FOREST AND STREAM. 
60 
developed, active little fish, and should be turned into the 
rivers or other waters which are required to be restocked; 
or at this time they may be placed in ponds of living 
water, and regularly fed until they become parrs, and after- 
warps smolts. At this latter stage they make their first 
migration to the sea, or other large body of water, where 
they become grilse, and afterwards salmon. 
The modits operand i pursued in the artificial impregnation 
of fish eggs and the rearing of fry being somewhat mi- 
nutely described, it ouly remains now to draw a contrast 
between the natural and the artificial methods of propagat- 
ing fish. In the latter there is no possibility of losing either 
the egg or the milt by being swept out of or beyond the 
pan or artificial bed in which they were placed by hand, 
ns would lie the gase when laid by the parent fish in the 
rough rapid waters of rivers and streams. In the one case 
a few moments will suffice to relieve the fish of the whole 
burden of eggs which she carrios in her body, when she is 
set free and at liberty in the river; in the other, days nud 
weeks, sometimes, are occupied in the prostratin' effects 
of laying the eggs. 
It will appear equally clear that every egg put in the pan 
or vessel must necessarily come in contact with some por- 
tion of the vitalizing fluid of the male, and become im- 
pregnated, whilst great numbers that are laid in the streams 
by the female, without the presence of the male, are wholly 
lost. Neither will there be found in the artificial beds 
hordes of predacious fish, waiting eagerly to devour the 
eggs ns they are dropped; nor will trout, parrs, chubs, or 
eels be found there, seeking which may get the lion’s share; 
and aquatic birds cannot gratify their appetizing desire for 
fish eggs within the precincts of the breeding room. Again, 
the ova are not subjected to injurious bruising and crush- 
ing from stones and gravel falling upon them in the act of 
being laid in the rough bottoms of streams. This danger 
is avoided in the artificial breeding beds, where neither 
atones or gravel are used or permitted, the eggs being 
placed upon smooth perforated zinc or wire, or glass trays 
in single layers, and not in clusters. 
During the six months in which the eggs are undergoing 
the process of hatching, no insects, water beetles, bugs, or 
aquatic animals, constantly on the alert for food in the 
gravel beds of rivers, can possibly attack or perforate the 
fish eggs in their snug and well protected beds in the arti- 
ficial breeding room. Clusters of dead ova, spreading their 
insidious fungoid growth to every adjoining egg, are not 
permitted here, for when the ova presents the white opaque 
color of death it is immediately picked out and cast away 
by the person in charge, and all fungoid growth thereby 
stopped. 
The baneful effects of all kinds of sediment and of dele- 
terious substances from mills, manufactories, manures, 
etc., are all regularly and systematically cleaned from the 
eggs when found resting upon them; neither anchor ice, 
nor ice floes, nor freshets, destroy or sweep them away 
when thus cared for. Here, from the fostering care and 
protection afforded them, a vastly greater number of eggs 
•roduce living fish. Well may it be said that “from the 
he cradle to the grave the salmon has but one constant 
uccessiou of remorseless enemies," and that "not exceed- 
ing one per cent, of the ova laid in the nutural way ever 
produces a living animal." Contrast these statements with 
the artificial system, and the gratifying result is an in 
cr**ase of at least seventy-five per cent., and even this aver- 
se ove ™ ome rtt the present time at the several Canadian 
md American fish breeding establishments, where, at their 
commencement, a few years ago, only thirty and forty per 
cent, were obtained ; but now, from close application and 
well devised experiments, ninety per cent, of the ova laid 
own has produced living fish, and not in small numbers 
tier, but amounting in several instances at some of these 
•blishtnents to millious of fish in ono season. 
These statements, founded as they arc upon fucts ought 
show clearly, even to the hitherto doubtful and preju 
cod individual, the great superiority of the one svsteiu 
. „ superiority or tne one syt.v. u 
/ei the other; and when it is shown that by the applica- 
tion of ordinary intelligence and industry an increase of 
seventy to eighty per cent, of one of the natural products 
the waters of the country can be brought about by this 
nproved method, it ought not to be viewed in aDy other 
'lit than that of wisdom and economy on the part of the 
people and the governments of Canada and the United 
btates to generally adopt it. 
Perhaps in no part of the globe can there be found so 
wide a field for successfully carrying on this new industry 
of propagating fish, both by the natural and artificial pro- 
( ess, asm the territory of tho United States uud in Cun- 
adu. 1 lie limpid waters of the many large rivers and 
multitudes of smaller streams, the immense inland seas of 
pure fresh water and the numerous inlets and hays to be 
found everywhere along their extensive maritime coasts 
are sources for yielding wealth that cannot be surpassed.’ 
