Bt ie dat Agta en eat tc Rotini TT armor fy | New York State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y. Library Fish-culture:a practical guide to the mo See pages 60, 61, and 62. FISH-CULTURE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE 20 THE MODERN SYSTEM OF BREEDING AND REARING FISH. BY FRANCIS FRANCIS, PISCICULTURAL DIRECTOR TO THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLAPGED. LONDON : ROUTLEDGE, WARNE, AND ROUTLEDGE, BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. NEW YORK: 129, GRAND STREET. 1865. LONDON : R CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILLe : PREFACE. Tue practice of Pisciculture has become a matter of such public interest and importance, that I am induced to put forth this little treatise, not because no works on the subject have been published before, but because there are many points which are extremely interesting in the science, and which, in all probability, will be- come the most popular part of it, which have been hitherto almost overlooked. My design is not only to show my readers how they may hatch the eggs of fish, but how they can best bestow their energies, and direct their studies and experiments, as a means to- wards increasing the supply of wholesome fish vi PREFACE. food ; to review the various fresh-water fish found in Great Britain, and point out those which are most valuable to us, and how they may best be distributed, cultivated, and increased ; and, further, to consider the merits of such fish as it may be advisable to acclimatize, but which are not at present included in our Fauna. Com- prehensively considered, my plan is to indicate how water may be made most productive, and what should be done with those vast aqueous deserts of lake and stream which are now com- paratively valueless, but which would be mines of wealth to us were it not for the ignorance which generally pertains to everything vitally connected with this subject. I believe water—neglected, ill-used water— if properly tilled, to be much more valuable than land, through its greater productive powers? 1 What edible animal is there that exists on land which possesses the capability of reproducing 9,000 of its own size in a period little exceeding eighteen months? This can, however, be per- formed by a grilae of eight ornine pounds’ weight. A grilse of this size will deposit, say, 9,000 ova; in about fifteen or sixteen months the fry from this ova go down to the sea, and in two or three months more they have been known to come back to the river ag grilse of from five to ten pounds’ weight. PREFACE, vil —powers which are greater because we have a combination of two elements, both land and water, helping and encouraging each other in the work of reproduction—and where the best species of fish, as salmon and trout, can be cul- tivated, it is capable of yielding a revenue very far exceeding that of land alone. Water requires few or none of those expenses demanded on land. Left to itself, it produces and reproduces to a degree which, computing by acreage, very far transcends the land. What would our rivers and streams be worth if brought back only to a state of nature, if. man had not (instead of cultivating them) almost de- stroyed them? But ought we to be satisfied to restore our streams to their natural state, and content to leave them so? Is water-culture so difficult a study, so recondite in its secrets, so partial and uncertain in its results, that it should not vie, by the means of study and experiment, with agriculture? Surely the results already obtained do not tell us so; much rather do they encourage us to pursue our inquiries, that we may win from Nature her secrets and profit thereby. We know something of the ansee Vill -PREFACE. science, but how many valuable secrets remain to be explored! | The mere artificial hatching of fish is by no meavs a difficult operation if a plentiful supply of clear and cool water can be obtained. But the points chiefly to be considered are, how are fish to be fed and fattened when they are hatched ; what suits them, and what does not? There is no difficulty in producing any number of fish, but the rearing them until fit for food is another matter. We often hear of the fish in certain waters dying off without being able to discover the cause. Some weed, or insect, or other matter which is very préjudicial to fish, may have become mixed with the water; and we ought to be able to detect the cause at once, and with certainty. We ought to know how such things are to be prevented, and what the diseases of fish spring from. But we do not. The agriculturist knows to a head or two what amount of stock his farm will carry. He knows what kinds of roots are best suited, not only for stock to feed on, but for his various fields to grow. The cold land suits PREFACE, ix one thing, the dry land another. This land will grow swedes and that corn, this rye-grass, and the other some other crop. He knows what species of food, and what variety of it, will fatten his stock the quickest. He knows what roots and cereals are the most productive and pay best, and in what order they should be planted. He knows what breeds of stock suit his farm, and where to put them, and when it is most profitable to him to get rid of them. As a breeder and feeder, he knows how to cross- breed and feed his stock, so as even to change the very frames and carcasses of his cattle into the shape most favourable to his interests; and how has he arrived at all this, but by study and experiment P Contrast our knowledge of water-culture with that of agriculture, and the result is simply degrading. We should know what kind of food suits our various fish best, and what con- ditions best produce. that food, and how those conditions are best to be cultivated, so that such food muy be self-producing. Hence it will be seen that the habits of all the insects and plants found in water, and their correlative agreements and x PREFACE. dependence upon each other, must be studied. Going lower still, the conditions that suit these conditions, even to their chemical and microsco- pical analysis, peep out, and a grand scheme of a new science, a new phase of creation, is, as I have said, dimly foreshadowed, in which the food of man is the dependent consideration. Were we to study to understand the position in creation which every insect fills, the great secret would not be to us the jumble which it is, — and we should begin to appreciate the beauty and harmony of the works of the Creator, and to see the wickedness and absurdity of interfering to disarrange them. The aquarium has hitherto been an interesting scientific trifle; henceforth it should be a link in this great chain of obser- vation. It will be seen, by the few remarks I have made, that this science requires to be, and is capable of being, widely popularized. I shall touch further on these matters in the body of my work as I find occasion. It may be urged that, in the succeeding pages, T have taken somewhat too wide a range of sub- jects into the study of Pisciculture. I do not PREFACE, Xi think so, however, if this science is to become as popular among us and as beneficial to us as it should be. The mere hatching and rearing of small fish appears to me to be but an integral part of Pisciculture; and it will not be denied that, considerations as to the best kinds of fish to encourage, and how to encourage them, with the best methods of producing suitable food for them, are necessarily points of as much import- ance as that of bringing them into the world. I have now only to add, that since the pub- lication of the First Edition of this work, the practice of fish culture in this country has re- ceived considerable impetus, and many events have taken place which rendered a wide revision of the book necessary; and I have therefore thought fit not only to revise and re-write many of the chapters, but to add others, and to make many additions to the stock of information they originally afforded. Not the least important, perhaps, of these events, is the formation of a public Piscicultural establishment, under the auspices of the Accli- matisation Society of Great Britain, which esta- xii PREFACE, blishment has been placed under my management; and thus I have enjoyed peculiar advantages for bringing my account of the knowledge and practice of the art down to the very latest period. This additional information, I cannot doubt, will be most useful and acceptable to my readers. Francis Francis. Tur Firs, TWICKENHAM. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. PAGE THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PISCICULTURE . .. . 1 Chinese Fish Culture . ab. Fish Culture amongst the Romans 2 The Lucrine Lake. . . ‘ 3 Medieval Fish Culture : Dom Pinchon ‘ 4 Jacobi’s Method 5 Mr. Shaw, of Dronlanrig tb. Gehin and Remy j 6 Mons. Coste—Huningue. . . 7 Description of Huningue and its Apparatus é 8 The Establishment of the Acclimatisation soviet 13 Table of the Fish treated of , . . ‘ 15 CHAPTER I. Our INLAND FISHERIES . ae ee oes AG The Salmon anditsSearcity . . . . . . . . Natural History oftheSalmon. . . ..... =. 418 Exportation of Foul Fish to France . . fa ye 20 Keeping Salmon in Lakes without an outlet a ee | Peculiarity of Salmon in American Lakes ae Nae cual gh OOS The Salmon in the Egg and Smolt State. . . . . . 22 Irregularity of Migrations . . 2... . «ss . 24 The Enemies of the Ova and Fry . . alee vthay, 326 The Advantages of Artificial Inenbation . i . . 28 The chief Piscicultural Operations in Great Britain . . 28 Vermin found in Gravel, &. . / en ee we ee DD Alluyial Deposits . 2 2. 1 1 1 ee ee we ee 80 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. Tur ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA Water Supply . ‘ The French Apparatus Comparison of Slate and Harthenware Trays The Deposition of Ova Volume of Stream required . Cisterms . . Taps . . « a Number of Trays desiraile ‘ Arrangement of Trays Cisterns.. . Temperature . Sheds . Apparatus for Streams The Grille and Gravel compared Cleanliness desirable . a Floating Apparatus The Catching of Fish . a Preponderance of Males over Females Evidence of Spawning condition Articles necessary in Manipulation Unripe or Infertile Ova Method of Manipulation . Time of Spawning. . The best kind of Nets to Use Sitting Room Apparatus . CHAPTER III. ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA Plan for Transmitting fresh-taken Ova ue Rail Cans for Transmitting Ova . Conveyance of Ova to Australia Conveyance of Ova in Charge Method of Packing and Conveying Vivid Ova Tenderness of Greyling Ova. . . ‘ 71 ab. 72 73 76 77 78 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER ITV. Tue HATcHING oF OvA AND TREATMENT OF ALEVINS . 79 Plans for Removing Dead Ova from es oy, fags Bee Re SAD Mr. Francis’s Method. . . Kat wigs Ses ae ae 6 SE Development of Embryo. . . . ....... 82 Peculiarity in Greyling Ova 2... 1 ww ww. OD Good Ova and Bad Ova ae ier howe a a we BS Hatching of Ova . . . orig 4 ak ee eg Be Appearance of Alevins . . . . . 1... . .~ 86 Transfer of Alevins . . . . . 1...) 8D Diseases of Alevins . . Bi ee Se SR ae ee ar 2 OO Difficulty of Confining the Fish eS ww Aw ee 92 Protection of Fry . 2. 2 ww we eee we The Turning outofFry. 2. . . 1... 1 we 9S Feeding of Fry. . . . Pome San pl dee Bes 396 Increased Necessity for Tleantinass ae assy ee SOF CHAPTER V. THE TRANSPORT OF Fry AND Fish . . . . ss e 99 Fresh Water by Rail . . oO eo See 000s Instance of Loss of Fry by Catteni Acid foe a ae ie LOO The Transport of Large Fish . . . . . ... . 101 Mr. Eyre’s Fish-Carrier . . ie we oa we 202 The Transport of the Silurus Glanis ae 103 Mr. Lowe’s Account of the Introduction of the Silurus Glamiay 3.0 3) Qi fees oe tae “ae clas CA Slee Gee a ADS CHAPTER VI. On THE Foop oF FisH AND ITs PRopucTion. . . . . I11 Omnivorousness of Fish . . . So -Gareonety elt 200s Difference displayed in Breeds of Trout a fetes et a ae Experiments in Feeding. . 113 The Fish of the Chess and Wick compared and considered 114 The Gammarus, its Excellence as Food for Fish . . 116 The Cause of Fish not rising well to the ee in some Talks 118 Food in Weeds. . . . Bote ot @ arg” AO f xvi CONTENTS. Introduction of Crustacea . . Introduction of Larvae of Flies . Loch Leven . . 6 we RS Oe BO ‘Welsh Lake and Teaches «4 AP es den xe Splendid Trout in Mill-pond at ‘Alton The Value of Water-weeds . ue The Anacharis Alsinastrum for Menntaht Lakes : The Production of Fish Food, &c. anew Science Pollards as Food Producers . Minnows not advantageous in some Trout Takes ee CHAPTER VII. ON THE CROSSING OF BREEDS OF FISH . The Size of Fish in various Rivers . Comparison to the Breeds of Cattle ee Little known with respect to Hybrids . . . . Failure of Experiment to produce Hybrids . CHAPTER VIII. CoNSIDERATIONS ON THE Best Kinps oF Fis FoR RIVERS The best Fresh-water Fish , 2. 2. . 1. we ee TheSea Trout. . ....... WHE ETIORS ve see hel He eo ee eh Sore | The Charr ... perk Cie Caen fan “ee Same The Scandinavian Charr . ae ae The Iceland Charr. . . , . , F The Greyling . . Sa age The Burbot. . . . ... , The Lamprey The Lampern The Perch How to cook one The Fel . , The Flounder The Gudgeon . Coarse Fish and Conaneni: Rivers Chub, Barbel, Dace, and Roach. Jackand Tench , . , e 8 ee PAGE 120 121 ab. 122 123 124 125 126 128 ab. 1380 wb. 131 132 w. 133 ab. 134 wb. 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 146 147 148 149 wb. CONTENTS. xvii ‘ i PAGE Carpin Rivers . . 2... 2. ee we - 150 The-Bream: < 6 « i #@ % & @ BR ww we ws LEE The Whitebait . ‘ ab, The Bleak . . oe hn we ay ok ee a TB The Shad—Twaite at Allice oe ee was SED AP aad), ee be The Sturgeon . 2. 1. 1... ee ee » . 155 Phe: Cray. Bishi: 5. a0. aoe Ge . . 156 The Pearl Mussel . . . . 1... » es « « 159 Leech Culture . . 2. 1... 7 ee. enw 8B, . CHAPTER IX, On Fiso To BE ACCLIMATIZED IN RIVERS. . . . . . 160 TheHuchen ......... 2... .~ 4 he Tde: ig. as ek ao Boe SOE ea Os . . 161 The Black Bass. . . . . 2... c i | Ds The Mountain Mullet. . . ..... + « 462 The Murray Cod . . . i WE PS - « 168 CHAPTER X, On Lakes, Poons, ETC. . . 2 1 ee eee ew 6164 Salmon and Sea Trout Lakes . . ... » . 0 Trout Lakes. . . ao etree an SG BS The Introduction of J ake to Trout: isles iyome “Go. ap a B66 Salmo Ferox. . . gee OR a as a og 0B. Best-sized Trout for itakse 4 « « « 167 The Absence of middle-sized Fish it in some Takes ev. ~ JE The Ombre Chevalier. . . . . «. » » ss « « 174 The Lucio Perea . . . 1 1 we ep ew we ew we 195 The Coregoni . - © ee ew ew we th 2c EE The Powan . . Se aoe GR Me oh GS a Ray de ES The Pollan and Vendace , ee ee ee 2 oe 1B The Gwyniad . eo 8 wee AD) The White Fish, or ;Cerpnias AYbus . Bh iol viene a 12S) SESH The Otsego Bass-. . . ah At ath» foe oe Cir, ach casey SO The Maskinongé . . . . - we ee ee ee 182 The Silurus Glanis . . of Shi Ci . . 183 Letter to the Times on its arrival, See . 184 b xviii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. . PAGE On SMALLER Ponps . . - - ee + ee + ee e188 Our Bad Management of Fish Ponds. . . . . . « %& The Filthy State of our Fish Ponds . . . . . . 189 Instance at Stanton Harcourt . . . . . ..- . - 190 Plan pursued in Holland . . - ~~ «s+ s+ 191 The Use of Weeds in Ponds. . . . . . «~~ ~ 192 How Pondsshould be Fished . . . . 1 1 1 ee The Growth of Carp 2 6 6 ee ee ee ee On the Formation of Ponds. . . - «+ » 198 The best Fish and their Proportions for Ponds . - . » 194 The Extraordinary Growth of Fish in Mr. Maltby’s Ponds 195 Roach objectionable in CarpPonds . .... . . 198 Instance, Brownwich. . . 2. + ee ew ew ee Eels objectionable in Ponds. . . . . «. « « « « 200 The Destructiveness of Swans. . . . . . . «2, Their ravenous taste for Fish Spawn. . . . . . . 201 Instance, Marlow . . . «© «© 6 © © ew we e + © 208 The Perchin Ponds . . . .... ss ss « 204 The Spiegel Carp . - Sy WS TaD -MAgeo ae WGy, Ge ae LOO Pike in Ponds and Take. SR mae i ae oe “Bream in Pondsand Lakes. . 2... 1... 207 Instance, Lough Erne. . . . . » 1 sw ws « 208 4 CHAPTER XII. Dors THE ABSTRACTION OF OVA FROM A FisHERY INJURE IT? 209 Instance, Mr. Gurney’s Fishery . . . . . . . . Instance, Mr. ‘Smith’s Fishery . . . BO awe eB, The advantage of Disturbing Vermin, &e, 2 ioe « « B11 CHAPTER XIII. Our SEA FISHERIES . . . . - . . eee ww 218 Bounties on Herrings, and their Advantage soe ee On Training Seamen . . - 214 Absence of Information with regard to Sea Widherias , + « 215 CONTENTS, The case of the Newfoundland Fisheries .. . Report of Capt. Loch . ee. The Toronto Leader on Bounties ‘ Action of Government on the Ni evibontliand Pisheries Depression of the Irish Fisheries . . . i The Encouragement afforded to the French Fisheries The Herring Fishery. . . Vets Statistics of the Herring Fishery Messrs. Hewett’s North SeaCompany . . The Scotch Fishery Board and Glasgow Merchants Mr. Mitchell on the Herring . . The Herring Brand Ae Se Seining for Herring . . : Difference between Sprat and Herring: Fry one Interest felt by other Nations in their Fisheries Shrimp Trawlers mischievous. Outcry raised against Beam Trawling 3 Effects of Mine Waters, &c. on the Coast Fisheries Infringement of Treaty Limits by eae Oyster Beds . . og ; The Herne Bay Oyster Company 5 American Oysters, Clams, &. . . . . The Cultivation of Crabs, Lobsters, &e. . The Lagune of Commachio . . The Lucrine Lake . . . Lake Fusaro, the Basin d’ Aeashioss, ke. Oyster Culture at the Ile du Ré Be fe The Southend Fish Breeding iid 3 The Viviers at Concanneau . . . Mussels, Cockles, Whelks, &.. . . ‘ Value of the Whelk Fishery at Herne Bay 3 CHAPTER XIV. On THE CooKING oF FisH . Ignorance of the English Labourer on Cooking Destructive effects of such ignorance . Defective Education of ae Ladies as regards Cookery Knowledge . English Servants xix PAGE 216 219 221 225 228 231 252 233 1b. 234 237 239 244 245 247 250 254 255 260 261 264 265 266 ib. 268 ab. 269 1b. 270 ad, 271 272 275 XX CONTENTS. General Waste. . 2 - ee ee Fish Soups 2. eo ee eee tt et Fish Cakes 2 2.2 ee ee et Value of Fish Property . . . .- + APPENDIX. I,—REASONS FOR THE DECREASE OF SALMON T].—Tue STockine oF THE CLYDE WITH GREYLING III.—STORMONTFIELD . .. + se «te IV.—Mnr. AsHwortn’s UNDERTAKINGS . . V.—Mr. Coorrer’s EXPERIMENTS AT -BALLISODARE . . VI.—CREATION oF A SALMON FisHERY At DooHULLA . VII—Txe Tuames ANGLING PRESERVATION SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS. . . . . VIIL—Satmon-Starrs . ....., 1X.-—-CorEconus LAVEBETUS AND FERA . 1 . PAGE 276 277 278 279 283 293 296 299 301 307 314 318 320 FISH CULTURE. