134 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



but for picking out dead eggs, there is, in my opinion, 

 nothing better than the common steel nippers just 

 described. Nothing certainly can be surer and 

 quicker in its operation in an experienced hand. 



Your first question, when the eggs are to be picked 

 over, will probably be, How can the dead ones be dis- 

 tinguished from the live ones ? But the anxiety which 

 every new operator feels on this point is wholly need- 

 less, for you cannot mistake them. The dead ones 

 will turn as white as milk, and can be as easily told 

 from the live ones as white quartz from gray peb- 

 bles. You will even perceive the dead ones distinctly, 

 as soon as you open the boxes. You will at once 

 remove them with the nippers. To handle the nip- 

 pers rapidly and safely is quite an art, and reminds 

 one of playing at jack-straws. But as the required 

 skill will soon come with practice, I will say no more 

 here, than that you should be careful at first not to 

 touch the live ones with the nippers, and by all means 

 not to bruise them by any pressure from above. In 

 time you will learn to hit the live ones, while picking 

 out, without hurting them. But till you have acquired 

 this knack, you should be on your guard. 



As it is only the unimpregnated eggs that die (except 

 by accident), the amount of the work of examining 

 the eggs depends almost wholly on the percentage of 

 impregnation. This is obvious. If one hundred per 

 cent were impregnated, there would be none to pick 

 out, and the work would be nothing. If ninety nine 

 per cent were impregnated, the work would be very 

 slight. But if not more than fifty per cent were 