And now that the people and the governments are becom- 
ing more alive to the great benefits which are to he ob- 
tained from the inland and coast fisheries of their respect- 
ive countries, every effort should be put forth by those in 
power not only to sustain, but also to increase and multi- 
ply the products of those extensive nurseries bv a vigorous 
application of such means as will best conduce to the 
growth and expansion of the piscine wealth of the two 
countries. 
M atmal J/istorg. 
INSECT 
For Forest and Stream. 
LIFE— No. 3. 
BY KEIJR.A. 
TTARVEY’S aphorism — omne nivium « r ow— is no less 
1 L true of the most minute insect than of the gigan- 
tic istrich. On the score of variety, in fact, the ad van - 
tag; is rather on the side of the insect; for while the chick 
wh-n it breaks the shell of its prison is. in all respects a 
bir., and as such is fitted to inhabit the same element ’as 
its .arent, the young insect frequently passes the prelimi- 
nar stages of Us existence in a medium which would be 
fatil to its perfect progenitor. The common gnat, for ex- 
amjle, depos.ts its eggs in water, attaching them side by 
sidtby means of its long hind legs in such 
a way as to 
loa a perfect life boat, which no rough treatment can 
up* .or link, it being dotjbtJwi emmlol forthti wolf mo 
of the future progeny that tho eggs should float on the 
surface of the water and not sink in it. 
The two next stages of the guat’s existence are passed in 
tho water. Every one is well acquainted with the little, 
active, wriggling creatures, with large heads, which during 
the Summer months abound in water, and especially rain 
water, when freely exposed to tho air. These are the 
larva- and pupa?* of gnats. The larva*, as soon ns they 
leave the floating egg, descend into tho water, there to 
await the arrival of the period for assuming their winged, 
aerial condition. But although they thus exist in u dif- 
ferent element, yet the respiration of atmospheric air is 
absolutely necessary to their existence; and the means of 
obtaining it are accordingly provided in the shape of a cu- 
rious apparatus situafed near the tail of tho larva;. The 
larva; suspends itself from tho surface of the water by 
means of the extremity of this breathing tube, which is 
capable of being opened out into a stellate form, and thus, 
while used as an organ of respiration, nls>> acts as a buoy. 
When the little creature wishes to descend it closes tho 
hairs at the end of the tube, and on rewsccnsion they are 
again opened. 
After two or three moultings, the larva* of the gnat be- 
comes a pupa; in this state food seems to be no longer ucc- 
essary, but fresh air is indispensable to its existence, though 
still living in the water. Unlike Hint of the larva*, the res- 
piratory apparatus of the pupa consists of two tubes, 
pluccd behind the head instead of being situated in the 
tail, which in the pupa is fin-shaped, and appears by its 
motion to assist the animal in maintaining its position at 
the surface of the water. 
The next operation — that of assuming the perfect state — 
is a most interesting one, which wo havo witnessed with 
admiration many times. It is well described in Rennie's 
"Insect Transformations," and this account being very ac- 
curate we give it entire;— 
"About eight or ten days after the larva* of a gnat is 
transformed into a pupa, it prepares, generally towards 
noou, for emerging into tho air, raising itself up to tho 
surface so as to elevate its shoulders just abovo the level 
of the water. It is scarcely got into this position for an 
instant when, by swelling the part of its body above water 
the skin cracks between tho two breathiug tubes, and im- 
mediately the head of the gnat makes its appearance 
through the reut. The shoulders instantly follow, enlarg- 
ing the breach so as to render the cxtricatiou of tho body 
comparatively easy. The most important, and, indeed, in- 
dispensable, part of the mechanism, is the maintaining of 
its upright position, so as not to get wet, which would 
spoil its wings and prevent it from flying. Its chief sup- 
port is the regosity of the envelope which it is throwing 
off, and which now serves it as a life boat till it gets its 
wings set at liberty and trimmed for (light. The body of 
the insect serves this little boat for a mast, which is raised 
in a manner similar to movable masts iu lighters, construct- 
ed for passing under bridges, with this difference, that the 
gnat raises its body in ail upright direction from the first." 
"When the naturalist," says Reaumur, "observes how 
deep the prow of the tiny boat dips into the water, he be- 
comes anxious for the fate of the little mariner, particu- 
larly if a breeze prevails, for tho least agitation of the air 
will waft it rapidly along, since its body performs the duly 
of a sail as wed as of a mast; but as it bears a much greate.' 
proportion to the little bark than the largest sail does to a 
ship, it appears in great danger of being upset, and once 
laid on its side all is over. I have sometimes seen the sur- 
face of the water covered with the bodies of guats which 
had ’perished in this way; but for the most part all termi- 
nates favorably, and the danger is instantly over." 