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PISCICULTURE. PISCICULTURE is said to have been originally dis- covered by the Chinese, those barbarians to whom civilization owes so large a debt, even for its silk and its tea, and many most ingenious and useful inven- tions. The art was practised by the Chinese from time immemorial, and the scale upon which they have employed it is far larger, and more comprehen- sive, than has been since adopted. Planting in suitable places in their rivers large posts, to which a framework was attached, they placed thereon faggots and hurdles for the fish to spawn on. That operation completed, they removed the hurdles, &c., collected the eggs, and either hatched them under their own immediate supervision, or stocked other B 2 FISH CULTURE. streams with them. By this simple but effective process, the rivers of China have come to abound with fish, to such an extent, that it forms the staple of food amongst the lower classes. The Romans followed the Chinese in their practice of pisciculture. During the republic, the art was employed to supply the wants of the nation; under the empire it was extended and improved by the luxurious nobles, until it became a hobby upon which the ambitious gourmand lavished his treasure to an extent which, even in the present age, would be regarded with wonder. Speaking of the achievements of Lucullus, M. Jourdier (one of the French piscicul- turists, who has written an interesting work upon the eulture of fish, leeches, &c. &c.), quoting M. Guezon Duval, says that, “at his house at Tusculum, on the borders of the Gulf of Naples, he dug large trenches, or canals, running from his fishponds to the sea. Into these canals the fresh-water streams were con- ducted, and a pure running water thus kept up. Many of the sea-fish, which spawn in fresh water, entered these canals and stocked the ponds with their fry, and, on their return to the sea, flood-gates were placed at the entrance of the canals, closing the passage, and while their posterity was growing, the fish themselves furnished the market.” INTRODUCTORY. 3 These proceedings on the part of Lucullus were imitated by the Roman patricians, at. their villas, on the borders of the Gulfs of Baise and Naples; and at a later date, we have almost fabulous stories of the cultivation of lampreys, and the prices realized by red mullet of large size, and other fish, M. Jourdier further adds a note, to the effect that this process is carried on at the present time, in much the same manner, on the rivers of the Basin of Arcachon, “MM. Javal, Borsnere, and several large river pro- prietors, having there immense reservoirs, whence they and their farmers draw very large revenues.” This may have been very ingenious on the part of Lucullus, and is no doubt profitable to MM. Javal and Borsnere, but if they only supplied the market with the spent fish, which are on their descent to the sea, I do not respect the taste of the purchasers. Continuing his remarks upon the pisciculture of the ancients, M. Jourdier speaks of the oysters of Lake Lucrin, their cultivation having been originated by Sergius Orata, in the time of Crassus. These oysters were brought from Brindisi, and Sergius Orata led the public to believe that the flavour of the oysters was greatly improved by their residence in Lake Lucrin. Hence they became shortly so popular, that he covered Lake Lucrin with contrivances BQ 4 FISH CULTURE. destined for the breeding of oysters. The Lake of Fusaro, a salt lake between the ruins of Cume and the promontory of Misenum (the Avernus of the ancients; the Acheron of Virgil) and of which I may speak hereafter, furnishes another proof of the skill which the ancient Romans brought to bear upon this favoured art. As regards the practice of piscicul- ture later on and during the middle ages, we have abundant evidences of the high estimation in which it was held by the monks. Indeed, it became a matter of serious importance to them, from the sup- posed. requirements of their religion, and the natural difficulties which often presented themselves to the providing of a supply of fish at all adequate to the wants imposed by the fasts they observed. M. Jourdier attributes to Dom Pinchon, a monk of the Abbey of Réome, who lived in the fourteenth century, the discovery of the method of breeding and rearing fish by means of wooden boxes. The ends of these boxes were of wicker-work, and in the bottom of them sand was deposited ; excavations were made in the sand, and the eggs of the fish deposited therein, a gentle stream of water being then turned on, and run through the boxes. As far as I can understand this method, which seems very simple, there is little dif- ference between it and the plan at present adopted. INTRODUCTORY. 5 Subsequently to this, but more than a century ago, we find another discoverer who appears to have prac- tised the artificial hatching of fish, and in a very complete and simple manner. This was Lieutenant Jacobi, a German gentleman. His mode of proceed- ing is detailed in a series of papers published in the Hanover Magazine, in 1763—4 and 5. This gentle- man appears to have experimented upon various kinds of fresh-water fish, and to have been suc- cessful with all of them. The plan he adopted for hatching salmon and trout was to construct a long oaken box, with fine gratings at the top and ends; to fill it partially with gravel, and, having pro- cured the ripe spawn from a female fish, and fecun- dated it by mixing it with the milt of the male, to deposit it in the gravel in the box; and having then placed the box in a clear running stream of a suitable depth, he left the task of incubation to nature. Sir Humphrey. Davy, in his “Salmonia,” gives a full account of Jacobi's plan and proceedings. And this plan, with little alteration, is in use at the present day. But the art, from some cause, for a long series of years, fell into disuse, and was well- nigh forgotten, when Mr. Shaw, of Drumlanrig, being anxious to decide the “parr question,” carried out a series of experiments, which extended over many 6 FISH CULTURE. years, viz. from 1833 to 1839. In 1833 and the following years, he took young parr from the river, and experimented with them. In 1836 he collected spawn from the natural beds deposited by the salmon themselves, and hatched it by artificial incubation. In January, 1837, having prepared suitable beds and basins for hatching and rearing the fish, he caught a male and female salmon in the. Nith, expressed the roe and milt in the manner at present employed, and placed it in the beds prepared,’ hatched and reared the fish, and kept them until they reached the smolt state. So that in this country Mr. Shaw must be deemed, if not the discoverer, the first. person who has of later years practised the art, and given the results to the public; and as far as actual results are concerned, it has all the merit of a discovery. In France, Messrs. Gehin and Remy, two French fishermen of Bresse, in the department of Vosges, may be said to have re-discovered the art, as far _as their own country is concerned. They were poor, and to an extent ignorant fishermen, who clearly had nothing but observation to trust to. Cer- tainly, their discovery led to more immediate and 1 Whether Mr. Shaw took the idea or no from “ Salmonia,” I cannot say, but he would in all probability have read that work. INTRODUCTORY. 7 active results than ours did; probably this may have been from the fact that the art was really more requisite for the re-stocking of the exhausted rivers. However this may be, Gehin and Remy having carefully noted the whole process of depositing the spawn, it occurred to them that this process might be carried out artificially, and, thereby, vast quan- tities of ova, then yearly sacrificed (the fish being taken in the spawning season), having been pro- perly fecundated, and planted in the river, might be saved, and little comparative damage would be done to the fisheries by the practices unfortunately so much in vogue. Having by experiments found that their plan was perfectly feasible, they commenced their operations in 1842, although it was not until 1848 that their claims to public consideration were acknowledged. From that time, however, they successfully carried on their process in various streams, both in France and in Germany. About this time M. Coste, Professor of Embryogenie in the College of France, took up the subject, having been attracted to it by his experiments on the embryos of fish; and hearing of what Gehin and Remy were doing, he represented the matter to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. The attention of the Government was arrested. The 8 FISH CULTURE. subject was considered, and finally it was determined that a grant of 30,000 francs (1,2502.) should be made, to create the establishment which subsequently arose at Huningue. A brief description of the pisci- cultural establishment at Huningue may not, perhaps, be altogether out of place here. This establishment is situated at no great distance from the Rhine, near the Rhine and Rhone Canal, and in the neighbourhood of some large springs, the water from which is used for the partial hatching of the ova—for a comparatively small portion of ova is really hatched at Huningue, the ova being sent away to all parts of France, and even Europe, when it is so far vitalized that the eyes of the embryo within can be discerned. These eggs are then placed in receptacles prepared for them, and the process of incubation is completed. The space covered by the establishment at Huningue is about thirty-six hectares (about seventy acres), and on this handsome buildings of considerable size are erected, with suitable offices for the manager and the attendants; these buildings being disposed in the form of a square, the middle or chief one con- taining the offices. This is forty-eight metres long by eleven metres wide. The buildings which stand at right angles to it are two sheds, each sixty INTRODUCTORY. 9 metres long by nine wide;* the other side of the square being composed of two guard-houses. In the centre is a court, with shrubs and two small basins or reservoirs. In the principal building, on the ground floor, is a pavilion, in which experiments which require particular care are conducted: over this are the offices. The grounds are laid out and interspersed with fish-ponds, ornamental plants, flowers, &c. These ponds are fed partly by the Rhine water, and partly by the little rivulet of L’Augraben, which traverses the grounds. The spring water is conducted to the buildings in which all the operations are carried on by pipes entering the building in three brick trenches, this water is then raised to the proper height by means of pumps worked by turbines, these turbines being driven by the water of the Rhine. In case of any failure of the supply of spring water, the water of the Rhine, which has been previously carefully filtered, can be turned on to the apparatus. Rows of cisterns, about a yard in height, extend through the whole length of the buildings. These cisterns are each about ten or twelve yards long, a yard in width, and eight inches deep. The ova is placed upon a glass grille, a species of gridiron composed of hollow glass bars or 1 A metre equals about 394 inches. 10 FISH CULTURE. tubes, placed closely together, the ends being confined in a sort of rack, made of wood. Lach grille is placed in a small earthenware trough, glazed on the inside, this being the best preventive to the growth of conferve. The troughs are placed crosswise in the cistern, and are about six inches wide and four or five deep. A tap at the head of each cistern permits the water to flow slowly over the range of about four or five troughs throughout the cistern, the same jet of water being used only for from four to six troughs. It will be seen that these troughs can, therefore, easily be removed separately for examination. In FRENCH TROUGH AND GRILLE. the building on the left operations requiring care are carried on. This building also contains brick basins for rearing. All these processes are carried on within the buildings, and thus extreme frost, or glare and heat of the sun is avoided. The ova was formerly collected, by men who made INTRODUCTORY. 11 a business of it, principally. from the Rhine, the Danube, and the lakes and rivers of Switzerland and Germany. The tariff for collecting these eggs was about two francs per thousand; but it was found that immature eggs were sometimes sent, and a difficulty of proper carriage resulted; and now the plan adopted is as follows: The establishment is in correspondence with all the principal fishermen at the above places. When any of these fishermen have collected together a large number of fish in a spawning state, they send notice of it to Huningue, and one of the manipulators, of whom three or four are kept upon the establish- ment, is sent to take the spawn, and bring it to Huningue ; a certain fixed sum being paid per thousand for the various species of ova to the fisher- men, who then sell the spent fish for food. The eggs which are the most difficult to obtain are those of the Ombre Chevalier; they cost the establish- ment nearly one penny each. All the best kinds of fish which we have in England, and some which we have not, as the Fera, the Huchen, and the Ombre Chevalier, are included in their list of operations. When the applicant is successful in obtaining a promise of spawn, printed lists are sent to him, one comprising the fish which breed during the winter months, and one of those which do not deposit their 12 FISH CULTURE, spawn until late in the spring. Thus, two distinct classes of operations are kept alternately in progress. The establishment employs several men constantly, at some periods of the year, of course, to a larger extent than others. In the winter, from a dozen to twenty men or more are required to attend to the various branches of the work; and, lately, even this number has been greatly increased, as the exporta- tions of fecundated and partially incubated eggs since 1853 has increased from one million odd a year to sixteen millions. Save for the producing of food for the young fry, or as stock fish, or where new breeds or experiments are conducted, comparatively few fish are kept on the establishment. The method of packing and exporting the ova will be explained in another portion of this work, so I need not further allude to it here. Several millions of partially incubated ova of the various kinds of fish treated here are thus yearly sent to the various rivers of France. But large quantities of ova are also sent abroad to various parts of Europe, for the French Government are by no means selfish in respect to the benefits they desire from the art practised at Huningue. The total cost of the buildings, &. from 1853 to 1863, was 265,186 francs, or 10,607/. The yearly INTRODUCTORY. 13 expenses in salaries, travelling, carriage, &c. are 2,2002., and it is calculated that Huningue produces twelve live fish for one penny. Branch establishments are springing up all over France, under the patronage of that of Huningue. I think it is stated that there are already above a score of these. Such is the first great piscicultural institution esta- blished in Europe ; and if it is creditable to France that she should take the lead in this department of science, it is, on the other hand, discreditable to our- selves. Since the first edition of this work was published, we have formed an establishment upon a very small scale in imitation somewhat of that of Huningue. This establishment I was the means of creating, the ‘idea having been adopted by my advice by the Acclimatisation Society of Great Britain. A large shed was built in my grounds at “The Firs,” Twickenham. A slate cistern, capable of holding 2,500 gallons of water, erected, and two ranges of trays upon the French system set up; reservoirs and tanks were also made in aid of the undertaking, and during the first year’s operations, although everything was untried, and our resources most uncertain and unreliable, nearly 60,000 ova 14 FISH CULTURE. and fry of various fish were distributed amongst the members of the Society, and in the aid of various patriotic undertakings for the public benefit ; and this number would have been very largely increased but for the unusual sultriness of the season, which, during the months of March, April, and May, was hotter than has been known for eighty years previous, and the consequence (owing to the water supply being so limited) was, that an immense loss of fry and ova took place. In all probability this establishment will be greatly improved and extended in process of time, so as to be of national benefit, as regards the introduction of new fish and the distribution of others. The entire cost of the building and working operations was under 3001. Before entering upon the subject of our inland fisheries, I shall give a brief list of the principal fish’ we already have in them, and of those which it may be desirable to acclimatize. Of each of these fish, I shall treat according to its importance in the proper place. SALMONIDA. Charr. Two kinds. The Salmon. The Greyling. Salmon Trout. Powan, Bull Trout. Pollan, Lake Trout (Salmo ferox). Gwyniad, Corpegent: Common Trout. Vendace, INTRODUCTORY. 15 Of the common or coarser fish, we have— The Eel. The Gudgeon. The Barbel. Burbot. Carp. Bleak. Lamprey. Tench. White Bait. Lampern. Roach. Shad. Sturgeon. Dace. Fresh-water Cray- Perch. Bream. Fish. Pike. Chub. Fish which might be acclimatized— The Huchen. The Sander (Lucio perea). Scandinavian Charr. Black Bass. Ombre Chevalier. Maskinonga. Ide. Silurus.? Murray Cod. Mountain Mullet. Of the Corregoni— The Fera. The Lavaret. White Fish (Corregonus albus). Otsego Bass (Corregonus otsego). 1 Now in process of being acclimatized. 