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tion. The ova -were placed in the boxes as nearly similar to 

 what they would be under the ordinary course of natural deposi- 

 tion as possible, with, however, this important advantage : in the 

 bed of the river, the ova are liable to injury and destruction in a 

 variety of ways ; the alluvial matter deposited in times of flood 

 will often cover the ova too deep to admit of the extrication of 

 the young fry, even if hatched ; the impetuosity of the streams 

 when flooded will frequently sweep away whole spawning beds 

 and their contents. Whilst deposited in boxes, the ova are 

 shielded from injury, and their vivification in large numbers is 

 thus rendered a matter of certainty, and the young fish reared 

 in safety.' 



" The date when the first egg was observed to be hatched was 

 on the 31st of March ; and during April and May most of the 

 eggs had started into life, and the fry were observed waddling 

 about the breeding-boxes ; and in June they were promoted to 

 a place in the ponds, being then a little more than an inch 

 long. Sir William Jardine, in a paper read at the recent 

 meeting of the British Association, with a copy of which we 

 have been liindly favoured, says, of the first year's experiment, 

 that the results have been satisfactory in shewing the practica- 

 bility of hatching, rearing, and maintaining in health a very large 

 number of young fish for a period of two years, and, not reck- 

 oning the original expense of the ponds, at a comparatively 

 trifling cost. Sir William also reports the second series of ex- 

 periments begun last winter as most satisfactory. The work 

 was commenced on the 22d of November, and finished on the 19th 

 of December last, up to which time 183 boxes had been stoclied 

 each with 2000 ova. There seems, as we learu from the report, 

 to be a very great scarcity of male fish, as may be gathered from 

 the following entry in the pond journal, kept by Mr. Marshall — 

 ' Peter of the Pools.' ' When we [Mr. Ashworth and Mr. Buist of 

 Perth] arrived at the river, they had caught two female fish, and 

 at the next cast two other female fish were taken. At the third 

 c ast they captured a male fish in fine condition, from twenty-four 

 to twenty-eight pounds weight. We had now full opportunity 



