56 FISH CTILTUEE. 



the actual time of spawning. The fish must be 

 watched very carefully to hit the right time. 



Greyling, again, occupy but a very short time. 

 From the first week in April to the end of the first 

 week or the middle of May, is nearly all the op- 

 portunity they afford to the pisciculturist ; ^ and it 

 behoves him, therefore, if he requires their spawn, to 

 be watchful, and to keep on the spot, as a day or 

 two's absence at the critical time — the occurrence of 

 a sudden flood, however short, or any other such 

 untoward event — may ruin all his hopes for the 

 season, and lose him a whole year. 



"When a female fish is in fit spawning condition, 

 the vent becomes slightly enlarged and of a reddish 

 tinge. The ova, previously attached together by a 

 membrane, become disconnected. Take up the fish 

 and hold it first head downwards, then reverse it, 

 and if the great bulk of spawn be seen to shift and 

 drop as from one end of the fish's belly to the other, 

 the eggs are loose, and the fish is ready to part with 

 its ova.^ If the bulk of the ova remain stationary, 

 the fish is not ready. When a fish is in a fit con- 

 dition to spawn, very little pressure is required to 



* On any particular river, the spawning time often does not 

 occupy aboTe a week or ten days. 

 ' See fig. 1 in the Frontispiece. 