16 FISH CULTURE. CHAPTER I. OUR INLAND FISHERIES. THE waters of our inland fisheries must be divided under two heads, viz. those which are capable of producing salmon, and those which are only capable of producing fish of less value. As the salmon is of infinitely the greatest import- ance, I shall treat of it first. In olden time there can be no doubt that salmon was far more abundant than it is now; and we hear of its being a common practice of apprentices to have it entered in their indentures, in many places, that they were not to eat salmon more than a certain number of times per week ; and it is in the memory of many that servants have rebelled against being fed to a great extent upon salmon. It may be urged, in mitigation of this fact, that before railways were, the expense and difficulty of transporting salmon for long distances caused a vast supply of this fish often- times to be thrown upon certain limited districts, and OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 17 fresh salmon was thus, for want of outlet for the sale, frequently sold at as low a price as 1}d. and 2d. per pound ;? and therefore the over-abundance in these particular districts, and the scarcity which exists there at all times now, is no fair criterion of the actual decrease of production. But while allowing all due weight to so reasonable a view of the case, we are fortunately enabled to set the point at rest by the irrefragable testimony of statistics. Statistics of the produce of various rivers have been kept for a long series of years, and we constantly find that some rivers have fallen to less than half of their former productiveness ; in others salmon have been almost or quite extinguished ; and others, again, have suffered in various degrees. The great cause of this decrease is in every instance (save where mines and factories have utterly poisoned the rivers) the same, viz, that the stock is too reduced, a sufficient amount of breed- ing fish not being allowed to deposit their spawn in the rivers to keep up the stock. Now, the general reader may understand the case if we put it thus :—Let us suppose a farmer to have a farm capable of supporting a thousand sheep. Let 1 During the present season good salmon has been sold at Billingagate at as low as 84d. a pound. These fish, however, came from Norway. c 18 FISH CULTURE. us further suppose him to be so supremely foolish as to yearly kill all his sheep indiscriminately down to some fifty, not excepting even those which are about to drop lambs, nor those lambs which are just born. It is abundantly clear that his fifty sheep will not keep his farm stocked, and that ruin must in time ensue. Yet still he goes on slaughtering, and won- dering that his farm does not produce as many sheep as it did formerly. This is somewhat the case on many of our best salmon rivers.! But to make the ease still more clear to those unacquainted with. the salmon, save through the medium of a fish- monger, we must briefly trace the natural history of the salmon as it is generally set forth and accepted by those best acquainted with it. Salmon leave the sea, and run up into the rivers, at all times of the year, for the purpose, sooner or later, of depositing their spawn in the shallows and fords of the higher parts of the rivers. Some enter the rivers in the spring, and push their way up from pool to pool through the summer, until they reach the upper waters, and these are of course the first 1 The causes of the decrease of salmon, and how it befalls that a sufficient number of fish do not run up the rivers to spawn, will be found in a practical detail of the modes of slaughtering salmon, (practised but lately, and not yet altogether in disuse,) in the Appendix. OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 19 to spawn, and, being so early, they are infinitely the most valuable fish to a river; others, again, enter the rivers in the summer; but the great rush of breeding fish does not commonly take place until about August or September (and sometimes they are later still), when on the first flood that comes down the river after they reach the estuary, they commence running up, being assured that there is plenty of water over the fords and shallow places for them to pass up to the best spawning-grounds. The spawning commences with the early fish in November, and continues through December, and in late rivers even through January and February. Having deposited and covered their spawn or eggs in suitable gravel beds, in holes, or redds,; as they are termed, which they burrow or scrape out for that purpose, they are so exhausted with the pro-- cess, that they are quiescent for some time. Parasitic insects attack them in numbers, and the fish has not the energy to rid itself of them, and the salmon, or kelt, as it is called at this time, is often a foul and disgusting object, covered with sores. Lethargic, lank, and bad-coloured, when taken from the water, it becomes very ‘offensive speedily, and, the flesh, which is white and flaccid, is mere carrion, and excessively unwholesome and repulsive. c 2 20 FISH CULTURE. Yet thousands of these fish were formerly caught by poachers yearly, and tons of them exported weekly to France, or were smoked or kippered, and their nature being thus disguised, they found a ready market both at home and abroad. The destruction thus caused was immense. But through the agita- tion of the Fisheries’ Preservation Association, the Government was induced to pass an act prohibiting the exportation of salmon during the fence months, and this has, no doubt, been useful in repressing to some extent this noxious practice, though it cannot be hoped that the mischief is entirely done away with. When the kelt is in this state, it becomes necessary for the fish to seek the salt water, partly to rid himself of the parasites which are devouring him, and partly for the plentiful food which he finds there. Accordingly, with the first fresh of water the kelt drops down from pool to pool, until he reaches the sea. There, by change of water and abundant food, he soon recovers his strength; and, in from three to four months’ time, he returns once more to the river, to procreate his race, a splendid salmon, with flesh firm and red, and increased in weight to an extent which bears no proportion to the growth of anything else in nature. A kelt which will go down to the sea weighing 4Ibs. or 5lbs., will come OUR INLAND FISHERIES, 21 back to the river weighing from 10lbs. to 16lbs— from 2lbs. to 3lbs. a month beirig a common rate of increase. This is a well-ascertained fact. Salmon can be kept altogether in fresh water for many years, but they grow slowly under these conditions, and it is believed do not spawn, the absence of sufficient food of the right quality being, no doubt, in some measure one reason of this. I have known them grow up to about 2lbs. or 3lbs. weight, and have heard of their growing still larger, but they have more the appearance of huge over- grown smolts than salmon. JI should like to see the experiment tried upon a more extended scale, as they make by no means bad fish, and are fre- quently much better than the trout contained in the same water. There is said to be a salmon in some of the great American lakes very similar to ours, and these lakes being above the Niagara Falls, of course the fish cannot migrate to and from the sea. But we are also told that in these vast lakes, or inland seas, there are considerable tracts of water, which, from the prevalence of salt springs, become strongly impregnated; and it is further stated that the salmon, in obedience to its instinct, migrates to these tracts. If this be so, the fact is both singular and valuable; but I should much like to get some 22 FISH CULTURE. reliable confirmation of it, as I state it but on hearsay. But we must return to the eggs deposited by the salmon. These, after remaining in the gravel for a period varying from 60 to 120 days, according to the temperature of the water, are at length hatched ; but they do not come from the egg perfectly formed fish, nor do they entirely disengage themselves from the egg; for, having cast off the shell, the egg still remains attached to the fish in the form of an enor- mous umbilical bladder or sac. So cumbrous is this appendage, that the young fish moves but little more than is required to burrow under some stone of gravel at first, increasing in activity as the sac decreases. During this time it requires no food, being sustained by the nourishment contained in the sac. This, however, gradually grows less and less, as its contents are slowly absorbed into the young fish, and it finally disappears in about five or six weeks, when the fish is a well-shaped little creature of about an inch in length, and is capable of ranging about to look for food. At six months it is a lively, active fish about three or four inches in length. At the age of twelve months, when it is from four to five inches in length, a singular change takes place. The fish, hitherto marked with OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 23 transverse bands, and strongly resembling a young trout, changes its scales, and takes on it the brilliant silvery armour of a young salmon; a pretty, bright and thoroughbred-looking little creature it is at this age, incessant in activity, darting at every small fly and insect that attracts its attention. When taken in the hand the transverse marks of the parr state have apparently disappeared; but if the scales, which come off in the hand at the slightest touch, be removed, the dark parr marks may still be dis- covered beneath them, proving the identity of the fish with the parr-marked fish. When it has reached the stage above described it is called a smolt, and is ready for its first migration to the sea. With the first floods in April and May it begins to drop down the river from pool to pool and from stream to stream in large numbers, and finally reaching the open sea, it for a time is lost to us, and we know little of its habits save that it feeds voraciously while there on small fish’and molluscs. Some authorities declare that this change and migra- tion does not take place until the fish has achieved its second year, but others maintain that it takes place after one year. Experiment, however,’ has shown that to an extent both are right in their assertions, for it has been proved that while many, 24 FISH CULTURE. and by far the larger number, do migrate at one year, a considerable number do, nevertheless, remain behind, and stay in the river for another twelvemonth, migrating at the same period of the year as their more precocious brethren. Some of them will often remain even three years in the fresh water. Why this apparent irregularity should take place no one has yet been able to discover, nor has any rule or law whereby such an apparent freak is guided or accounted for yet been satisfactorily established. It having been supposed by Mr. Buist, the experienced superintendent of the Stormontfield experiments in salmon breeding, that this might have happened in consequence of some of the ova or milt being taken from grilse or salmon after only one journey to the sea, he took particular care in the fall of 1860 to have the whole of the milt and ova taken from full-grown salmon; but this made no difference, for in May 1861, about the same proportion of young fish left for the sea, and about the same proportion also remained behind in the ponds as usual. The smolt having reached the sea remains there for a period varying from two to four months, when it again returns to the river in the form of a young salmon or grilse, having increased in weight to a wonderful degree, grilse varying from 2lbs. to even OUR INLAND FISHERIES, 25 as high as 12lIbs. in weight.’ After its next migra- tion to the sea as a grilse kelt, it having spawned in the interim, it returns to the river a full-grown and complete salmon of from 7lbs. or 8lbs. to 16lbs. or 17lIbs. in weight, each year and each migration to the sea increasing its weight considerably ; but after the first year or two it is supposed that its weight increases less rapidly; but on this point little as yet has been clearly ascertained. Having now traced its progress from the egg to the salmon, we must return to the egg. It must be manifest, when the thousands of eggs which the roe of one female contains are con- sidered,’ that the produce of a very few pairs of salmon would be sufficient to stock a river,’ and 1 I think it possible, as there is an irregularity in the period of the smolts going to the sea, that there may be a like irregularity as to their return, and that these large grilse may have stayed over the twelvemonth in the salt water.—F. F. Since the above note was written, this supposition has been dis- tinctly confirmed in the case of the Doohullah fishery ; the whole of the smolts there remained fifteen or sixteen months in the sea before re-appearing as grilse.—F. F. 1864. (See Doohullah, in Appendix.) * The salmon produces 1000 eggs for every pound of its own weight; thus, a 10lb. salmon produces 10,000 eggs. I have tested this calculation on several occasions, and usually found it tolerably accurate. 8 The yearly yield of the largest producing river in the Kingdom is computed at about the produce of one female fish of from 15lbs. to 20lbs. in weight. The produce of all the rest is lost or wasted. 26 FISH CULTURE. doubtless they would be if a fair share of the eggs were hatched, and their contents reached maturity ; but throughout its life the salmon has to battle with deadly foes, from the egg to the fishmonger’s shop—from the cradle to the grave it has to run the gauntlet of one constant succession of remorse- less enemies. In the river, fish, birds, insects, and vermin assail the egg. Even whilst it is being dropped from the parent fish, shoals of small fry, dace, trout, and many other fish, lie in wait to secure and devour it. Water-rats and vermin of all kinds attack it after it is deposited in the gravel. Other coarse fish, and particularly eels, are supposed to rout up the beds, and commit the most serious devas- ‘tation. All kinds of aquatic birds, swans, moorhens, dab- chucks, water ousels, ducks, and particularly the tame duck, are, more or less, among its worst 1] have seen the small river lamprey hard at work on trout spawning beds; and the process is instructive. In groups of a score or so they search the beds and remove the stones. Fixing its sucker on a small gravel stone, the fish wrenches it from its bed, casts the fragment aside, and burrows into the hole it has made after the spawn. If the stone be too large for one to remove, another will come and help him; nay, even four or five will unite their forces; and it must be a good-sized stone which can resist their efforts, ‘Of course the mischief they do is incalculable. OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 27 enemies.! When it is hatched, on emerging from the gravel, possibly before it can find shelter under a stone, it lies in a helpless state, hampered by the large umbilical protuberance, and it suffers again from foes of all kinds to the full as much as in its egg state, and from this time until it becomes a smolt it is alternately the prey of the trouts and of its own species; for the salmon when in the kelt state, being so ravenous, devours its own offspring with avidity, while gulls and many other birds of predaceous habit hover over the shoals when on the shallow fords, and seize upon the young fish by hundreds; and even the angler, foul shame to him! scruples not to take them daily by the basket- ful, while whole bushels of them at a time are often taken by means of baskets and nets in the small mill-streams, and they are even used in others to feed pigs with, so that not one egg in a thousand ever produces a full-grown salmon. When it reaches the sea, the fish has a fresh series of perils to endure. Here fish of all kinds hunt and destroy it, and even 1 No doubt many of these birds also feed on the larve of insects and predaceous water-beetles, which would, perhaps, do even more damage among the spawn beds, ao that the toll they take is unim- portant compared with the good they do. Still, that they do all amore or less devour spawn when they can get it, I have very little doubt. 28 FISH CULTURE. when full grown it is the prey of the grampus and the seal; but these dangers from aquatic animals are comparatively few, for it soon becomes swift and powerful, and to a certain extent is able to take care of itself. In spite, however, of all this destruction, such is the amazing fecundity of the salmon, that were it not for the machinations of man—his worst enemy—sufficient of the species would still remain to fill our rivers almost to teeming. The most dangerous and helpless part of the sal- . mon’s existence, therefore, occurs while in the ova state and until arrived at the smolt state. Fortu- nately here man has the power to protect it from most of the perils it endures when left to itself in the river, and at this particular point artificial pro- pagation is a most valuable assistant. In this country the piscicultural undertakings which are the best known and of most importance are those carried out at Stormontfield, on the Tay ; at Messrs. Ashworth’s fishery on the Galway river, in both of which improvement of the fisheries was the object; at Mr. Cooper’s fishery at Markree, near Sligo; and at Doohullah, in Connemara. In these two last instances fisheries were altogether created ; and on the Clyde, where a new fish (the greyling) was introduced and naturalized. A fuller account OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 29 of most of these operations will be found in the Appendix. The first of these experiments was conducted under Mr. Robert Buist, the second and last but one under Mr. Ramsbottom, and the Clyde experiment under Mr. Eyre, who is better known as the inventor of an ingenious machine for the transport of live fish to long distances! In the two first instances boxes were used which were three- parts filled with gravel, the salmon ova being de- posited in them; in the last, boxes were thought objectionable, and the natural bed of the stream was preferred, and the greater part of the ova of the greyling was accordingly deposited in the gravel (a short account of this operation was published in the Field by Mr. J. Briggs; a short extract from it will be found in the Appendix). When the ova is lying in the gravel it is often attacked by predaceous insects, which prey upon it unceasingly; and the great aim of the pisciculturist is to keep vermin of all kinds from the ova. Now, if the gravel used by the piscicul- turist as the bed on which he deposits the ova he is desirous of hatching, be taken from the bed of a 1 To these must now be added the most successful attempts to convey salmon ova to Australia, but lately accomplished by Mr. Youl. 30 FISH CULTURE. ¥ stream without being either boiled or undergoing some other process to destroy the animal and vege- table life existing among it, it is impossible to pre- vent insects from being placed in the boxes with it, as their eggs and larvee are mixed with and laid in the gravel itself. "When, the gravel is transferred to the boxes these eggs and larve in the course of time are hatched, and many of the insects immediately commence preying on the ova. Mr. Ffennel, the Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, found this a very considerable source of damage to the stock of spawn which was deposited in the experimental boxes at the Custom-house in Dublin." The best way, there- fore, to meet this evil is to boil the gravel for about an hour, and then to wash it thoroughly in a sieve before depositing it in the boxes. 