THE GAME BREEDER 



145 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



The Technique of Ant Eggs. 



We received a letter from a member 

 of the Game Conservation Society ask- 

 ing how to separate the ants from the 

 eggs when he gathered them, "all mixed 

 up together," as the boarding house 

 keeper said in response to a request for 

 white meat by the one who passed his 

 plate: "White meat! dark meat; all 

 mixed up together!" he observed as he 

 filled the plate. 



An excellent gamekeeper, to whom we 

 referred the inquiry, passed and sug- 

 gested that the Spratts, from whom he 

 said he procured all his ant eggs, might 

 know how to subdivide the mixture. 



A letter from the Spratts informs us 

 that the ant eggs are all imported but 

 that importations have ceased probably 

 on account of the war. 



We recently heard that the submarine 

 liner Deutschland had brought in valu- 

 able dye stuffs and a reader said that 

 was all very well but he wanted to know 

 when the submarine would bring the 

 genuine frankfurters and pilsner. Pos- 

 sibly when these valuable products are 

 brought over it will be found desirable 

 to add ant eggs to the cargo. 



Meantime, as the Spratts suggest, 

 there is a good opportunity for an 

 American industry. We have plenty of 

 eggs. All we need to know is how to 

 prepare them for sale. We shall be glad 

 to hear from any reader who knows 



the technique. 



♦ ■ 



Editor The Game Breeder : 



In your July issue you have a note on 

 ants.' eggs and express the hope that we 

 can throw some light on the subject. 



Unfortunately we cannot. 



We have never been able to buy them 

 in this country and have always import- 

 ed them. Lately the supply from 

 Europe has entirely ceased, probably due 

 to war conditions. We believe they could 

 be collected here in large quantities and 



inexpensively. Surely this would be a 

 good opportunity for vacation work on 

 the part of students wishing to add to 

 their pocket money or help to pay their 

 way through college. 



We have no personal knowledge of the 

 technique of ant-egg gathering and we 

 do not know how the eggs are separated 

 from the ants. 



By the way, without having looked into 

 the matter, is not the so-called ant-egg of 

 commerce the advanced stage of the egg 

 or perhaps the pupa? 



Spratt's Patent, Ltd. 



Newark, N. J. 



Quail Breeding. 



One of our California readers says : 

 "We are located on ground which would' 

 hardly have been selected for quail breed- 

 ing and if we are as successful with them 

 as now seems likely it should silence all 

 skeptics. Our eggs have hatched well 

 and so far we are raising ninety-five per 

 cent, of the birds. I shall send you a 

 story about the quail breeding with some 

 photographs." 



We heard recently about a very satis- 

 factory sale of a few thousand quail and 

 we hope it will not be long before breed- 

 ers sell these birds and their eggs as 

 freely as they now sell deer, ducks and 

 pheasants. The game laws intended to 

 protect the vanishing wild game surely 

 never were intended to apply to game 

 produced by industry and owned by game 

 breeders. We doubt if many game offi- 

 cers will be inclined in the future to pre- 

 vent the sale and shipping of any game 

 owned by breeders. If any do, they 

 should be reported to The Game Breeder. 

 We are always willing to bring cases of 

 interference by wardens to the attention 

 of State officers and we are pleased to 

 observe that the best of them see no ob- 

 jection to the sale of game for propaga- 



