Flow to obtain itt. 149 
in the impregnated eggs, but no further development taking place 
it simply remains, presenting the appearance of a globular shaped 
body, and in about three weeks or a little more, according to 
temperature hastening or retarding the development of the fertilized 
eggs, these unfertilized ova may be picked out. They are 
commonly called ‘‘blind” eggs because they never show the eye 
spots, which are, later on, such a prominent feature amongst the 
good eggs. 
The so-called “dry method” by which trout eggs are now 
taken was discovered in Russia by M. Vrasski. Experiments had 
also been tried in France to test the vitality of milt, and these had 
led to the discovery that the spermatozoa could be kept alive 
much longer out of water than in it. If the air be kept from it, 
as for instance when taken direct from the glands into a tube and 
hermetically sealed, it will sometimes keep good for a considerable 
length of time, and I have sent it by post to a friend, who found 
it to be quite fit for use at the end of twenty-four hours or more. 
By this “dry method” of impregnation a much larger 
number of eggs is rendered fertile than formerly, when a 
spawning dish half full of water was used. In those days we 
used to think seventy-five per cent., and less, a very good result ; 
now, we get ninety-five per cent. Sometimes all the eggs are 
impregnated, but usually a few escape, and these are afterwards 
picked out, and will be alluded to in another chapter. Talking 
of percentages reminds me of a very irrelevant question a fish 
culturist was once asked by a juror at an exhibition. Instead of 
confining his queries to the subject of the exhibits, the juror asked 
what was the greatest percentage of alevins he had ever obtained 
from the ova laid down in his hatchery? He knowingly answered, 
“‘a hundred and one per cent.,” which for a moment puzzled the 
judge, until he remembered that one egg sometimes yielded two 
or even three fish. Do not be disappointed if you do not always. 
get a good result at first. There are many things to learn in 
connection with this important branch of the work. Sometimes. 
the ova may not have been properly developed in the ovary ; 
sometimes the constitutional weakness of the fish may be to 
blame ; sometimes the eggs may have absorbed water; or even, 
owing it may be to a defective mcropyle, the spermatozoa fail to. 
