Fishes. 



8461 



Ixora stricta are conspicuous, and on the white dilate^ calyx-seg- 

 ments of Mussaenda erosa I find clustered a pretty Hoplia with a silvery 

 gray pubescence. 



The loug segments of the crimson-spotted flowers of Strophanthus 

 arrest my attention as I approach the precincts of a village, and I stop 

 to gather the sweet-scented corymbs of Clerodendron fragrans. I also 

 sniff an odour not so pleasing, and peeping over a bamboo fence I 

 observe a piggery ! And this fact reminds me of the great difference 

 between the social and physical condition of the pigs of the North and 

 the pigs of the South of China. The pig of the South lies in a clean 

 sty, and is well cared for. She has a short wrinkled face, glutton 

 eyes, swollen cheeks, a sunken back, short legs and a pendulous belly, 

 and she waddles placidly along with a kind of semi-somnolent com- 

 placency. The pig of the North, on the contrary, has to take care of 

 himself, and, judging from his physique^ he is able to do so. He is 

 a black, hirsute, active and irascible pachyderm, with a lean body, long 

 legs, a wedge-like head, a bristling crest, an inquisitive nose, a wicked 

 vigilant eye, a straight tufted tail, and a shrill angry voice. And with 

 this porcine contrast I conclude my observations of what I saw on the 

 banks of the Chu-kiang. 



Arthur Adams. 



Artificial Fish Raising. — This most interesting process is now being exhibited in 

 the window of the office of the 1 Field ' newspaper, No. 346, Strand, under the able 

 superintendence of Mr. Buckland, from whose contributions to that valuable journal 

 I select the following particulars. The ova are those of the salmon and trout. " The 

 apparatus used consists of a series of troughs made of zinc, some 18 inches long, 

 4 inches deep, a"ud b\ inches wide; one side has been formed of glass that the good 

 folks outside the window may see the ova resting on the bars, and also the young fish 

 coming out of the ova. The ova are placed upon the glass rods or bars, which are 

 fixed just far enough apart to hold them up. I cannot say for certain how long it is 

 since these ova were taken from the mother fish. The less light the ova have the 

 better ; the boxes where they are placed should be covered with boards, or, belter still, 

 with coloured glass. The salmon ejfgs are a bright red colour ; those of the trout 

 nearly pure white. As the fish are hatched they fall through the glass rods upon which 

 they are placed as eggs, and when I pay my daily visit I invariably find the eggs de- 

 creased in number, but the young ones in the tank below the rods much increased in 

 number. So fast, indeed, have they hatched that I have been obliged to construct a 

 new tank entirely for the young fry, of which (salmon and trout together) I have alto- 

 gether, in the * Field ' window, nearly two thousand, as active as gnats. It is most 

 interesting to watch the egg at the moment of hatching. If you have luck you may 

 happen to be gazing on a particular egg, when of a sudden you will see it split in twain 



