100 How to obtain it. 
When once a piece of water contains a proper assortment 
and amount of plant life, there will be a good chance of 
maintaining a sufficient stock of those creatures which form the 
natural food of trout. Crustacea, mollusca, entomostraca, and 
other forms, should be plentifully present in the water. The two 
former are very easily introduced, and should be found in every 
trout pond. They are very prolific, and when once put in soon 
multiply and stock the water. The result of having a good 
supply of these creatures has already been referred to in the case 
of the Whitley and Dalbeattie reservoirs, which are by no means 
exceptional instances of the rapid development of trout. The 
famous gillaroo trout, named by some naturalists Salmo stoma- 
chicus, on account of the toughness or thickness of the middle coat 
of its stomach, has been found to feed very largely on shell fish. 
The late Dr. Francis Day says :—‘“‘Its stomachs are occasionally 
served up as gizzards. Thompson obtained from the stomach of 
one example about eight inches long, above a thousand shells of 
Limnea peregra, Valvata piscinalis, and a few specimens of 
Spherium corneum.” The well-known pink colour of the flesh is 
undoubtedly attributable to the food on which the trout live, and 
it has been found that the way to produce both a pink colour and 
a delicate flavour is to feed largely on mol/usca and crustaceans. 
I once took in hand by way of an experiment the feeding of a 
pond full of American trout (Sa/mo fontinalis) entirely on shrimps 
from the sea. These creatures were obtained by bushels and fed 
to the fish. The diet was an expensive one, but the effect was 
most satisfactory, resulting at the end of six months in beautifully 
pink-fleshed and delicately-flavoured fish. Strange to say, the 
trout took a violent dislike to these shrimps when unboiled, but 
boiled ones they eat eagerly. A diet of shell fish also produces 
very good results as regards flavour and colour, and the rate of 
growth is far above the average. 
Shell fish (A@o//usca) may be introduced into any pond or 
suitable stream without the slightest difficulty. They should be 
put into the water in various places, where there is some 
vegetation on which they can feed. They deposit their spawn 
freely on water plants, any pieces of rotten wood, or even on 
stones, and when once a brood has been secured they are never 