1 Mr. Brown, in his admirable little work on the “Natural History of the Salmon,” as elicited by the Stormontfield operations, also bears testimony to the great destruction caused amongst the ova by the larva of the may-fly and by certain water-beetles. THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 31 CHAPTER II. _ THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. I now proceed to describe the best methods. of artificially incubating ova. Very much here depends upon the natural advantages possessed by the pisci- culturist as regards his water supply. If he has a fine, clear spring, with a never-failing and full supply, and a good fall for some distance after its exodus, he is lucky, and has little difficulty to contend with. If he has a stream near him which seldom or never muds or thickens, but where there is not enough fall, he may raise the water to the required height, either by a ram or a small water- wheel and pump, or by a simple force-pump and cistern, employing manual labour to fill the cistern at stated intervals. If, however, he has not sufficient convenience, or the stream which he has at command cannot be relied on for hatching purposes, he may even trust to the main, provided the water be filtered river water, and it be passed through some filtering 32 FISH CULTURE. or straining medium again before distribution. These are matters which in their adaptation are so likely to be governed by circumstances, that much must be left to the ingenuity of the pisciculturist. As regards the apparatus to be used for the simple purposes of incubation, I, prefer the French plan as employed at Huningue, which is, I believe, the invention of M. Coste. . This plan consists, as I have already partly pointed out, in a series of trays, which may be made either of glazed earthenware or slate. I prefer the slate for reasons that will appear anon, and chiefly because it is capable of being bored or sawed without diffi- culty, and is less liable to break. Within each of these trays is deposited a grating or grille, resting in about mid-water, and made of glass rods enclosed in a wooden frame, placed sufficiently near to each other to prevent the ova from slipping down between the bars, while there is a sufficient opening to allow any deposit which may be in the water to pass through the bars, and settle to the bottom of the tray. This apparatus is already shown at page 10. Level with the bottom at each end is a small, round hole, shown at (a), which can be stopped with a cork, but which, when dirt accumulates at the bottom of the tray, can be removed; the dirt may then be swept THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA, 33 and run out with the water, and, if needful, the tray scrubbed, the cork replaced, and the tray refilled, per- fectly clean and purified. By keeping a spare tray at the foot of any range of trays, and simply shifting the grilles tray by tray, the whole range of trays may thus be cleaned thoroughly without risk of danger to the ova, particularly after the eye becomes visible in the egg. When the embryo hatches out of the egg it falls between the bars to the bottom of the tray, and as soon as a good number of them are collected, the unhatched eggs can be shifted on the grille to another tray pro tem., and the alevins drawn off through the hole (a) into a suitable vessel held to receive them, and deposited in a proper rearing tray. These French trays, as they are at present constructed, are bad rearing trays, however. In the first place, they are too deep. Alevins and fry require more stream than they get, and to this end two inches depth of water is ample. Three inches or three and a half inches is too much; for it does not allow of a sufficiently rapid change of the water, as the running water goes off on the surface without touching the lower depths, conse- 1 I may remark here, that wntil the eye is developed in the egg these shiftings should be as seldom as possible, as perfect reat is very advantageous to the egg.—F. F, D 34 FISH CULTURE. quently there is always at the bottom of the tray a mass of water that does not change often, and may almost be held to be stagnant. Now, as long as the ova are supported to within one and a half inch of the surface, this does all well enough. The stream goes along the surface over the ova; impurity is buried inches below in the water; and when we consider that at Huningue they do not undertake to hatch fish so much as to distribute the ova in an advanced state of incubation, we must own that no better plan for their purpose could possibly be devised, but for the rearing of fry a change is certainly advantageous. As, however, we are not- come to the rearing of fry yet, we will consider that point in its proper place. The best size for the trays is, I think, upon consideration, that employed by the French, viz. twenty inches long, five inches wide, and three and a half inches deep, measured on the inside. The spout whence the water is ejected should not be an open spout, as is shown in the French trough, but should be a round hole of at least three-quarters of an inch in diameter! in the clear, and instead of an open spout, it should be a bent metal pipe, curved slightly downwards like 1It must be at least this size, or the tray will be useless for rearing when a larger stream of water is needed. THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 35 a tap, to prevent the back-flow of the drip. I may mention here another of the objections to the earthenware trays. Everything is cast, even to the lips or spouts. These are very liable to injury, projecting as they do, and being of soft and brittle material the slightest blow breaks them or knocks them off completely, when the trays are almost, if not quite, useless, as it is very difficult to put a supplementary spout to them, save at a trouble and cost equal almost to that of a new tray; and when such a spout zs put, the slightest touch deranges it, and causes a leak, which not only wastes the water, but makes a slop, and creates a damper atmosphere than already exists, which is quite unnecessary. With slate all this is needless. The spout can be fitted by any village plumber without the least difficulty, and at the end of the season can be taken off, and put carefully away, while the trays can be packed or stacked into a compact mass without danger of breaking, all of which cannot be done with the ordinary earthenware trays. Now, we have decided that the slate tray is the best for general piscicultural purposes. The top of the spout, or hole through which the water runs, should be three-quarters of an inch from the top of the tray, so as to allow for a sudden flush of D2 36 FISH CULTURE. water, or any momentary obstruction. If this be not so, overflows and loss of fish will occur. The spout: takes another three-quarters of an inch of the depth, and two inches, therefore, will be the height of the water in the tray when not running instead of three and three-quarters as in the French trays; when running it will mount from a quarter to half an inch. At one inch from the bottom should run a shoulder or ledge on either side of the tray, on which to deposit the grille. The projecting earthen pegs, as they may be termed, in the French trays are very much in the way of the pisciculturist should he want to clear out any fish without withdrawing the cork at the bottom, as he will find by experience. This ledge should be just wide enough to rest the grille steadily; and now, allowing a quarter of an inch for the glass bars, &c., when the ova is placed on them and the water set running, there will be a gentle stream on the ova of about from one and a quarter to one and a half inch deep; when the grille is with- drawn there will be from two and a quarter to two and a half inches of water, which is fully enough for all purposes. Such is the individual tray itself. When you want to stock it, you take the grille, which fits loosely and easily into the tray, resting on the ledge described. At first the grille will float. THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 37 Place a bit of tile across it to keep it down. In a day or two it will be soaked, and the tile may be removed. Then take the ova in a spoon carefully, and strew it on the bars thickly, so that all are well covered, but not so that one ova rests upon another ; whenever this occurs, with a soft camel-hair brush gently pass it to the nearest vacant space. It is not advantageous for the ova to lay on one another. Indeed, it is decidedly objectionable. The ova being placed, do not disturb them, if you can possibly avoid it, until the eye becomes visible in the eggs, when you may do almost what you like with them—pack them up in wet moss, and send them 500 miles off if you please, and even a little squeezing or tossing about (although it is not at all to be recommended) will fail to destroy them, so great is the vitality of the embryo in the egg at this period. But I must confine myself strictly here to apparatus. A tray such as I have described will accommodate about 1,100 salmon ova, and about 1,400 trout, and perhaps from 1,800 to 2,000 greyling. For greyling those grilles which have the bars the closest together should be chosen, or the ova is so small and soft that it easily slips through, when it causes much mischief and trouble. The volume of stream required is governed a good deal by the quantity of ova you wish to hatch, 38 FISH CULTURE. Let us suppose it is desired to hatch one or two traysfull, a stream which may be described as a strong drip or dribble will be ample. If pure, cool, and well aerated, you may pass such a stream through three, but beyond that it is advisable to increase the stream. I am supposing now that the water is supplied from a cistern or some reservoir over which the pisciculturist has full control. As this is the most general, and perhaps the easiest way of con- ducting operations, I shall speak of fish hatching in streams by means of boxes filled with gravel, &c., presently. To run such a stream as I have described for twenty-four hours without failing, it would need a reservoir or cistern capable of holding from 1 to 200 gallons; a very little visible increase in the stream will be found to make a considerable increase in the volume of water that runs away. If the cistern can be filled twice in the twenty-four hours, of course a considerable reduction in the size of it may be made, but it should always be full large for the purpose, in case of accidents, which at times no amount of foresight can altogether prevent. All cisterns should have a float on the inside, and com- pensating plumb on the outside, ascending and de- scending over a graduated scale, similar to that which I use for the Acclimatisation Society, which will be THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 39 fully described presently, so that the attendant may see at a glance how much water is in the cistern. In turning the water into the trays, it must always be held in mind that when the cistern is full the weight of water drives the stream much faster through the supply tap than when it is low. To keep up an equable flow is therefore somewhat diffi- cult, as in order to do so it is necessary to open the tap slightly, more and more from time to time as the water gets lower. The only way of reducing this to a certainty, and so being tolerably sure that you do not run more than your proper calculated allowance away, is to have a tap which turns by means of a straight handle or key (like those under kitchen boilers); under this key fix a semicircular plate with the degrees marked on, somewhat like to the compass card. Then, having filled your cistern, you can experimentalise upon the flow of water, comparing the quantity run away in such and such a time by means of the graduated scale against the angle you have set the key of your tap to on the plate; by this means, after a few experiments, the matter can be reduced to a tolerable certainty. Having arrived at this, draw up a regular code of instructions for the management of the cistern, and see that whoever has the charge of it attends to 40 FISH CULTURE. them. As taps are apt to clog if there be any“ sediment in the water, once a week fix a loose india-rubber hose on to the nozzle and let a strong stream of water run through into a pail as waste for about a quarter of a minute; thus filth will be got rid of and a fair run provided. If this is not done the stream will diminish by degrees without perceptible cause, and then perhaps on a sudden will burst forth, bringing a mass of dirt and col- lected sediment with it, which will not benefit the ova. To the part of the tap which comes through on the inside of the cistern attach a short india- rubber hose, carefully cleaned and sweetened, and float this to within three or four inches of the top of the water, (when the cistern is full, remember,) and if there be any sediment it soon begins to settle and to leave the surface water, which is the most aerated of all of course, tolerably clear. Nevertheless there is hardly any unfiltered water which does not contain a sediment of some kind, and therefore it is always advisable to employ a filter. This, how- ever, need not be a very formidable affair. A large earthenware pot provided with a hole on one side, near the bottom, from which projects a short pipe, and filled with a mixture of the finest gravel and sand thoroughly cleansed does very well. I have used THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 4i a large flower-pot, some fifteen inches deep, stopping all the side holes (which such large pots usually have) but one, and fixing on that a short leaden pipe. The entrance to the pipe requires to be fenced by means of a piece of perforated zinc, or the fine gravel and sand will work through it. About once a fortnight the contents must be taken out and carefully washed and cleansed and then restored. To do this properly it is advisable to have two pots, so that one shall be always ready to put up when the foul one is removed. This will be found a capital safeguard against vermin or filth, and very little but fairly pure water will pass through it; but it offers no material hindrance to that, and any reasonable stream will run through it with suffi- cient quickness for almost any requirements. As an additional safeguard, however, I always let the water fall into a perfectly empty tray before it is conveyed to the trays with ova in them; for one cannot always be sure that some kind of dirt or objection- able matter will not find its way through, but by ‘the above means the chances of damage are greatly reduced. Now we come to the question of how many trays it may be desirable to use ; for according to the number so you must increase the stream of water. 42 FISH CULTURE, Of course a great deal depends upon the temperature of the water: if that can be kept down, much more can be done with it; but contingencies, and not the most favourable results which we are perhaps likely to obtain, must be calculated. Spawn is obtained from November until February. To the end of January the weather is certain to be cold enough, often too cold, for our purpose—so much so that artificial warmth is rather required ; not so always February and March. Of late years, particularly, we have often had a warm February and March, or a warm March and April. February and March are most important months for the pisci- culturist, and much depends on them. If they are warm the temperature of the water, which has perhaps been vibrating about 38° and 40°, often jumps up to 46° or 47°, and the same stream of water which could be safely employed at 38°, through from ten to twenty trays will not answer at 48°. Moreover, as it travels from tray to tray it gets warmed by the atmosphere and by exposure, until there will frequently be a difference of 3° or 4°* between the temperature of the water in the first tray and the last one. A raised temperature quickens the development of the egg considerably; with salmon a difference of 10° or 12° in the temperature THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 43 of the water will make a difference in the period of incubation equal to something like a half of the entire time—e. g. at 33° or 34°, say a little above freezing, the ova will be above 120 days hatching, whereas at 45° or 46° it will be something like sixty- five or seventy days, and at 50° perhaps from forty to fifty days; but that which is the longer period in coming forth is often the most healthy and the strongest alevin. But added to this there is a greater evil possibly. With increased temperature a variety of matters come into existence which are not favour- able to ova, and which a colder temperature has kept in abeyance; confervoid growths of various kinds begin to vegetate, and insects previously unseen and harmless spring into life and action. The ova turns bad and byssus attacks it with far greater rapidity, spreading under the genial sun as rapidly as fungus does in a cellar. Putridity in every form is en- couraged far more by the warmth than by the cold, as we are all well aware, and putridity of any kind is more or less fatal to ova—of the salmonide at least. Therefore, it will hardly do to calculate what we can do with so-and-so in the depths of winter, but what we shall be able to. do if the weather should prove open and warm in February and March. In the matter of pisciculture, as in all others, to 44. FISH CULTURE, use a homely proverb, it is as well to be “on the right side of the hedge,” and we may add, with a comfortable margin between us and the ditch. Calculate the worst that you think can befall, leave a little margin for something a little worse, which you may not foresee, and you may sleep in peace. Now, I have seen it stated, and by a gentleman who is supposed to be an authority on such matters, that the same stream of water can be carried on from tray to tray, ad infinitum, and will hatch any quantity of ova it may be required to put under it. He neglected, however, one rather vital condition in forgetting to add, provided it be only large enough. This, however, resolves itself very much into the old joke of How many cows-tails will reach the moon ? One, if it is long enough. The fact is this, if you drive a stream of more than reasonable bulk through ordinary trays, you drive the ova about all over the trays in heaps, causing eddies and whirls, and keep- ing the wretched eggs in a perpetual turmoil, where- by a vast number of them come to an untimely end, as eggs, and many more as weakly, stunted, and deformed bantlings. If the stream is so strong as to disturb the ova in the immediate neighbourhood of the fall, you may most beneficially break that fall by placing a bent strip of perforated zinc under THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 45 it. This is always useful, as it breaks up the stream and scatters and aerates the water. If, however, the volume be still so great that notwithstanding this it still drives the ova about, then there is too much stream and it must be reduced. By watching this it will soon be seen what is the correct extreme volume of water to supply to ova, and with that extreme volume I hold that a dozen trays of the size stated, or half a dozen of double the size, are quite as many as can be safely placed under one stream of water. I do not, of course, mean to say that under favourable circumstances more may not be employed, but taking all reasonable chances into considera- tion, I think that number ample; and if it be re- quired to hatch more ova, I would establish another range of trays and another stream rather than drive such a stream through a single and more extended line as might be harmful to the ova. The French, however, who perhaps are subject at Huningue to a higher temperature in the early spring months than we are, do not allow