THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 59 



side, and take it. The first thing to be discussed is, 

 what fish you are going for ; and next, how you are 

 to catch your fish. The old recommendation of Mrs. 

 Glasse is by no means to be despised in this in- 

 stance. The catching of salmon on the redds may be 

 a very easy matter, or it may be a somewhat heavy 

 affair ; aU depends on the river you have to fish. If 

 the salmon are up the smaU brooks, a short handy 

 net, and a couple of men with your assistant, may be 

 enough for you. But if they be in the fords of a 

 large river, it becomes a very different and a difficult 

 matter, often requiring ten or a dozen men, and a 

 net of above 100 yards in length. This is a point 

 which will be best arranged with the keepers or 

 bailiffs of the river about to be netted. One thing 

 the pisciculturist will soon discover — ^viz. that he 

 takes five or ten, and perhaps twenty, male fish for 

 one female; and this is the case not only with 

 salmon, but with trout and greyling also. Why this 

 is, it is difficult to say; and whether there are 

 actually many more males, or whether the female, 

 conscious of the valuable burden she carries, is more 

 shy, or whatever the cause may be, the fact is indis- 

 putable. I have heard it argued that there are far 

 fewer female fish on the beds, because there are more 

 female fish caught ; the female, being more ravenous, 



