8 FEOM EGG TO FISH. 



natural system of spawning, are laid in the secluded and shallow 

 tributary of some choice stream, in a trough of grayel ploughed 

 up by the fish with great labour, and are there left to be wooed 

 into life by the eternal murmuring of the water. From Novem- 

 ber till March, through the storms and floods of winter, the ova 

 lie hid among the gravel, slowly but surely quickening into life ; 

 and few persons would guess, from a mere casual glance at the 

 tributary of a great salmon stream, that it held among its. 

 bubbling waters such countless treasures of future fish. Prac- 

 tised persons will find a burrow of salmon eggs with great pre- 

 cision ; and a little bit of water may contain perhaps a million 

 eggs waiting to be summoned into life. During the first 

 three weeks from the milting of the egg, scarcely any change is 

 discernible in its condition, except that about the end of that 

 period it contains a brilliant spot, which gradually increases in 



EGGS OF THE SALMON KIND JUST HATCHING. 



brilliancy tUl certain threads of blood faintly prefigure the 

 young fish. After another day or two the bright spot assumes 

 a ring-like form, having a clear space in the centre, and the 

 blood-threads then become more and more apparent. These 

 blood-like tracings are ultimately seen to take an animal shape • 

 but it would be difficult at first to say what the animal may 

 turii out to be — whether a tadpole or a salmon. After this stage 



of development is reached, two bright black specks are seen 



these are the eyes of the fish. We can now, from day to day^ 

 note the animal gradually assuming a more perfect shape ; we can 

 see it change palpably almost from hour to hour. After the egg 

 has been laved by the water for a hundred days, we can observe 



