180 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE — A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 

 esting and instructive discussions, the meeting ad- 

 journed for one week. 



Our lecture, about this time, from Professor Theo- 

 dore Lyman, the veteran Fish-culturist, upon the 

 subject of pisiculture, excited in us a great deal of at- 

 tention. I well remember how masterly he handled 

 his subject, and how we admired his instructive talk 

 upon a question of which, hitherto, we had remained 

 in such utter ignorance; and this, as near as I can re- 

 call from the few notes I was able to take at the time, 

 is what he said:* 



'Artificial fish-culture, means the culture of fishes 

 artificially: the surrounding of them with conditions of 

 growth which shall render their growth more favor- 

 able than as it is found occurring in Nature." We 

 understand, by this, that the lecturer would seek to 

 take away the deteriorating environments in Nature 

 which seek continually to undermine and undo that 

 which she seeks continually to do, by creating fish- 

 breeding establishments whose object shall be to as- 

 sist Nature in her best endeavors. 



"The true fishes," continued the lecturer, "are 

 egg-bearing animals which lay their eggs in the water. 

 In the salmon and trout, the female works a hole in 

 the ground with its nose and tail in which to deposit 

 them. The shad lays its eggs differently: it comes 

 from the sea up the rivers to spawn, as the process of 

 laying the eggs is called, which occurrs free in the 

 water. They are light colored, transparent, globular, 

 and hatch in from twenty-four to forty- eight hours. 

 The percoid fishes make holes or nests in the sand 

 and, after the eggs are deposited in them, watch 

 them with great care. 



"In breeding fishes one must be careful about four 

 things: raising the young from the egg; transporting 

 live breeders; dams; and protection from surround- 

 ing enemies. " 



[The following is transcribed literally from my 

 notes. I have no means at hand for verifying the 

 statements as I should surely do had I an opportun- 

 ity. "Monks made early attempts to obtain and im- 

 pregnate eggs; Lund, in 1741, but did not succeed 

 until 1758; Jacoby first established the art of rearing 

 the young fish from the egg, about 1761; it was redis- 

 covered probably by a French fisherman named 

 Renie, in 1844, who worked under the auspices of the 

 French government. At first the eggs were destroyed. 

 Then several scientific men took hold; the govern- 

 ment erected a large establishment and procured fish 

 from the Rhine and Seine for their purpose; they 

 spent large sums of money, and found out many im- 

 portant things. "] 



"The Salmon idie include the salmon, trout, white- 

 fish (of the great lakes), smelt, and caperting, as prin- 

 cipal types; they are all good food fish but the last." 

 I cannot believe that the lecturer was fully aware, 

 however, of the extent to which the latter fish is an 

 article of food (caught, dried, and preserved for win- 

 ter use ) all along the coast of the north shore of the 

 St. Lawrence, even along the Labrador peninsula, 

 when he made the above remark. "True trout and 

 salmon are marked by a small fatty fin just behind the 

 dorsal. Trout vary in color, size, form, and in many 



*Our object in quoting Dr. Lynlan's lecture, is not so much 

 to inform one upon Fish-culture,' — though in this respect we 

 hope that it will not be without its fruits, as to show how lit- 

 tle we knew then of a subject which, in so few years, has 

 sprung up to be one of the most important subjects of the 

 present djy. 



other particulars. Overfed brook trout are very 

 large." Along the north shore of the St. Lawrence 

 and in Labrador waters, (even in Canada, ) "overfed 

 brook trout" are caught in nets and by hook and line, 

 weighing from two to five pounds, — they are salted 

 down and sold in the Canadian markets by the barrel 

 full. "There is quite a difference between the fat 

 brook trout and those taken from the sea, (the latter 

 are females, I think, and the males do not leave their 

 native stream. ) The salmon are very lean after spawn 

 ing. 



"In a hatchery keep the hatching box well sup- 

 plied with a good supply of fresh water — it should be 

 kept at a temperature of 47 o to 50 o . Build a gate 

 over the stream, behind the box, to regulate the 

 amount of water; dig a pond or ponds, plank them 

 inside, lead the water into them from the stream, and 

 lead off the waste water. In the hatching-house, 

 each separate box should have a separate stop-cock 

 to regulate the supply of water, and also a cover to 

 keep the insects out of it. Trout and salmon depos- 

 ite their eggs on a gravelly bottom and in rapid, run- 

 ning water. Do not keep them together, as they eat 

 each others spawn and young. As regards time, the 

 hatching of the young depends upon the temperature 

 of the water. If the water be 50 o the spawn will 

 hatch in fifty days; and five days later for every de- 

 gree lower. The eggs will sustain intense cold and 

 yet survive. The young resemble greatly some of 

 the fossil fishes. The trout lie helpless with an at- 

 tachment of a large yolk sack for sometime before a 

 vigorous growth begins; with salmon the time is not 

 so long. Young fish are fed upon ox or calves' liver 

 in a finely divided state. The enemies of both egg 

 and young are numerous. While lying in the hatch- 

 ing box the eggs are attacked by a mould or fungus, 

 which glues them together in a mass. To avoid this, 

 cover the box with tar, charcoal, or asphalt varnish. 

 Water insects must be watched and removed. Mice 

 will eat both eggs and young if exposed. Keep the 

 box covers closed, or provide them with springs, so 

 that the light may be excluded. When once put in- 

 to a stream the young will be rapidly destroyed by 

 other fish, frogs, heron, and water snakes. 



"Some fish do not run to the sea. The salmon 

 does, and thereby gains its large size, — as no small 

 fish of this species are found in the sea. In its nat- 

 ural waters, the eggs are laid at the head of some 

 small stream, where the young may be found. They 

 are then about four inches long with dark bars on 

 their sides, and go by the name of pars; further down 

 the river or stream are found larger fish, which have 

 lost their bars and gained a silvery coating, these are 

 called smalts. The pars change their features slowly, 

 the smalts more rapidly, those which descend to the 

 sea often feed so voraciously that they gain a pound a 

 day. 



"Shad are studied in this country. They belong to 

 the herring group. When they return from the sea 

 to spawn their stomach is almost empty yet they 

 themselves are very fat. After spawning they return 

 to the sea again, but often die of starvation before 

 reaching it. Until 1867, no one had thought of rear- 

 ing the young fish from the egg. Seth Greene suc- 

 ceeded, at South Hadley Falls, Mass., where he found 

 the waters of the Connecticut River just fitted for his 

 purpose. To keep them in the water and not loose 

 them he constructed a floating box, but hatched only 

 a few fish the first time. Then he made a box hav- 

 ing no bottom, which he fastened with floats in the 



(To be continued.) 



