Flow to obtain tt. 159 
picking ova. The one that I have found best, and have used for 
a quarter of a century, is very simple in its construction, and is 
easily handled after a little practice. It consists merely of thin 
brass or copper wire twisted into a loop of the proper size to 
bring out the eggs. It may, if desired, be fixed into a wooden 
handle. 
It was invented by Mr. Seth Green, the veteran fish culturist 
of the United States. There are many other useful appliances, 
most of which I have tried, but have not yet met with any 
implement that will do better work, or that is so. 
{ exceedingly simple in its construction. To use it, place 
the loop under the egg to be withdrawn and lift 
quickly. Some dexterity is needful, and is easily 
acquired. As the whole secret of using it lies in the 
pressure of the water keeping the egg in its place in the 
wire loop, hence the need for rapid action. A beginner 
should practise on some lots of newly-fertilized ova or 
ao on some which is well “eyed,” as a slip or two then 
will not do any very material damage. 
Fig. 14. The other tools used for this purpose are tweezers,. 
pliers, suction tubes, etc., and these are all found very 
useful by those who prefer them. A tube fitted with an india- 
rubber bulb does very good work, and one of my pupils won the 
day at egg-picking with one of these instruments against the wire 
loop-picker. It is not, however, the man or the tool that can 
pick the most eggs in a given time, but the one that can pick 
them without injury to the others. I have seen a clumsy prac- 
titioner getting on very well as to quantity, but doing more harm 
to the rest of the eggs than any good he was doing by picking out 
those that required it. Egg-picking would probably be well done 
by those experts known as the “light-fingered gentry,” could they 
be persuaded to earn an honest livelihood. In my hatchery it has. 
been largely done by girls, and also by men and boys, but to 
whatever class of workers it is entrusted, they should fully under- 
stand the need for care and skill in not disturbing the good eggs. 
It is necessary that all white eggs should be picked out, for 
if left too long in the boxes the fungus grows upon them, which 
also surrounds the good eggs lying in their immediate neighbour- 
