394 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



gone to great expense to try this plan now see the 

 error of their ways, and are giving instructions to 

 their keepers to kill down these ugly brutes when- 

 ever, wherever, and however they can catch them. As 

 far as I can ascertain, this method of stocking with 

 overgrown, unhealthy, stew-fed fish has not often been 

 tried on the Itchen. 



Both on the Test and Itchen, however, the trout 



generally have distinctly dete- 

 Life history of a nor- rio rated in late years, and to 

 mal wild trout. understand the position one 



must first of all grasp the 

 scheme of the life history of a perfectly healthy and 

 normal fish which has been hatched from one of a 

 number of ova, deposited naturally on a spawning 

 shallow by a healthy female and fertilized by the milt 

 from an equally healthy and naturally bred male. In 

 due course the eggs hatch, and the young trout at this 

 stage is called an alevin. It is a most helpless little 

 creature with a large ovoid sac attached to the central 

 portion of its body. The mouth organs are not 

 developed, so that it is unable to feed at this stage, 

 and while the development of these mouth organs 

 proceeds the alevin subsists on the contents of the 

 yolk sac, which gradually shrinks and becomes 

 absorbed. 



The fry, which is the name given to the young 

 trout after the yolk sac has been absorbed, is in shape 

 a small reproduction of the adult fish, and is able to 

 take its food naturally. These young fry hide them- 