the same jet of water to perco- late through more than four trays usually ; occasion- ally six or seven are used, but this is exceptional. They do not, however, employ so strong a stream as 1 This will give an available stream of some thirty-four feet in length, while it occupies a space of about ten feet by two. 46 FISH CULTURE. we do. If they find anything unusual taking place, they turn a stronger stream on, and that has often a sanitary effect. I have not yet shown how these trays are to be arranged. I cannot do better than call the atten- tion of my readers to the engraving at page 47, which will show the arrangement better than any words. There should be a fall of from one to two inches or more, if it can be conveniently spared, between each tray. The water falls in at one end of the tray, and out by a pipe near the end into the next; then travels to the other end of that tray, where it finds a similar exit, as depicted, and so on throughout the entire range. If it be more suitable to the space, the spouts may be placed at the ends of the trays, so as to run straight from end to end, the trays being placed in a line. Or one end spout tray may run into a side spout tray, and that into another end spout, and that again into a reverse side spout, but this is an inconvenient plan, and I do not recommend it. However the trays are placed, they should be easily approachable, so that the operator can, without the least difficulty or constrained position, get at them to remove the dead ova or extract the live fish. The supports of the trays depicted in the engra- THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. AT ving are two beams of wood in which notches are cut, or on which, to prevent weakening, the support INDOOR APPARATUS. wedges are nailed. The letter (a) shows the corner of the cistern, (6) is the supply tap, and (¢) is the 48 FISH CULTURE. waste pipe. This should be of india-rubber, so as to be capable of being moved at will, If a long- spouted funnel be let into the upper end, by the aid of a gas-pipe hook, it can be fixed to one of the supporting beams in the most suitable position to receive the waste water. ' Before concluding the description of this indoor apparatus, I append a sketch of the section of a cistern, (a) is the waste or stand pipe, by which the cistern can be emptied at will and cleaned out if requisite ; (0) is the supply pipe; (¢) is a tray to catch the water in and break its force, or to stop vermin should it be needed for that purpose; (d) is the flexible tube attached to the inside of the tap, floated as shown, and (e) is the tap itself. The indicator spoken of at p. 38, is not shown here, but I will , describe it. A stout zinc box was constructed to act THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 49 as a float, to the top of which a fine but strong chain was soldered. The other end of the chain ter- minated in a flat, round lump of lead. Fixed on the top edge of the cistern was a freély-working grooved transverse wheel acting like a pulley. The chain hung over this groove, the box being inside floating in the water, and the lead outside hanging upon the upright scale, the chain being just long enough to allow the box to sink to the bottom. The box being heavier than the lead fell with the water, and as it fell the lead rose; when the water rose the box floated and the lead fell, the scale outside being calculated to show the depth of water inside. I have found this answer admirably, as it reported most accurately and never got out of order for eight or nine months together. The pisciculturist, however, must see that the chain be suitably strong and does not open at the links by use, or it may stretch and deceive him ; this, however, would not make an inch difference even at the worst. 7 Before commencing operations see that the cistern and its supports be thoroughly tested, and every ex- periment that it may be desirable to make be made in good time, as none can be made and nothing dis- turbed when once operations are commenced. The foundation supporting the cistern: should “be even E 50 FISH CULTURE. more than safe, as the slightest settlement of only the twenty-fourth of an inch, the shrinking of a piece of woodwork, or the subsidence of brickwork, may cause a leakage which it will be most difficult to stop until the ensuing season, and may be a constant source of annoyance. Cisterns should be made of slate, if it can be conveniently managed— not of metal nor wood, nor brickwork cemented. Slate gives off nothing, will last for ever, and will always fetch its value when you have no further occasion for it, whereas the others are perishable, worth nothing, are always dirty, and sometimes slightly poisonous (to the fish). I have now described the best kind of apparatus for sheltered work, and where the supply of water is artificial, The best place to put such apparatus in, is where the attendant can, when he desires it, have plenty of light to see his work by in all positions, and where it is alike defended from frost and heat. Considerable cold retards the process needlessly, and heat destroys the ova outright. Heat, therefore, is the most to be guarded against of the two. Sudden or great changes of temperature should be guarded against, as they are hurtful. The French use brick sheds, well built. The Acclimatisation Society has, to an extent, followed their example. THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 51 From 40° to 45° is the best medium temperature. A greenhouse is a very good place in the winter for early operations, because a fair equable tem- perature is kept up; but if the early spring be warm and sunny it is obviously the worst place possible, as it is not easy to keep down the heat. Although light is required for the attendant, it is not required, nay, it is most undesirable for his charges, unless they are perfect fish; and so delicate is the organization of the eye in the alevins that they cannot bear the light, and the trays, therefore, should always be kept covered, save when under examina- tion. The exclusion of light has also the effect of checking confervoid, or other growths. I here give a plan which has occurred to me of keeping down the temperature of the water, when the weather becomes warm, which I think will in use be found very effective. It is not desirable by any means to attempt to cool water by putting ice into it. In the first place, ice water is not advantageous to the fish; in the second, the dropping of lumps of ice into the water will induce sudden changes of tem- perature, which are very undesirable. Now, I would have a refrigerator, say of about double the size of the trays, but shaped somewhat like a tray, for the water to pass through after it leaves the cistern, and EQ 52 ’ FISH CULTURE. before it reaches the hatching trays, Let the re- servoir which contains the water be enamelled, in the same way that saucepans are; and as water passes through this tray or reservoir it will pass over surfaces many degrees cooler than the air, which cannot but have the effect of cooling the water. The ice can easily be renewed from time to time, and drippage, &c., be provided for. This plan has occurred to me by the desire which I had to be able to cool the water in some reasonable and easy manner during the past spring, when I was losing large quantities of greyling ova and fry from the high temperature of the water. I now proceed to describe the best kind of stream apparatus. In dealing with streams, those should be selected in preference where the water supply comes from a cool, clear spring, as near to the spring-head being chosen as can be conveniently done. A reservoir should be made, so as to dam the stream up to the highest possible level—an open cut being left at the down stream end to allow the water to run through; a zinc trough, or shoot, is fixed in this aperture to deliver the water. If the reader will consult the engraving at p. 53, which represents a portion of an apparatus I designed some time THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA, 53. since for the Thames Angling Preservation Society’ when I was on the Piscicultural Committee of the Society, he will at once understand what I mean. (1) Is the reservoir, and (2) the zinc shoot. This shoot should be projected as far into the inside of the cistern as it is on the outside, as much rubbish will thus be prevented from finding its way into the shoot. Under this shoot should be placed a long” box, three parts full of fine gravel. The boxes we had made were of elm, well seasoned. In the ends were deep cuts, of nearly the entire width of the box. The upper end (4) was defended by perforated zinc, and over the outside of this was fixed a tray (3), which caught the water. The water ran over the gravel through the box, and through another zinc shoot into another box, which fitted on to the end of the first with a slight fall from the first to the second, in 54 FISH CULTURE. order to freshen the water. The lids were of per- forated zinc, as shown in the engraving, in order to keep out vermin, and were padlocked down, so that no one but the proper attendant could get to the ova. These boxes may be made of any length, 4, 6, 8, or 10 feet, if required. The one represented was 4 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 10 inches deep, and about six of these boxes were used, fitted on end for end: six such boxes would easily hatch from 30,000 to 40,000 ova or more. If there be a good supply of water, and a fair fall, and it be required to hatch a large number of ova, an outlet should be made from the supply stream ; a filtering pond made by means of a bank of fine gravel, through which the water would filter into a small canal or narrow reservoir, whence regular outlets can be made to supply any number of boxes laid down in parallel rows, with a narrow. walk between each row, each separate row being laid down as pointed out above in the single row.! For this kind of apparatus gravel is preferable, and on this gravel the eggs should be distributed pretty thickly ; but not so as to lie upon one another, in order that the attendant may be able to detect and remove dead or putrid ova. Some persons bury. 1 This is the plan adopted at Stormontfield. THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 55 the ova under the gravel as in the natural state, and the plan in some instances answers well enough; but T always prefer to see how the ova are progressing, as, for the want of the attention which ought to be paid to them by the removal of dead eggs, &c., I have seen large quantities of ova lost. It may be urged that we ought to imitate nature as closely as possible, but-in the natural state the loss of ova and alevins is enormous; if it were not, our streams would be literally packed with fish, as the produce of a few pairs of trout or salmon, if they all came to fry, would stock almost any ordinary stream. To avoid this loss, and to provide for the heavy drain caused by constant fishing, we have hit upon this artificial plan of incubation’ and protection, and the best plan is that which gives us the best results with the least (reasonable) amount of trouble. If the attendant had to move numberless stones every time he searched for dead ova, his labour would be endless, while the very act of moving the stones would often destroy the ova. Now, the difference between the glass rods and the gravel is this. The gravel, offering an infini- tesimal number of salient points and angles, arrests and collects the sediment which is held in the water : for there will be some sediment, even when the 56 FISH CULTURE. water be filtered as shown above. The greater this collection of sediment, the more likely conferva is to grow, as soon as the weather warms a little. The slightest disturbance of the water raises this sedi-. ment in a fine cloud, and it then settles on the egos. This is, of course, very objectionable; for although in moderately cool weather no great harm miay result, as I have said in warm weather con- ferva will grow, and this will by no means improve the condition of the eggs. Gravel also forms a home and a hide for vermin, which, with every precaution, will at times find its way in amongst the ova, and here, undetected for some time, it will often work much mischief. The ova cannot be so evenly spread upon gravel as on the grilles, and much space is lost. A bad egg cannot be detected nearly so soon on‘ gravel as on the grilles, and it often happens that a dead ova will not be discovered until it has caused the death and. putrefaction of a dozen others, when the mischief is, perhaps, discovered too late. Again, where a case of this kind takes place, the gravel itself for some depth becomes tainted, and ova, which may be placed in the same spot, are very apt to take the contagion. It is astonishing how gravel will become tainted, and affect not only the ova but the fish; and when this THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 57 once becomes the case, nothing but the entire re- moval of the tainted gravel, and the substitution of fresh, will stop the mischief, as I have had very good reason to know. For indoor apparatus I think, for the purpose of incubation, there is nothing like the glass grilles, because the stream which can be used for hatching purposes is so small that great cleanliness is required: for if great cleanliness be not enforced, although it is quite possible to scramble through the operations somehow, if you have good luck and a cool season, with a dirty apparatus, yet, with bad luck and a hot or bad season, if anything does go wrong, everything goes wrong, the dangers that wait upon fish-hatching are multiplied tremen- dously, and a grand and: inevitable slaughter is the melancholy result. I once heard of an old Puritan whose dictum was regarded with great veneration by his fellows. A chapel was about to be built; two plans were discussed, one plan was for a handsome building in good taste, the other, which the saintly affected most, was not only plain, but was painfully, hideously so. On submitting the plans to the vener- able elder, he heard the arguments, and gave his voice for the handsome building, saying, “ There’s nae godliness in ugliness.” And I say there’s no virtue in dirt, so by all means get rid of it where.you can. 58 FISH CULTURE. The out-door apparatus usually commands a much larger stream, and here deposits are less felt, and _ putrefaction is more liable to be carried off to some extent by the greater hody of water ; therefore, gravel will answer there tolerably well. Moreover, when the ova are hatched in the large out-door trays, the greater part of the produce must stay where it is hatched ; it cannot be drawn off into a can and re- distributed as it can from the indoors tray and grille. Besides, the spaces are much larger, and the glass rods less applicable; so that on the whole I think for indoor apparatus the grilles are best, and for outdoor perhaps the gravel is preferable. Having determined this knotty point, I will mention one more species of apparatus applicable to streams, and that is the floating apparatus. Have a basket made of fine close wicker-work, somewhat similar in form to those baskets known as flats; on the bottom of this the eggs should be deposited, and the flat moored in a clear stream, so as to avoid swaying about, and loaded so much as to sink it about an inch or so in the water. This is a very handy style of apparatus where a side stream cannot be cut off, and where the last-described plan is not applicable. We will now suppose that the apparatus is ready for the ova. We will, if you please, go to the river- THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA, 59 side, and take it. The first thing to be discussed is, what fish you are going for; and next, how you are to catch your fish. The old recommendation of Mrs. Glasse is by no means to be despised in this in- stance. The catching of salmon on the redds may be a very easy matter, or it may be a somewhat heavy affair ; all depends on the river you have to fish. If the salmon are up the small brooks, a short handy net, and a couple of men with your assistant, may be enough for you. But if they be in the fords of a large river, it becomes a very different and a difficult matter, often requiring ten or a dozen men, and a net of above 100 yards in length. This is a point which will be best arranged with the keepers or bailiffs of the river about to be netted. One thing the pisciculturist will soon discover—viz. that he takes five or ten, and perhaps twenty, male fish for one female; and this is the case not only with salmon, but with trout and greyling also. Why this is, it is difficult to say; and whether there are actually many more males, or whether the female, conscious of the valuable burden she carries, is more shy, or whatever the cause may be, the fact is indis- putable. I have heard it argued that there are far fewer female fish on the beds, because there are more female fish caught ; the female, being more ravenous, 60 2 FISH CULTURE. and feeding much more often, to fortify her system’ for the exhaustive process she has to go through, is more readily caught. This argument might possibly hold good with trout and greyling, but it is scarcely’ so reliable for salmon, as the great bulk of salmon are taken by nets and cruives, which are no re- specters of sex, and where the sex has no choice whatever. Take a male or female salmon, perfectly ripe for the process, and the ripeness may be known, in the male, by the milt running from the vent at the slightest pressure, and in the female, by the ova doing likewise, if she be very ripe. But it often occurs that though the female be quite ready to yield her spawn, she will not give it at. the first pressure. Now, if a fish be unripe, the belly is hard and tight, and the mass of ova contained in it is immovable, being still fixed to the membrane. In a trout, if it be held up by the head, in the attitude shown in the first figure in the frontispiece, the ova, if ripe, will drop down in a mass towards the vent, distending the: stomach somewhat in that region, as shown in the cut, and the belly will feel soft, and the ova granular and movable under it. The operator would probably find it somewhat difficult to hold a salmon in that con- dition. In fact, if a salmon be large and vigorous, THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA, 61 he will find it difficult to hold it at all, and it will require at least three men to hold it, and then the task is not easy. I have known a salmon, in its struggles, send pots, pans, water, and ova flying with one dash of his tail, The softness of the belly is the best test here. In greyling, the belly is less soft, the fish being more of a hard and scaly nature generally. A slight pressure, however, if greyling, or salmon, or trout, be at all ripe, will usually be sufficient to extrude two or three eggs, when the fish should be carefully put up until all