152 



the terrors of the mighty deep would keep away their 

 far more dangerous enemies of an inch or two in size. 

 The big fish would not see them and the little ones 

 could not follow them. 



Handling the Eggs. — Shad do not spawn during the 

 day, but commence these operations about dusk and 

 continue them till midnight. For the purposes ot artifi- 

 cial cultivation they must be taken when they are per- 

 fectly ripe, as it is called, in other words when the eggs 

 are mature and ready to be deposited in the natural way. 

 So it is that over these beds, and during the first half 

 of the night, the seines are swept to catch the spawn ers 

 and milters which are to be manipulated scientifically, 

 as they are thus secured in their best condition. The 

 moment the seine is hauled, its contents of all sorts are 

 ladled with a scoop net into a boat, and while it is being 

 set again the fish are handled. The manipulator has in 

 front of him on one of the thwarts a tin pan containing a 

 little water, and taking fish after fish he holds it over 

 this with one hand and gently presses its belly with the 

 other. The ready performance of this is a matter of 

 practice, and if the eggs and milt are ripe they will ex- 

 ude under a slight pressure. As last as the fish have 

 been stripped, males and females being used indiscrim- 

 inately, they are thrown into another boat. 



When the fish have all been stripped or the pan is 

 full, it is kept in gentle motion for thirty minutes, atler 

 which the water is changed, and the gentle motion and 

 changing of the water alternated until the eggs swell, 

 become hard and distended, and the impregnation is 

 perfected. 



In the course of the first fifteen minutes the tempera- 

 ture of the water in the pan falls some ten degrees, and 

 the eggs finally become so hard that they feel to the touch 



