194 DOMESTICATED TROUT. 



still less recorded. It is important, however, that this 

 department should not be overlooked, partly because 

 no art which has for its object the cultivation of any 

 creature can be considered perfected without a 

 knowledge of its diseases ; and, especially, because 

 the diseases of young trout are often clandestine in 

 their operation and epidemic in their effect, so that, 

 when the ravages of disease break out, they are pecu- 

 liarly widespread and fatal, and rapid in their work. 



I therefore venture, though with some timidity, to 

 give the reader the little knowledge which I have 

 gathered on the subject from observation of the trout 

 under my care, with the hope that others will follow 

 in the same path, and supplement my scanty notes 

 with more valuable information ; and I wish to say that 

 I claim neither appropriateness in the names of the 

 diseases mentioned in this chapter, nor perfect cor- 

 rectness in the diagnosis. I only give the plain re- 

 sult of my incidental observation, without pretending 

 to great thoroughness or scientific knowledge of the 

 subject. 



The diseases and causes of death which have come 

 under my notice among young fry are as follows : — 



i. Fungus on the egg. 



2. Partial suffocation of the embryo. 



3. Strangulation of the embryo in hatching. 



4. Seth Green's dropsy, or blue swelling. 



books on their diseases, and we know where to go to find horse- 

 doctors and dog-doctors and the like ; but no book has been 

 written on the diseases of young trout, and I suppose there never 

 was in all the world such a thing as a fish-doctor. 



