THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 127 



ingB on that river on the 26th of August, in place 

 of the 14th of September, and by that means they 

 have got the river better supplied with breeders than 

 it has been during the existence of the present laws." 

 There is much cautijon in these remarks. It is evi- 

 dent, however, that " Y." is not favorable to artifi- 

 cial breeding except in " barren " rivers. He does 

 not speak out so boldly as " Salmo," but I feel as- 

 sured that on this point their opinions tally. " Y." 

 speaks well of the condition of the river Tay. It is 

 surprising, then, that some of its proprietors should 

 have recourse to artificial breeding, or, if not surpri- 

 sing, it must be taken as a proof that they hope 

 some good at least from breeding artificially. And 

 here, en passant, I will hint that I do not much like 

 the breeding-boxes of Mr. Kamsbottom used by him 

 upon Tay and in Galway. Why not breed in the 

 bed of the river withinside a longitudinal dam ? Of 

 this I shall have to say a good deal hereafter. If I 

 were convinced of the accuracy of the following cal- 

 culation set forth by " Salmo," I should be obsti- 

 nately opposed to breeding salmon by artificial means. 

 He says, " It must be remarked, that only a limited 

 portion of the ova of a salmon is mature at a time ; 

 that to obtain the gross produce of one fish, you 

 must handle, at least, 10 or 12, probably 40 or 50 

 fish ; that, in procuring these fish, you must disturb 

 a considerable number of others, and interrupt their 

 spawning at a very critical period ; that every fish 

 so handled, is more or less injured, and rendered for 



