THE NEW AKT OF BREEDING FKH. 31 



tte modes recommended ia the copy of the Count 

 de Goldstein, it is clear that to him belongs the honor 

 of the discovery. The original paper ia which, after 

 thirty years of research, he developes all the conse- 

 quences of the discovery, was published in 1763 in 

 the Journal de Hanovre. The author arrived at 

 these important results in the following manner : 



It was known in his time that at spawning season 

 trout and salmon ascend brooks in which clear water 

 runs over a gravelly bottom, choose a resting-place, 

 then working with head and tail manage to move the 

 gravel, and heap it up in a manner to form a sort of 

 dike to break the force of the current, in the inter- 

 stices of which their progeny may find shelter. In 

 this dike or gravel-b^d the female deposits her eggs, 

 pressing her belly against it to facilitate spawning. 

 As the eggs are pressed from her their weight carries 

 them to the bottom, and, as the bottom is pebbly, 

 they fall into the interstices till they fill the bed thus 

 prepared for their reception. Thus placed they are 

 protected from being washed away by the force of the 

 current, and preserved in a state of cleanliness which 

 is necessary to their ulterior development. 



It was known too, at the time the memoir was 

 written, of which Count de Goldstein gave a copy to 

 M. de Fourcroy, that the moment the female finishes 

 spawning, the male in like manner pressing with his 

 belly the gravelly bed emits his mUt, and that this 

 milt mixing with the current passes like a cloud over 

 the eggs, impregnating them with lifegiving parti- 