preliminaries are prepared for operation. How the fish are to be kept alive de- pends entirely upon the conveniences at hand. In some rivers, a little pool’ can often be made at the river's side; in others, pails, or even washing-trays, are used. A salmon can be tailed—that is, tied up— by means of a cord, a slip-knot being passed over the tail. A male or female fish being secured,’ obtain one of the other sex as soon as possible. The requisites for spawning the fish properly are, first, a shallow open tin dish, with a lip to it—for salmon, this dish should not be less than twelve or thirteen inches square at the least, for trout it may 1 I may add here, that it is always as well, if they can be had without difficulty, to retain two males to one ripe female in case of a scarcity of milt, 62 FISH CULTURE. be less; a large jug for fresh water; and a tin can with a perforated lid, to carry the ova in—this should be a can capable of holding at least a gallon of water. First, half fill the tin dish with clean water; take the female (if a salmon, in the best way you can), one person holding the head, and another the tail, and, if necessary, a third steadying the body. If the head be held between the knees, a better hold will be got; and if a dry cloth be used to hold the fish, there will be less chance of her slipping. Now, the fish being held with the tail downwards, and the body rather sideways, or with the belly a little towards the operator, the vent being as closely over the water in the tin dish as may be convenient, the manipu- lator should, steadying the fish with one hand, com- press the body with the other, passing the fingers and thumb upon either side with a gentle pressure from the thorax down to the vent. This pressure, be it remarked, must not be harder than is sufficient to expel the eggs without difficulty. If the fish does not give up her roe, no force must be used; but lay her aside on the grass, or even in the water, for a few minutes, when, perhaps, she may be more easily per- suaded. If, however, she still declines, she is not quite ripe enough; and if you have the means of keeping her for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, it THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 63 will be advisable to do so. But, I repeat, no force must be employed ; if the ova is ripe, it is detached from the membrane to which, during the period of gestation, it has hitherto been attached, and it will pass out easily. If, however, it be not quite detached, but the process has only barely commenced, by too much force you will tear the eggs from the mem- brane, which are then totally useless, as they are immature, and will not hatch, and you will cause a slight discharge of blood with the ova. When this is the case, you may conclude that you have ruptured the membrane, and the chances are two to one that the fish dies, and, as I have said, the eggs are useless, or worse, because they do not, for the most part, show that they are barren for weeks after—perhaps months —during which time the pisciculturist is in a fool’s paradise, thinking what a fine stock of ova he has in his trays; and he sacrifices time and space, which are invaluable to him, to infertile ova. Inexpert attendants are very liable, for the sake of bring- ing home an apparently good stock of ova, to do this; in fact, it may be termed the vice of inex- perience. If the ova be ripe, it flows in one unbroken stream from the fish, while under pressure, until the whole is exhausted. When as much ova is in the dish as can conveniently be milted, lay the female 64 FISH CULTURE, aside, and take one of the male fish; serve him pre- cisely in the same way as the female, allowing the milt, which will flow like thin cream, to fall upon the ova, and moving the fish about over the surface, so as to distribute it, When you have as much as will thicken the water to a chalky-white colour, lay aside the male, and stir the ova and milt thoroughly, but gently, up together with the hand, and then lay the dish aside for five minutes. At the end of that time, pour off the dirty water, and, as you pour it off, pour in fresh from the jug, until all thick water, dirt, &c., be washed away, and the ova remains clear and bright, when it should be gently deposited in the carrying-can, and the operation completed until suf ficient ova be collected. The ova being exhausted, put the fish gently back into the water; and, if you have done your office properly, they will dart off, as if overjoyed to be rid of their burden. If the pisciculturist has not a stream of his own whence to obtain trout or greyling, he will have to rely upon the keepers of the water, or upon some one on thé spot, to tell him when the fish are spawning. Keepers are often so jealous of any spawn being taken from the water under their charge, that, although the taking away of some portion. of the THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 65 spawn rather does good than harm to the stream, they are not always to be relied upon to let the pisci- culturist know the proper time to come for the spawn. I have been deceived so often in this way, and had so many fruitless and vexatious journeys, from this ‘jealousy of keepers, that I warn my brother pisci- ‘culturists to keep a sharp eye upon them. Trout and salmon appear on the beds a week or so before they spawn, at any time from November to March. The season lasts some weeks, but it must always be borne in mind that the earlier spawners are by far the best, not only as yielding stronger and more advanced fry for the next season, but as yielding even a larger per centage of fry. If, therefore, the keeper be ordered to send word as soon as the fish come on the shallows, and the pisciculturist goes a week or ten days after they are first seen to come up, he will be in good time. This is not the case, however, with greyling; they are so short a time over their spawning, and in March and April, when they are thus engaged, the netting is so likely to be inter- rupted by floods, that no opportunity, not a day, nor an hour, should be lost; very many times have I known a delay of a day cost the pisciculturist his stock of ova for the year. As soon as the large greyling are observed to ‘come on the shallows the F 66 FISH CULTURE. nets should be set to work. The best nets to use for trout and greyling it is most difficult to decide, as the modes of netting differ in various rivers, and the net that suits one water will not always suit another. Some waters require small and light nets, and others heavy and ponderous ones. As a2 rule, a net of stout thread, or finest twine, double walled, with plenty of lint in it, and well weighted, will be found to answer best. If the net be from twenty-five to thirty-five yards long, it will be long enough for most ordinary rivers. It should be split in the middle so that two fourteen or fifteen yard nets can be made of it, these being handier for small streams, and answer- ing as drag and stop nets; when it is required to use the larger net, or the two together, the river will be usually so large that a stop net cannot well be used. Ifa stop net be used, however, it should be of moderately stout twine, heavily walled, and well roped and weighted. (N.B.—On all nets the walling should be set on the ropes sguare and not diamond shape, as they work better, and catch far more fish.) In weedy rivers four or five half bricks should be tied on so as to hang loosely to the lead line, to prevent the net from rolling up; but as a rule, particularly if the water be at all heavy, swift and weedy rivers are very difficult to net fish out of. The net should always, THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 67 if possible, be kept moving, to confuse the fish, and should be worked as quickly as possible coincident with the lead line being kept on the bottom, a con- dition whieh it is needless to say is absolutely necessary. There is a very handy net called a “shoe net,” which is sometimes used in shallow rivers and ditches, up which the fish will work to spawn. It consists of a longish bag set upon a bow of arched ash strung with stout string, and some four or five feet in width. To this is a long handle, so that the net has somewhat the appearance of a common shrimp poke-net. If a fish is seen to dart into a weed in shallow water the mouth of the net is held at the tail of the weed, and the fish is trodden out. into it. I mention these points because it has often been my lot, as no doubt it has that of others, to reach the river I desired to net, perhaps, after a long and expensive journey, with a net quite unfit for it, and possibly to lose a whole day in fruitless endeavours to net the river, albeit the same was full of spawning fish. I have, in the frontispiece, shown how to hold a trout or greyling when taking the spawn from it; a large fish, however, will, like the salmon, often need F2 68 FISH CULTURE. assistance to hold the tail. Of course the same method of treatment, as regards the spawn, is em- ployed to both trout and greyling, as I have already related. As it is often desired to hatch ova, not only in- doors, but in a sitting-room, for purposes of study and inquiry rather than the stocking of fisheries, I offer the plan of an apparatus suitable for this purpose. The annexed cut is not a very elegant form of appa- ratus, still it has the recommendation of convenience. It makes no mess, and takes up very little room; a mere drip of water is all that is required, as two or three hundred of ova would be as many as would be necessary. ' All that is required is a small cistern, capable of holding a few gallons of water, with a small stop- cock to regulate the supply. Around this cistern may be coiled, as it were in lengths, a small permanent gutter, or way, about an inch or two in width, and neatly gravelled. On this the ova can be deposited. Each coil or length, of course, must be lower than the other; and, supposing the apparatus to be square, a little fall could be contrived at each corner. This coil or gutter, after passing two or three times round the cistern, should end in a water tank ; and if the water tank be surrounded with a cooler, and furnished THE ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION OF OVA. 69 with a small force-pump, the water can be forced up ‘ again into the cistern, and may be used again and again. If, however, the house bé one well furnished with water and large cisterns, a very small pipe to convey the water to the troughs or gutters, and an- other to carry it off, will then be all that is necessary. Of course, such an apparatus may be made as taste- ful and appropriate to the place it is consigned to as the owner may please. In the accompanying cut (Fig. 1) engraving shows the lid of the upper cistern (1) open; while (Fig. 2) has the cistern 70 FISH CULTURE, shut, but the sides are let down to form a tray (7), into which the young fish can be removed ° for rearing. The lower cistern is shown by Fig. 2; the waste tap at (3), whence the water can be drawn off; the supply tap at (5); this either into the hatching trays (4, 4, 4), or into the rearing tray (7). The force-pump is indicated at (6); (8) is a waste-pipe screwed on to let the water run from the rearing tray into the lower cistern. Fig. (2) shows an enlarged end of each of the trays with the lip, whence the water drips into the next tray. ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA. 71 CHAPTER III. ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA. Havine taken the ova, the next question that occurs is how to convey it to its destination. It has been a very popular error that ova will not admit of carriage without some one to carry it or attend it until it is so far advanced that the eye became visible. Now, this really is not so; for I hit upon a plan, which was carried out by Mr. Woodcock, of Bury, during the past year, by which we managed to convey thousands of ova by rail’ some 200 miles, with little or no attention. The plan was simply to obtain permission from the railway au- thorities to have the vessel which contained the ova swung from one of the beams of the van. A hook was screwed in; the vessel containing the ova, filled to the top with water, so that no motion of the water in the jar could take place, was then hung up, de- pending from the hook; a small half-pint bottle of fresh water was given to the guard, to fill ina little 72 FISH CULTURE. once (or at most twice) during the journey, so as to keep the water up to the top; and the can swung easily and steadily all the way to London, with the loss of very few ova indeed. I need not say that had the can been placed to stand on the floor of the van, like any other luggage, almost every egg would have been killed from the incessant jolting. In the course of our transmissions one lot only was spoilt, and that was spoilt, I believe, by the bottom of the can not being firm enough. It cockled and buckled at every swing from the weight of water in it, thus keeping the mass of ova within in one incessant dance. The cans used were cans that would hold about a gallon, and were shaped like ‘oil-cans, with handles on either side to swing them by. The cork was perforated, and through it was pushed a very small but long-tubed funnel. This supplied air to the water, prevented splashing, and allowed any water to be poured in without waste. JI believe this was due to Mr. Woodcock’s ingenuity. Near the bottom of the can was a small stop-cock, so that when the ova arrived, or if it had to pass a night en route, the water might be run off from below, and fresh let in from above, so as to be sure that the fresh water quite percolated the ova. I must note one point here, viz..if the can be set ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA, 73 under a tap to catch a drip all night, be certain that the stop-cock does not run away the water faster than the drip supplies it, and be sure also that no accident can happen to stop or even impede the drip. Should either of these happen, the ova will be run dry, It is advisable that there should be no break in the railway journey, and it will of course be neces- sary that some one should be on the look out for the ova on its arrival. A telegraphic message ° should be sent off, as soon as the ova is deposited in the van, to the recipient, warning him of the train it will arrive by. This is the method we adopted, and with perfect success. I must here cite the most remarkable instance of the safe conveyance of ova which has in all proba- bility ever been carried out. I refer to the sending of ova to Australia. After many attempts and many failures, in all of which water was employed, Mr. Youl (to whose energy and perseverance the success of this experiment is entirely due) determined to try whether the ova could not be sent out in wet’ moss, packed in ice; and after trying some preliminary experiments, by the co-operation of the Wenham Lake-Ice Company, which gave encouraging results, during the spring and summer of 1863, he, during 74 FISH CULTURE. the succeeding winter, prepared to send out a large stock of salmon ova packed in ice. Having obtained the necessary space in the Norfolk, a fine clipper ship belonging to Messrs. Money Wigram and Sons, who gave Mr. Youl every possible assistance, Mr. Youl succeeded in depositing in the hold of the vessel about ten tons of ice; and in the heart of this mass were deposited the boxes of ova. The boxes were about two feet long, and were drilled full of holes, to admit air, and so that the drip from the ice could find its way to the moss within, and keep up the moisture. Each box was filled with wet moss and ova in layers, and was then completely surrounded with ice, the ova being deposited within three days of ats being taken from the parent fish. The common belief has been that ova would not bear transport of any very disturbing kind until the eye of the em- bryo was visible within the egg. This doctrine is now exploded. It is true that when deposited in water, after some days, a very slight disturbance kills the ova; but I conclude that the facility of destruc- tion in this way is very greatly lessened by the lowering of the temperature, and rendering of the vitality, and consequently of the nervous system, in the embryo less active. I imagine that the faculties are in a sort of trance, equivalent somewhat to the ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA. 75 trance produced by extreme cold on the human system, and that during this period the egg is much less sensitive to shocks. It would be well to try the effect of similar measures upon the eggs of birds, as the acclimatisation of scarce and tender species might be greatly simplified if it should be found to answer. Mr. Youl’s plan answered perfectly, and 30,000 of the eggs arrived at Tasmania in perfect condition, and were safely deposited in the river Plenty, in beds prepared for them. Unfortunately, soon after their deposition the temperature of the water rose to 54, and the consequence of this high temperature was, that vast quantities of the ova died, and they only succeeded in hatching out about 3,000 of the 30,000 ova. That the experiment should have so greatly failed after the most onerous part of it had been so nobly got over, is much to be regretted. There need, however, now be no longer any diffi- culty in transplanting various breeds of fish from place to place, and from clime to clime, wherever ice can be obtained; and, no doubt, ere many years are over, we shall have introduced into this country every fish that exists in others which is worth the transit. Before quitting this subject, I must note, that it appears to be quite possible to incubate ova alto- 76 FISH CULTURE, gether, to a certain point, in wet moss; if this, on further experience, be found to be so, much trouble and risk will henceforth be avoided. This, however, is an experiment for the future. If it, nevertheless, be desired to send the ova by an attendant, then the matter is simple enough. The ova should be placed in a can with a perforated lid: not more than one-third ova to two-thirds water. If the journey is to be made by rail, a stout stick rested upon the opposite seats, upon the middle of which stick the can may be swung by the handle, will be found to answer the purpose; or the stick may be supported on the knees of the attendant where this is inconvenient, and the can swung between them. A very little occasional attention to prevent too violent oscillation is all that is needed. In this way, I have conveyed thousands of ova long distances, with scarcely any loss at, all. Coolness and fresh water are both, of course, very desirable, if they can be obtained. To send ova a long distance, the safest way is, un- doubtedly, to wait until the eye of the embryo becomes visible in the egg, and then to pack the eggs in wet moss, when they can safely be sent long distances. The plan adopted at Huningue is as follows :—A wide-mouthed bottle, five or six inches ON THE