THE NEW ART OF BREEDING FISH. 145 



whole of the day, for possession of the female, and 

 were repeatedly on the surface displaying their dor- 

 sal fins, and lasliing the water with their tails. Be- 

 ing satisfied that these were real salmon, there being 

 at least ten brace of that fish engaged in the same 

 process in the stream at the time, I took the oppor- 

 tunity of securing as much of the ova as I could 

 possibly obtain. This I did three days after it was 

 deposited, the males and female still occasionally 

 frequenting the bed. The method by which I ob- 

 tained the eggs was by using a canvas bag, stitched 

 on a slight frame formed of small rod-iron, in fashion 

 of a large, square landing-net, one person holding 

 this bag a few inches farther down the stream than 

 where the ova was deposited, and another with a 

 spade digging up the gravel, the current carrying 

 the eggs into the bag, while the greater portion of 

 the gravel was left behind. Having thus obtained 

 a sufficient quantity of the ova for my purpose, I 

 placed them in gravel under a stream of water where 

 I could have a convenient opportunity of watching 

 their progress. The stream was pure spring water. 

 On the 26th February, that is, forty-eight days 

 after being deposited, I found, on close inspection, 

 that they had some appearance of animation, from a 

 very minute streak of blood which appeared to tra- 

 verse, for a short distance, the interior of the egg, 

 originating near two small dark spots not larger, at 

 that time, than the point of a pin. These two dark 

 spots, however, ultimateljr turijed oi^t to fee t}ie eyes 



