196 FHow to obtain it. 
looking over the stock, a number of white specks may be noticed 
in one or other of the boxes, consisting of precipitated albumen. 
When this is observed, look out for the cause of the mischief. 
Some one or other of these water-creatures has obtained admission, 
and the sooner he is ejected the better. He is all right enough 
in his proper place, but that is not amongst “alevin” trout. He 
may turn out to be a caddis worm, and if so, will probably be 
found lurking ina corner. He has most likely come in when 
much smaller, and then grown bigger. He may well do that 
where he is, for he is certainly in a water of plenty. In order to 
ascertain how he goes about his work, just place him in a glass 
jar containing only water, for twelve or thirteen hours, and then 
introduce an alevin trout. He will soon make up to it, and with 
one squeeze of his powerful claws, or nippers, will burst the 
umbilical sac, and devour the contents. This accounts for little 
bits of precipitated albumen occurring in the box. 
A few alevins will die, but they should be very few, and these 
will drop out of the ‘t pack” and lie about lower down in the box, 
where they will linger for awhile and then expire, first changing 
to a lighter colour, and becoming rigid. It is not at all unnatural 
that this should be so; they are probably weakly fish that never 
would have lived to grow up, and which always occur in small 
numbers. Then there will be found a collection of fish which 
will not die at once, but which still appear very helpless, and 
usually gravitate to the lower end of the box near the screen. On 
examination it is easy to see that they are cripples, and very 
curious-looking individuals they are, most of them suffering from 
curved spines. This weakness amongst young fish is well-known, 
and assumes a great variety of forms. Some have their backs 
bent so as to look sickle shaped, whilst others are twisted up 
very much after the manner of a cork-screw. In some cases the 
body is bent at almost a right angle, and in others the tail or the 
head is deformed. These are soon devoured when their lot is 
cast in a stream, but here they lie, if allowed to do so, until the 
umbilical sac is absorbed, when they die. There are also some 
curious examples of a different nature, and these are seen to be 
possessed of two heads and two bodies with a tail common to 
both. Others, again, have a head and half a body extra, the 