TRANSPORT OF OVA. GE deep, is used; a slight layer of wet moss placed on the bottom; a thick layer of vitalized ova placed on it; another layer of wet moss inserted; then another layer of ova; and so on, till the bottle be full. A plug of moss is then put into the neck, and the bottle tied over with a piece of stout paper (after the fashion used on jam-pots). The paper is pricked full of holes, to let in the air. This bottle, or two or three such bottles, are then placed in a box of damp (not wet) moss, well packed, and that box inclosed in a still larger one of the same shape, the smaller box being packed in with more moss. If the weather be warm, and the ova in an advanced state, a few lumps of ice may be distributed amongst the moss to-retard hatching. In this way the ova will stand any amount of shaking, and the temperature will be kept down. This is certainly the best, the safest, and least expensive method I know of for transporting ova from one country to another. If the distance be long, the ova should be sent off as soon as the eye becomes visible, for. if too long a period be allowed to elapse, the eggs may hatch on the journey, when they would be lost. In this respect, if taken in moderate time, there is little to fear from the eggs of salmon, sea trout, or trout, as they develop slowly, 78 FISH CULTURE. and the weather is usually cold when they are transported. But this is not the case with greyling. So rapid is the development, that, if the weather be at all warm, and it often is in May, it is almost im- possible, even with the assistance of ice, to send them on a journey after the eye becomes visible, for in a warm season there are hardly three days between the showing of the eye and the hatching of the egg; and the mere act of taking them out of the water will set the eggs hatching, THE. HATCHING OF OVA. 79 CHAPTER IV. THE HATCHING OF OVA AND TREATMENT OF ALEVINS. WE must now go back a little in our process. We will suppose the ova safely taken and conveyed to its destination. Suppose the trays all ready and the water running, The eggs should be deposited without loss of time, and, when once deposited, disturbed as little as possible until the eye is developed. Even in picking out the bad ova the operator should disturb the surrounding ones as little as possible. There are various plans in use for the removal of dead ova. Some persons use a sort of glass syphon. This was invented by the French. I furnish a cut of it. The thumb is placed on the top of the implement; the nozzle is then plunged into the water and placed before the ova or small fry it is desired to extract, and the thumb being suddenly withdrawn, the ova is drawn up into the body of the vessel and can be dropped out at the thumb end if required, or examined in the 80 FISH CULTURE. bowl of the instrument. This is a useful implement if it be wished to examine eggs or fry without damage, but it is a clumsy affair to remove dead ova with, as it draws up everything that comes within its influence and often more than the operator requires. Some persons use tweezers of various shapes. These are also clumsy and disturb the surrounding ova more than is necessary, and often crush the ova and scatter the contents, which speedily putrify, all over the tray. Some use a fine spear— a small needle tied to a stick—and this is jobbed into the dead ova; but I have tried this plan, and the ovum being toughish as to its skin, often resists the prod of the needle and goes slipping about from place to place, delaying its removal and disturbing THE HATCHING OF OVA. 81 the other ova. The best plan, by very far, is the one which I have introduced. Twist up a piece of fine brass wire into an eye just big enough to take the ova, tie it to a fine-pointed handle, bend it to: the most convenient angle for lifting, softly introduce it between the ova and under the one you wish to withdraw, and fetch it out swiftly but steadily; no disturbance is created, and the method is almost infallible if quickly and neatly done, while the’ rapidity which can be exercised after a little practice’ is astonishing—a dexterous operator can pick the: ova up almost as quickly as a fowl can pick up barley. I first hit upon the plan by necessity, who: is, as we have been taught, the mother of invention.’ I had a quantity of ova sent with many bad ones,’ and I had no implement to remove them with, In this strait an old barbel float caught my atten- tion, and the eye appeared likely to answer. I tried it and it did answer, e¢ voild. This may seem: a trumpery thing to dilate on, but if the reader has under his charge forty or fifty traysfull of ova, with’ the thermometer at 50° in the water, byssus forming rapidly, and a hundred or so of eggs dead in each tray, he will be uncommonly glad to know the speediest possible method of removing the dead ones before worse come of it, G 82 FISH CULTURE. The ova being deposited, the embryo within proceeds towards development with greater or less rapidity, according as the temperature of the water is high or low. The higher the temperature the more rapid the development. Salmon ova will take from forty or fifty days to 120 or 130 days; trout from thirty to eighty or ninety; greyling from twelve or fifteen to thirty; charr about the same, or rather less than trout; other fish, as pike, perch, &c., a shorter time, but temperature more or less affects them all, I have known ova deposited at the same time to hatch out in the lowest trays of a series of trays several days before those in the top trays; the water in the lower having been exposed to a warmer temperature, and being some 2° higher than the water in the topmost trays. The ova of trout varies more in colour and size than that of any other fish. I have seen some of a deep salmon colour, and those of the next fish would perhaps be of a pale hue, almost white. A curious change takes place in the ova of greyling within a few hours of its taking; when it first comes forth it is of small size, not larger than a No. 7 shot; after a time a sort of false skin appears to swell round it, no doubt to protect the egg, which is then doubled in size. I will describe the develop-. THE HATCHING OF OVA. 83 ment of a salmon egg, as the same process applies to the others, Salmon ova, when first taken, is of a clear reddish- salmon colour; after the milt is mixed with it, it assumes a shade of darker red, and a sort of disc, like the yolk of an egg in form is observable, which was not there before. Then globules of oily matter form and collect round this disc, some of larger size than the others. As time gdes on these globules become more various in size and the series is more irregular, and if the egg is good it goes on extending. It often happens, however, that these globules do not alter at all, but the disc and globules remain unchanged as in the early stage. When this is the case, while other eggs are changing in the form and density of the disc and globules, it is extremely probable that the eggs are bad: either they were immature, or not properly fertilized, or some other accident has occurred to render them useless. To the un- initiated, however, these eggs appear to be perfectly good, and thus they will remain totally unchanged, and, if anything, getting more transparent, until the other eggs are hatched out; but hold them up to the light and compare them with a good egg, and three parts of the bad egg will be seen to be filled with a perfectly clear transparent matter with a G 2 84. . FISH CULTURE, mere ring of small oily globules, while the whole of the good one will be filled with a network of globules After a further period has elapsed, on looking closer a small, thin, semi-opaque white line of some quarter of an inch, or less, in length will be visible on one side of the egg. This is the tail of the fish, and is the earliest visible formation of the spinal column; on the opposite side of the egg will be seen the head. This is shaped some- what like the bowl of a tea-spoon or the head of a snake, In time this line densifies and grows distinct, and about the fifth or sixth week (in water of moderate temperature), two black specks will be: observable. These are the eyes of the embryo, which: may now be discerned moving and often turning round in the egg. The articulation of the veins may be plainly traced. The ‘pulsation of the heart and the rapid flow of the circulation can all be’ distinctly seen through the outer shell, forming a very wonderful and most interesting spectacle. 1 When an egg is visibly bad, it turns an opaque white. Dr. Davy states that this is owing to the absorption of water. That he is right we have only to break the shell of an egg in the water to prove. The contents, previously a clear and glutinous fluid, at once become turgid and solid; though why these clear eggs resist the absorption of water so long, while others absorb it instantaneously, has not yet been discovered. THE.HATCHING OF OVA, 85 From this time till the hatching, which takes place from a fortnight to three weeks or a month subse- quently, the shell of the egg gradually grows thinner and thinner, and the motions and development of the embryo within more rapid and constant, and more clear and distinct. Some morning, when you visit your trays you observe a small reddish shinizig spot amongst the ova, rather larger than a pellet of ova, which catches the eye instantly; and on looking closer, you find that one of your fish has thrown off its shell, and emerged to life. “ Take it up tenderly, Treat it with care, Fashioned so—” No, not “slenderly,’ for a more unwieldy, delicate, clumsy, welcome little stranger does not exist to gladden the eyes of the delighted pisciculturist withal. Now you have it in the little glass reser- voir, with a drop or two of water around and over it, under the microscope. How it wriggles and kicks! what vigorous vitality is here, in this little curious object! Now it is quiescent, and what a wondrous spectacle is revealed to you! Is this a fish ora new kind of tadpole? Verily, Sir Philosopher, it is of fish, fishy—though not, perchance, fishlike. Could this strange, helpless little thing ever become 86 3 FISH CULTURE. the magnificent twenty-pounder, that takes you down with breathless haste, with bending rod and whizzing reel, stumbling and panting, full five hundred yards of that terrific torrent, and flinging somersaults that rival those of the deftest acrobat, gives you a full half- hour’s hard work and awful excitement in the dark pool below? Can this little marvel, I say, be the foundation of that which has had hundreds of laws made for it, thousands of pages of reports collected on it, myriads of law-suits fought about it, Royal Commissions without end imposed upon it; treatises unnumbered, written by great lights of science and genius, concerning it; by the catching of which thousands live, and hundreds realize fortunes, or the reverse ; which millions feed on; and which should be, if properly understood and treated, one of the richest veins of our national wealth and subsis- tence? Verily, indeed, wonderful are the works of Providence! Stay, let us look closer: a thin streak, of almost transparent substance, about half an inch in length, at one end of which two wonderfully disproportioned eyes goggle at you through the lens; at the other end the thin streak turns upwards, and forms the tail part. From immediately below the throat, and along where the belly should be, depends a huge, unwieldy, umbilical bladder, larger, apparently, THE HATCHING OF OVA, 87 than the egg it has just emerged from. This bladder is distended with a clear gum-like liquid. Up towards the throat are a collection of those oily globules before noticed, when in the egg state, just over them. Stay; can that little red spot be the heart? As I live, it is; and those thin filament- like cords, extending from and branching off towards the end of the bladder, are the veins. Now the red heart pulsates ; and the injected blood rushes, with quick, steady action, through every vein—its progress being distinct, even without the aid of the micro- scope, and as traceable as in an anatomical prepara- tion. Second by second the pulsations continue— But the animal is uneasy, and kicks and wriggles again. Place it carefully back in its trough. There, it darts to the bottom, ensconces itself between two stones of gravel, and lies prone on its side. In a few days you will be able to distinguish the rapid and unceasing beating of its little fan-like pectoral fins. But now glance over the trough, and haply you will find three or four more red-spots, indicating an in- crease in your registry of births. Here and there you will, perhaps, see eyes very distinctly. Look closer. They protrude from the shell; and this is how the fish hatches out. Now the head is thrust out, and the eyes stare forth at the wonderful world they are 88 ; FISH CULTURE.” about to come out into. The embryo wriggles, and shakes the egg; gradually the shell splits across. the back, and the back is thrust out;* wriggle after wriggle ensues, and the work of parturition goes on with tolerable rapidity. A few: more convulsions, and the little fish springs forth from its shell, leaving its empty case behind, and darts up to the surface of the water in its glad joy at being released from its prison, and then sinks slowly down again on the gravel prone upon its side. Helpless innocent, what a nice morsel now for a hungry trout ! and what havoc a monster of six ounces would make among a hundred or two of them! Perhaps, after getting its head out, it finds a difficulty in releasing the tail, which is curled round the umbilical bladder within ; again and again it tries fruitlessly, resting between each convulsion to concentrate its force for the next effort. Take pity upon it; place your camel-hair brush softly and caressingly upon it. See; there— it is out. May you catch it, in return for your kind offices, when it 7s a twenty-pounder ! At first the work of hatching goes slowly on; and these early-hatched fish are seldom strong specimens, 1 Sometimes the tail protrudes first, and sometimes the shell Splits across the belly, and the bag shows first. In these instances the struggles of the fish Jast much longer. THE HATCHING OF OVA. 89 very many of them paying the perialty of their pre- mature appearance ;* but as the days go on, they increase in number, and soon a day arrives, as in “the rise” of the May-fly, when Nature bends all her energies to the work, and out they come by hundreds and thousands; every hour, nay, every minute, adds to the wriggling tenants of your trays, and after another day or two but a sparse few lazy fellows, in- disposed to tempt their fate too early, remain to come forth. Remove them to some spare corner of an empty tray, that they may hatch therein at their leisure. The hatched fish, if contained in the indoor appa- ratus first described, now require to be removed to rearing trays, and to be separated from the filth of egg shells, dead eggs, and alevins, with the contents of either burst or dead during hatching, and all the deposit which usually attends the hatching process ; and here it will be seen at once what an advantage the French plan affords. Remove the grille. Draw out one of the corks and hold a pail under the hole, and with a little assistance from a soft brush to sweep the tray, the contents come into the pail. The dead and refuse can then be poured off gradually, and 1 The bladder should run back almost to a point behind in healthy young salmon; when it is rounded too much the fish seldom does well, 90 . FISH CULTURE. the living deposited in the rearing tray. This is the work of but a few minutes, and perfectly clean quarters can be afforded the newly-hatched fish— a matter of no little importance to their health and well-doing, for if cleanliness was needful in the egg state, it is of vital necessity to the fish. "Where gravel is used for the ova this cannot be insured without a great deal of labour and trouble; either the fish must be picked out as best they can be—a process involving the slaughter of many—or the dirt must be picked out, and this latter is impossible. The gravel will, in spite of all you can do, retain some impurity. However this be accomplished, it is a long, tedious, dirty, wasteful, and imperfect job; whereas the French is speedy and clean, and entails no loss whatever. The same trays that the fish were hatched in may, if it be wished, be used as rearing trays, a very thin coating of gravel being put on the bottom, and the number of fish hatched in each tray reduced. The greatest cleanliness is necessary. during the period of alevinage. Even into the purest water minute particles of matter will find their way somehow, and in the earlier stages of the alevins’ ex- istence the skin is soft, and, according to Dr. Davy, 1“ The Angler in the Lake District,” an interesting and scientifie little work, by Dr. John Davy, F.R.S, THE HATCHING OF OVA. 91 it is covered with mucus, to which these particles, of course, readily adhere. The greater portion of these impurities are, of course, attracted to the gills, through which the water passes in the act of respira- tion. The gills, acting as a kind of filter, catch and. detain these particles, which speedily multiply and check the flow of water, and consequently the aera- tion dependent on it ; when, if the fish be unable to rub them off, death from suffocation ensues. The more impure, therefore, the water, of course the larger the loss from this cause. Dr. Davy states that these floating matters consist usually of fibres of the sim- plest form of vegetation, particles of root entangled in them, and granules and nuclei of various kinds. Dr. Davy further recommends, as a means of keeping the water pure, aquatic plants. But the Doctor did not employ a running stream in his experiments, merely changing the water occasionally. He further adds, that these will increase the infusoria which form the earliest food of the little fish, and in this light the suggestion is a good one; moreover, the plants may serve to rub off the above parasitic obstructions against. I have always experienced much difficulty in keeping the fish in the tray. They will wriggle through any hole or crack, however small. I have usually employed a piece of perforated zinc, 92 : FISH CULTURE. extending from the corner of the tray opposite to the outlet, to some inches beyond the outlet itself, so as to divide that part of the tray in which the spout is entirely from the rest of the tray. But the difficulty is to fix the zinc... In wooden trays you can tack it, and the division is .effectual, as the fish cannot get by. In slate trays you might have a small slit sawed, down which the zine might be slid, the other end being jammed in -the angle of the tray; but in crockery the difficulty is considerable, and either a small sieve must be immersed under each spout in which many fish are daily killed; or the fish must be constantly fished out and put back into their trays. But this can only be done when the fish are all of one sort and of one hatching. When they are of different species, or there is much difference in their age, the difficulty in keeping them apart, without separate ranges of trays, is much increased. If the pisciculturist has a good stream of fresh clear water at command, all this is very much simplified. A wooden box of white deal, well seasoned, half-full of gravel, with a good stream through it, and some large stones scattered about for. the fish to burrow under, will be all that is needed. Across the exits and entrances to this a slab of perforated zinc can be nailed, and THE HATCHING OF OVA. 93. the isolation of species is complete. But where the rearing is perforce conducted in indoor trays, diffi- culties such as I have described will be experienced, if the operations are at all on a large scale, and the water supply is limited. The fish. being deposited, little now needs to be done with them. They will 1. Egg with eye of embryo visible. 