214 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The importance of the fact that this food is furnished free of cost will 
easily be understood; and the circumstance that it is quickly distributed 
all over the basin renders it certain that all the young fish will get their 
share of food. One-third of the food is served to the trout in the stone- 
basin, where the trout of the season of 1886 may now be seen. Such 
is the result of confining the fish for sixteen months. 
No sun, no vegetation, no hiding-places, no quiet retreats along the 
banks ; and in spite of these conditions, which a theorist would con- 
sider disadvantageous, these trout measure 18 to 22 centimeters (7£ to 
8f inches) in length. And to what is this owing ? Simply to the abun- 
dance of food and the impossibility of finding hiding-places. The crus- 
taceans are devoured as soon as they are put into the basin, as there is 
no place where they could hide. It would be hard to find yearling 
wild trout as strong and fat as those which have been confined in the 
basins ever since the umbilical bag has been consumed. 
Since the month of October last, the piscicult.ural establishment of 
Piedra has been rented by the Government. At this time there may 
be seen in the raising-basin thousands of this year’s trout which 
have already reached an average length of 7 centimeters (2| inches). 
These basins swarm with crustaceans, and nevertheless the three daily 
rations are never omitted. If one asks the fishermen as to the harvest 
of small shrimps, they invariably answer: u The more we take, the more 
there seem to be.” 
If the Government will construct inclosed basins on the existing 
model, it might try to acclimatize exotic species without fear of hy- 
bridization, which is an important point. 
Mr. Baveret-Wattel points out the way to restock the rivers, not only 
with young fish, but also with trout 8, 10, and 14 months old, as is done 
in Scotland with those called u yearlings.” I entirely agree with Mr. 
Baveret-Wattel and the Scotch pisciculturists. If there is war, soldiers 
should be sent out, not babies ; it is not the number which assures suc- 
cess, but the age and valor of the soldiers. Leaving this figure, which, 
however, shows the reason for employing u yearlings,” I venture to 
assert that if this system gains ground, the old system of stocking rivers 
should also be abandoned at Piedra, and the new system introduced. 
There will be no lack of food for the u yearlings,” for in digging out 
new ponds fed by the Devil Bock Brook it will be found that after 
two months they will be filled with cresses and other aquatic plants; 
and underneath these plants large numbers of small shrimps will be 
found, as has been the case in all the ponds which have been dug, where 
many millions of these small crustaceans are caught every year. 
In some places where the water freezes, the reproduction of the crus- 
taceans is possibly suspended for some time. I can not state this with 
absolute certainty, for I have not had occasion to make the necessary 
observations; but it seems tome that ice would not favor reproduc- 
tion. In the lake and in the Devil Bock Brook the temperature, even 
