IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT BREEDING. 609 
lst. By the old way it would take two men a good half 
day to remove the screens singly, feather off the eggs ina 
careful manner, and return each (double) screen to its 
proper place. 
It would take the new spawning box about fifteen minutes 
to do the same work with one man. 
2d. The weight of the gravel which has to be lifted in 
the old way every time the eggs are removed, amounts to 
many tons in the course of a season. 
In the new box the gravel is not lifted at all. 
3d. By the old way the operator's hands must of necessity 
be more or less wet during the whole operation. Now as 
the trout and salmon spawn during the winter season, when 
the thermometer generally stands below the freezing point, 
taking eggs in the old way is not only inconvenient and 
painful but often impossible. 
By the new way the hands are not made wet and may be 
kept comfortably gloved. 
4th. By the old way more or less of the eggs are lost by 
careless feathering, exposing the eggs to the freezing atmos- 
phere, clumsiness in handling the screens (caused by cold 
fingers) tipping of the screens, wash of the current, etc. 
By the new way every egg is saved. 
5th. By the old method every fish is driven out of the 
race when the eges are taken. Some of them will not re- 
turn, but will seek a spawning place in the pond and many 
eggs will be unavoidably lost. 
By the new way the fish are not driven from the race. 
And as the boxes are always covered duriug the season, the 
fish will not even be disturbed. In fact they may spawn 
while the eggs are being taken, and yet not a single egg be 
lost 
The advantages of this method when compared with the 
stripping process are many. It is much less trouble to take 
the eggs. Itis much more comfortable. It avoids bandling 
the fish, and the consequent loss. It saves all the eggs which 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. Ti 
