TAKING THE EGGS. II5 



2. Use good milt and plenty of it. The thin watery- 

 milt that comes in a little stream is not good. The 

 thick creamy milt which oozes slowly from the fish is 

 unripe. The best milt is that which has a medium 

 consistency and comes from the fish with a spurt. 

 This is the kind to use. Use plenty of it if you have 

 it to spare. 



3. Make quick work in impregnating the eggs. Have 

 everything ready beforehand, so as not to lose a mo- 

 ment's time after the fish are in the tub. Do not be 

 over two minutes with any one pan. By these precau- 

 tions you will secure absorbing eggs and active zo- 

 osperms and a good intermingling of both, even at 

 the minimum estimate of the period of their effective- 

 ness* You will also thus avoid the reabsorption 

 of milt by the males, which will sometimes happen 

 when they are disturbed.? 



4. Allow the eggs ample time to separate. It will 

 do no harm if you leave the eggs an hour in the pan 



* It should be borne in mind that the eggs begin to stick 

 quicker and remain stuck together longer when exposed to a low 

 temperature. The zobsperms of the milt also are less active and 

 effective when very cold. M. de Quatrefages says that the sper- 

 matozoa of trout milt live the longest at a temperature between 41° 

 and 48° Fahrenheit ; but that when the temperature exceeds these 

 limits, the increase of the energy on the part of the animalcules 

 compensates to a certain extent for the shorter duration of their 

 vitality. 



t Males having good and ready -flowing milt sometimes, when 

 frightened, seem to reabsorb it into the glands, so that it cannot 

 be pressed out naturally. By immersing the fish in warm water, 

 however, say at 70 Fahrenheit, the glands will be relaxed so that 

 the milt will flow copiously again. 



