to take them. A trout two 

 years old will give froin two hundred to five liundred eggs, 

 a three year old from five hundred to one thousand eggs, 

 a four or five year old from one thousand to two 

 thousand eggs. This is only an approximation, as the 

 -number of spawn depends upon the weight and health of 

 the fish, and not on its age. In some cases the number 

 of eggs id much greater-, but four thousand is the most 

 we have ever seen taken from one trout. In estimating 

 the number of spawn from a given number of fish in a 

 pond, it must be remembered that some are barren, and 

 some diseased, and some, perhaps, will not go up into 

 the race. So that the average yield of two and three 

 year olds, females only counted, will not be over five 

 hundred, of four and five year olds, not over one thous- 

 and each. 



The proportion of males to females in a pond should 

 be about one half. Not so many are necessary to fecun- 

 date the eggs, and it would be an advantage -in one way 

 to have fewer, since then there would not be so much 

 fighting in choosing partners, and as all the females do 

 not spawn at once, one male would be enough to serve 

 several females ; but, on the other hand, the males seem 

 to run out of milt before the females get through laying 

 their eggs, and towards the close of the season it is often 

 difficult to obtain males with milt enough to fecundate 



