150 How to obtain tt. 
enter. It has been suggested that in the case of using large males 
for the ova of small females, that the spermatozoa are too large to 
enter the mzcropyles of the ova of small fish. This may or may 
not be so, but the greater probability is that the diversity in the 
ages affects the fertilizing power, or too often the health of the 
embryos, or the future offspring. The age of the milters is, Iam 
convinced, an important consideration, and I prefer a com- 
paratively young fish to an old one—indeed, I do not keep male 
fish more than seven years as a rule; better knock them on the 
head and market them. 
I must here, however, add a word of caution against using 
very young fish as milters. Two-year-old males will yield milt, 
and occasionally yearlings do so, but they should not be used. 
The late Dr. Francis Day records a series of experiments (‘British 
and Irish Salmonidz,” p. 26), which go far to shew that both ova 
and milt from young fish are not of good quality. Fish culturists 
certainly know this to be the case as regards ova, and they know 
also that the males mature earlier than the females. Therefore, 
the probabilities are, as regards old breeders, that by using 
selected males that are younger than the females excellent results 
will follow. A great deal depends upon the selection of the fittest, 
and the more we come to understand this, the greater the measure 
of success that attends our efforts. 
Formerly, the condition or age of a milter was never thought 
of. Any fish that came to hand was taken, and probably even 
now little attention is paid to the matter on some of our rivers 
when fish are scarce. It is important, however, in the case of 
salmon and other wild fish to select suitable males, as it is 
amongst fish on a farm, and must tell on the future crop of those 
in a river. ; 
The spawning of the first fish is to the novice usually a time 
of much interest, and often of some excitement. To tell exactly 
when the fish are ripe, is a point about which many who have 
consulted me evidently feel a little anxiety. There is not much 
wonder at this, and experience must be bought in one way or 
another with regard to dealing with fish at spawning time. A 
beginner often gets on fairly well up to some point, where a 
mistake is made which upsets the work a good deal, and for the 