When the gnat has extricated itself— all but the tail— it 
first stretches out its two fore legs, and then the middle 
pair, bendiug them down to feel for the water, upon which 
it is able to walk as upon dry land, the ouly aquatic fac- 
ulty which it retains after having winged its way above 
the clement where it spent the first stages of its exist- 
ence. 
The dragon flies, or "horse stingers," as they are erro- 
neously called by the country people, also deposit their 
eggs iu the water, where they are hatched ; and the young, 
like those of the gnat, pass the two first stages of their life 
in that element. The larva* is furnished with a very cu- 
rious respiratory apparatus, by which it is enabled to sus- 
tain au intermittent pumping up and discharge of water, 
thus serving at the same tijne both as an organ of locomo- 
tion and of~respiration. But this is not the only curious 
circumstance connected with this larva*. The under lip of 
the mouth in the larva; of insects is very small; but in that 
of the dragon fly it is very large, and of a most extraordi- 
nary structure. It is by far the largest organ of the mouth, 
which, when closed, it entirely conceals, and it not only 
retains but actually seizes the animal’s prey by meuns of a 
very singular pair of jaws with which it is furnished, 
Conceive your under lip (to have recourse, like Reuumur. 
on another occasion, to such a comparison) to be horny in- 
stead of fleshy, and to be elongated perpendicularly down- 
wards, so as to wrap over your chin and extend to its bot- 
tom— that this elongation is there expanded into a triangu- 
lar convex plate, attached to it by a joint, so as to bend 
upwurds again and fold over the face as high as the nose, 
concealing net only the chin uud the first mentioned elon- 
gation, but the moutli and part of the cheeks; conceive, 
moreover, that to the end of this last mentioned plate are 
fixed two other convex ones, so broad as to cover the 
whole nose aud temples — that these can open at pleasure 
transversely, like a pair of jaws, so as to expose the nose 
and mouth, and that their inner edges, where they meet, 
are cut into numerous sharp teeth, or spines, or armed with 
one or more long, sharp claws — you will then liuve as ac- 
curate an idea as my powers of description can give of the 
strange conformation of the under lip in the lurv® of libel 
Ivlina, which conceals the mouth and face precisely as I 
have supposed a similar construction of your lip would do 
yours. You will probably admit that jour own visage 
would present an appearance not very engaging while con- 
cealed by such a mask ; but it would strike still more awe 
spec , ,ntor * ‘hey to see you first open the two 
' vou,< ? pr °J ccl from *“ch temple 
the \olnt b ii it °i f - a ,0 T’ and noxt * having »>v means of 
covered vm.r r Ch,n ct the whoI ° apparatus, and un- 
DreaenteX°5uAlf Ce U emp 0y thcm iu 8cil,n K “ n >' fond that 
procedure/ K fat ! C0 , a ™>' in S lt to your mouth. Yet this 
provided wit by tho larV!0 °f the dragonfly 
,? lranRC organ. While it is at rest it 
t0 ‘J n ;' covers the face. When the insect 
• S v unfold U lik " arm. catch the 
J „ C , I ,hey r n h nusftns of the mandlbule form 
plates, and then partly refold it, so as to ‘hold tho nrev to 
the mouth in a convenient position for the operation of the 
wo pans of jaws with which they are p?Ked R^u 
ureo 0 UidnoT nd ° no fl ( J f . lhp,n thus holding and devouring a 
c4atlv^.ce IvLa in i fflC prowf ,lmt Swammerdam was 
. cclvcd 1,1 J ma S‘utng earth to he the food of anl- 
^ — ~ * v * re* uiiw 
nidirv of . 1 , ‘ <t effectually relieve the Insi- 
u., oil I H rftlr V? lhwy are generally gotten up, and 
, ‘ “f. 1 , ,llL ‘ R ttontlon of the demoiselles, than bv appearing at 
servinlfT^ “i* ° 1 V l -‘ a musk of ll ‘ is construction and 
serving themselves by its assistance. 
These voracious larva; do not, however, trust to this 
curious apparatus solely when seeking for prey, for tlioy 
stealthily close upon it as a cat will do upon a bird or a 
mouse, and then, suddenly unmasking, seize it bv surprise, 
lusectf, tadpoles and even small tlslies are thus ruptured. 
