How to obtain itt. 155 
time, and the saving in labour is thus considerable. When small 
quantities are to be washed they are done in buckets which are 
kept scrupulously clean, and are used for no other purpose. 
It is quite easy, as a rule, to distinguish the sexes at spawning 
time. The males are in their best livery, and are much flatter 
and thinner in the body than the females, which are full and 
rounded. With a little practice they can be distinguished at a 
glance in most cases. There area few exceptions, some specimens 
being a little deceptive in appearance. I have met with female 
fish yielding ova that have otherwise had all the outward charac- 
teristics of the male ; and I have met with male fish which at sight 
I have mistaken for females, but such cases are rare. The same 
freak of nature occurs occasionally amongst birds, an undoubted 
egg-producing female being found attired in the full plumage of a 
male, and vice versa. One of the most remarkable instances on 
record is the case of a hermaphrodite trout, which was discovered 
by Mr. Thomas Andrews, of Guildford, and presented to the 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The fish produced 
both ova and milt, and the eggs hatched. 
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