J.tKe Hie pupa of the gnat, that of the dragon fly is under 
the necessity of seeking the air in order to assume its per 
tect winged condition; but its avoldnnco of water is much 
more complete than in the case of tho gnat, for, not con- 
tent with merely ascendiug to the surface, there to get rid 
or its now usoleas integument, the dragon fly loaves the 
water entirely, generally by crawling up the stems of 
aquatic plants, upon which it Axes itself by means of Its 
claws, and thus remains motionless for a lime, as if to gain 
strength for tho comiug struggle. After awhile the envel- 
ope may be seen to .burst open between the shoulders 
through the aperture protrudes the head of the perfect tly, 
and tins is quickly followed by its legs, the cases of which 
remain attached, as before, to tho plant. Another period 
of rest now intervenes, the head and upper portion of the 
body being bent backwards, and gradually becoming dry 
and firm. The fly, then (Irmly grasping the upper portion 
of its cast skin with its feet, gradually draws out the re- 
mainder of the body and again rests immovably, 
During this state of inaction t he wings expand, alt tho 
crimples, plaits, and folds resulting from the confinement 
within the narrow space previously occupied gruduully dis- 
appear, and tho whole wing becomes a smooth, gauzy 
membrane, traversed by nerves, and nearly tho length of 
Hie body, which has at the same time boon gruduully en- 
larging and lengthening, and tho limbs acquiring their just 
size and proportions. The whole of this curious process 
has been watched with a Imiralion, and a friend one day 
was explaining it to an intelligent little country boy who 
happened to pass tho piece of water when lt was going on, 
aud put the question: "Mister, what bu thorn ’ore things a 
doin’?" 
Crazy Ammai.s. — Iu some parts of California, tho Ban 
Francisco Chronicle says, is a plum called the "rattle weed" 
(from the rattling of the scuds in the dry pod), which, when 
eaten by nniinois, produces lusanily, or to speak more ac- 
curately, it appears to derange and befog their instincts, 
and, judging from their actions, tills them with delusions. 
When thus affected many of them die; hut whether death 
is the direct effect of the poison, or whether it results from 
their inability to procure water and food, is as yet un- 
known. Several hundred horses have lately died from the 
effects of this weed in the southern part of Monterey 
county, and a correspondent of the Chronicle, who lately 
lost fifty horses on one rancho from the same cause, do 
scribes the symptoms that were observed in the ill fated 
animals previous to their decease. 
They became, lie says, crazy, forsook the land, and wan- 
dered off one by one over the plain, paying no attention to 
their mates or anything else. They were too muddled in 
their brains to seek for water, and most of them died of 
thirst. Although they were wild, and had never been 
handled, any person could walk up to them on the plain 
uud hit them with his bund, when they would jump, per- 
haps straight up in the uir, perhaps some other way, and get 
off as though they were trying to leap a fence every step. 
They seemed to retain their sight, yet would not turn asiuo 
for anything. The poor d monied beasts would walk over 
a precipice os placidly aud deliberately as a Ban Fruuclsco 
lrco luuchcr would advance upon a whiskey bottle. 
Fkiitii.e Aluinoks. — The St. Louis Republican of March 
3d, publishes the following fact: — 
"A year ago u pair of white quails were netted in the 
Western purl of Audrain county and were purchased by 
G. II. Kibble, Esq. Tlioy were very much like the ordi- 
nary quail with the exception 'of beiug pure white. Mr. 
Ilibble kept them until last May and then turned them 
loose in the woods. Nothing more was heard of them un- 
til early in the Full, when they were discovered on tho 
Lackland furm with an interesting family of thirteen little 
chicks, all us white as themselves. They are yet in that 
vicinity, our sportsmen, by common con/cnl, leaving them 
unmolested." 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
•We have four stage* In the life of an insect— four atates which it 
is necessary to understand the egg (ovum), which is motionless and 
apparently lifeless; the grub (lnrvie), which U active, but withoflt wtngs; 
the chrysalis (pupa), which is quite motlonles*. aud not observable In all 
insects end the perfeot Jnwot (imago), whtcj) U iwtivc, has wtngs. end 
Aon obi grow. 
Dspahtment or Public Panics, I 
New Yobk. Mar. 6, 1876. f 
Animals received at Centra' Park Menagerie for the week ending 
March 6th, 1875:— 
One Black Spider Monkey. AteU* o'er Hah Peru. 
Two Vulpine Phalanger*. PhnbwjjUta eulpina. Hah. Australia. 
One CoatlmnndJ, Fasua wiriea. //ah. Mexico. 
One Armadillo, Oiuypae teeeineiiu Hah. Brazil 
One Sand Turtle, Ttdw/o //ah. Ifnytl. Presented by Captain 8 G 
Parker, steamship Andes. W. A. Cokkus. 
—The annual dinner of the Blooming Grove Park Asso- 
ciation was partaken of in good form at Delmonico's lust 
Thursday, the 11th instant. We notice the return this 
week of the late President of the Association, Fayette 5- 
Giles, E«q-, after a long absence in Switzerland. 