2. Young salmon just hatched. 3. Salmon having absorbed the vesicle. 4, Salmon three or four months old. burrow under the gravel, or under stones, getting out: of sight, and out of the light, which suits them not, as much as possible, gradually absorbing the large bladder which attaches to them, the contents of which affords their sole subsistence. In about six weeks, as they grow larger, you will have to remove a large portion of them to some other tray that they may not be overcrowded, Little by little, the bladder is drawn up and absorbed into the system; as it. 1 A slight awning over them as a shade is desirable. 94 FISH CULTURE. disappears the fish grow more and more active, darting and skipping about the troughs. Soon no trace of it is to be seen; and now they begin roving to and fro searching for food, and they require to be fed. It will be found also that they require still more room; and unless the piscicul- turist has at his command a small stream of some kind, he will find it advisable to turn his fish out into the river they are destined for, as he will lose fewer of them in that way than by trying to rear them in a scarce water-supply. If, however, he has such a stream, and still wishes to keep them under his notice for some time, he should have either a small shallow pond constructed, or a large and long box or two of considerable extra capacity. These boxes should be gravelled, but should rise to full six inches out of the water, as the small fish are very active and apt to jump out. The tops should be covered with fine sparrow-netting, to keep mischievous birds, as kingfishers, &c. out, but so as to admit plenty of light and air, and to allow small flies to find their way to the water, which at this period form the most natural, and by no means scanty, supply of food. About two, inches depth of water will be sufficient, and a fair but gentle stream should be turned on. In places the gravel should THE HATCHING OF OVA, 95 be heaped up slightly to make mimic shallows for the fish to bask on, and at intervals of a foot or eighteen inches along the side of the box should be placed half bricks, these causing an eddy and a still resting-place, behind which the little fish will shelter. If this be not done, and the stream chance to be at all strong, the weaker ones will be driven down against the lower grating, and will there, in all probability, perish, A pond, of course, should be made upon similar principles, and should be carefully gravelled. I do not, however, hold with keeping the fry a day after they are able to roam about and seek their own living. I have heard people urge, that if the young fish are turned into the river at that early age, they will fall a prey to predaceous fish. It is possible that a small per- centage of them may, but the remainder will early learn to know their enemies and avoid them; besides, in putting them into the river, the most shallow places at the sides and the most sheltered spots should be selected, and the fish should be distributed in small numbers in such places as predaceous fish are least likely to come and look for them. Added to this, the remainder will thrive so much better in the wider area of the river, and will grow so much faster, that this will almost. 96 ‘ FISH CULTURE. counterbalance any slight loss. If the fry are kept until they are of fair size, fed regularly every day, never seeing an enemy of any kind, what will become of them when they are turned at once into deep water amongst foes, without the pre- liminary and probationary life on the comparatively safe shallows, being all unaccustomed to seek their own food or to see enemies? In my opinion they are far more likely to fall victims then, and less likely to thrive’ on their own exertions, unless it be proposed to keep them until they are beyond the size taken by pike or large trout, in which case I do not think. the pisciculturist would be likely to repeat his experiment. The trouble and expense of looking after and feeding the young fish is very eonsiderable ; so that, all things considered, it is far better to turn the fry in as soon as possible. Still, it may be thought desirable to keep some of them at any rate for a time, so we will consider their feeding. This at first must be done very sparsely, or they will surfeit themselves if the food be strong, such as liver or meat. The best and most natural food is the roe of coarse fish, One of the best for - this purpose is the plaice, a common fish in which the roe is plentiful during March, April, May, and June, Parboil it, and then put it in water to dis» THE HATCHING OF ‘OVA, 97 integrate it. A little ox or sheep’s liver well boiled, and ground or grated as fine as possible, or worms chopped very small, may be scattered to them daily. The smallest insects or midge flies thrown in the water, they will rise to and take with avidity. Various other matters are used for their subsistence, amongst which I will notice one or two only, since almost any animal matter, if reduced to sufficiently small dimensions, forms food for them. In feeding young fish, care should be taken to keep the bottom of the pond in which they are as clean as possible; as, if animal food is left in any large quantity deposited upon the gravel, it will of course putrify, and much damage the fish, A few of the little gammari or freshwater squil- lide turned into the ponds then will ‘be found useful in clearing up such matters, if no other means be practicable. While the fish are yet in the boxes, you may remove refuse with the siphon which you have used to suck up the eggs; but this will be found a somewhat tedious process. No means, how- ever, should be neglected which will tend to keep the water pure and clean, Lean meat, cut very thin, boiled well, and then macerated or pounded to a’ pulp, makes good food, the small fibrous particles being of the right size for the little fish to feed on, H 98 FISH CULTURE. Mr. Fry recommends a variety of matters, as the flesh of coarse fish pounded small; and chiefly he advises that the ova of various of these fish should be procured and hatched, as the young fry will take the embryo as soon as it appears with great avidity. One of his reasons for preferring this food is cer- tainly a very reasonable one, for he points out that it is not likely to die and putrify, and there is not much difficulty in obtaining large quantities of such spawn or in hatching it, as very many of the coarse fish are spawning from April to June, which is just the period when this food is required; as the fish increase in size other food can easily be substituted. He also mentions the almost microscopic crustacea of the species Cythére, Cyprés, and Cyclops, which abound in stagnant waters, newly-hatched earth- worms, &c. &c. ' THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 99 CHAPTER V. THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. THE transport of fry when small is not a very difficult matter, and the transport of alevins (the small fry with the bag yet attached to them) is even less so. Indeed, in this latter instance I make no doubt that the plan of swinging the can advocated for ova at page 76 would answer well enough. In sending fry, however, it is not safe to send them without an attendant for a journey of any length. Cool weather is a great advantage in the conveyance of fry, and a little fresh water from time to time equally so. When I wish to be very sure about the conveyance of fry, I usually write to some station-master on any line, and ask him to allow one of the porters to have a pail full of river- water ready, which has never yet been refused. It must be river-water, however, as pump-water would inevitably kill the fry, consequently a station with a stream handy to it should be selected. If I cannot obtain it in this way, I make the attendant take two H2 100 FISH CULTURE, cans with him, one for the fish, and the other holding fresh water. In fairly cool weather a thousand of fry will do well enough in a can holding one and a half gallons of water for from one and a half to two hours. The aeration of the water is a matter of great importance, and a small pair of bellows should be provided. When the fry begin to come up to the top of the water, which is always a sign of deficient aeration, put the nozzle of the bellows to the bottom of the can, and give three or four vigorous blasts, and the fish will at once seek the bottom, and stay there. This process repeated at intervals will be found to have the most valuable effect in prolonging the life of the fry. Failing in the possession of a pair of bellows, if the attendant be reduced to straits, he may employ a clean clay pipe, and blow through it, and this process, though less useful than the other, will be found very beneficial. Of course the pipe must be a clean one. Failing in this, dip up some of the water in a cup, and. pour it in from a height ; but the other methods are preferable. If possible, always remove dead fish or filth. I last year saw a thousand salmon fry lost in a singular manner. IJ had taken them down to a friend who was a brewer. The person who was to carry them to the water had not arrived, and THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 101 they were obliged to be left standing in the yard. As the weather was very hot indeed, the fish showed symptoms of exhaustion, and fresh water was given to them. In moving them about from can to can about two-thirds of them were inconsiderately poured. into a pail. This pail chanced to be one of the brew-house pails, and, though apparently perfectly clean, there can be no doubt that the wood was saturated with carbonic-acid; for the instant the fish touched the bottom nine-tenths of them turned up dead. J never saw so direful and sudden a slaughter. For a thousand fry a good large bait- can is as good a medium of conveyance as any. The larger fish are, the more difficult it becomes to transport them. Fish so tenacious of life as eels, tench, carp, and even jack, may be transported with tolerable ease. The salmonide require more care and attention. In Holland, tench and carp are con- veyed to market in wet moss, are put into tanks, and if not sold are re-consigned to the wet moss, and taken home again. Indeed I have heard of their being kept for a considerable time in wet moss during the winter. Young salmon, trout, or grayling are more difficult to transport, particularly salmon. The best apparatus for moving the larger fish is Mr. Eyre’s fish-carrier. This is a large vessel, with a force- 102 FISH CULTURE, pump attached, by means of which air can be driven through the water.’ Thus the water is kept aerated and wholesome. When this apparatus is put in action, fish that have previously appeared sickly, and have been turning on their sides in an apparently dying condition, instantly dive to the bottom and assume their natural position. By this means large- ish fish may be conveyed a considerable distance.’ If one or two, however, really die, they should always be speedily removed; and this should not be done by the hand, but by means of a small net; indeed, the hand should not be used in contact with live fish oftener than is positively unavoidable. 1 The following description of the Fish-carrier is from the pen o Mr. Eyre himself :— “The apparatus consists of a zine cylinder, about three feet high and two feet diameter, with a strong iron handle running round the middle. To the top a small force-pump is attached, and by this fresh air is forced through a star-shaped distributor at the bottom of the cylinder, A ring-net, to bring the fish up for inspection, and a loose concave rim, to prevent splashing over, completes it.” The reader can extemporize a fish-carrier from a nine-gallon or larger cask; this must be thoroughly sweetened in the first place. Fasten a small force-pump down the inside, and from the bottom of it carry a small leaden pipe across the bottom of the cask. This pipe should be drilled full of small holes, and at every stroke of the pump a shower of air bubbles rushes through the water. The top should not -be thoroughly open, but a large round hole should be cut for air. 2 Large grayling have been conveyed « distance of 250 miles in it with little damage or loss, THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 103 While correcting this sheet, an event has occurred, in the introduction of the Silurus Glanis into this country, which in the transport of fish has never been equalled in modern days. I do not mean to assert that specimens of fish have not been brought even longer distances, but they have usually been by sea voyages, when the arrangements once made were complete, .and little or no change has been required ; but in this instance the changes and chances of failure have been infinite, but have all been overcome by the energy and perseverance of Sir Stephen Lake- man. I cannot do better than allow my friend Mr. James Lowe to tell the story in his own characteristic way, and therefore extract his letter from the Field of September 17th. :— THE ARRIVAL OF THE SILURUS GLANIS IN ENGLAND. “That much desired fish, the Silurus, has at last been brought alive to this country, after various failures. The success is entirely due to the intelli- gent enterprise and perseverance of Sir Stephen B. Lakeman, who himself accompanied the fish all the way from Bucharest, a distance of 1,800 miles; and on Thursday night (September 15th) I had the pleasure of assisting Mr. Francis Francis in placing fourteen 104 FISH CULTURE. lively little baby-siluri in a pond not far from the fish-hatching apparatus belonging to the Accli- matisation Society on Mr, Francis’s grounds at Twickenham. “When I state that Sir S. Lakeman had to change railway carriages more than thirty times during the journey, not to mention other vehicles, such as horse- carriages and steamers; that he started on the 23d of August, and arrived in London with the fish on the evening of the 15th of September; and that during all that long journey he had to wage per- petual battle with the indifference and stupidity of officials, from station-masters down to porters (most of whom seemed to regard the fact of his travelling with a strange fish as rather a misdemeanour than otherwise), the reader will have some notion of the difficulties which have been overcome. “The fourteen little siluri (or siluruses) which have arrived are what remain of thirty-six of the same species, which started from Kopacheni, where Sir S. Lakeman’s estate is situated. This place is on the banks of the Argisch, a tributary of the Danube, and is about ten miles from Bucharest. The Argisch abounds in Silurus, and in all the other curious and unknown fish which swarm in the Danube, some of which (thanks to Sir 8. Lakeman) we hope, at no THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 105 very distant day, to réintroduce to their old friends, the siluri, in Mr. Francis’s pond. “By way of preparation for the journey, the Siluri were placed in a water-cask, covered with a net, and placed in a large pond or lake of about thirty acres, belonging to Sir S. Lakeman; which pond abounds with fish, and yields silurus weighing up to 30Ib. and 40lb., which may be caught with the line. “The contrivance which Sir 8. Lakeman adopted for the transport of the fish, and the simplicity of the arrangement whereby he managed to aerate the water, is worthy of great commendation. Of the thirty-six fish which started from Kopacheni, some were com- paratively large (weighing up to 4lb., and one of about 6lb.), and some were mere fry. They were separated according to sizes, and placed in three barrels of about the capacity of quarter-casks, twelve in a barrel. The lids of the barrels were perforated, and inside the lid was a perforated inner lid with a hole in the centre large enough to allow the fish, or a man’s arm, to pass. The barrels were mounted upon rockers, like those of a child’s cradle, and being kept about three-parts full of water, the motion of the vehicles in which they travelled (whether drawn by horses or driven by steam) rocked them about and kept up a constant splashing, and, consequently, a 106 FISH CULTURE. constant aeration of the water. Sir S. Lakeman observed that so long as the barrels were in motion the fish remained lively, and it was only during the stoppages at stations, &c., that they exhibited signs of distress. A servant was directed to remain by the barrels throughout the journey, and at intervals of two or three hours to pour in a bottle of fresh water. “Sir 8. Lakeman started (as I have stated) from Kopacheni on August 23d. He brought the fish, by Bucharest, to Giurgevo, a distance of fifty miles; thence by steamer to Basias (in Transylvania), and so on by railway to Pesth, Vienna, Nuremburg, Cologne, Brussels, and Boulogne. The larger fish died first, all but the six-pounder, which endured to Vienna; and he only died there, it is supposed, because the servant in charge put his barrel into a stable, and it is likely that the ammoniacal atmosphere of the place disagreed with him. It should be noticed that during the lifetime of this gentleman some of the smaller fish which had been drafted into his barrel disappeared. very mysteriously, and a large number of specimens of the ‘tiger eel’ of the Danube, which were assigned to him as travelling companions, were also non est. “The difficulties which had to be contended with THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 107 were infinite; but the worst accident happened at Boulogne, where the stupid railway porter hoisted upon his back the solitary barrel which contained the survivors, just as if it had been a bale of goods, and finding the water running over his head and ‘down his neck, flung it down, scattering fish and water all about the station. Happily, they were almost all recovered without damage, and that they should have survived such a mishap is certainly a re- markable proof of their hardiness and tenacity of life. “On arriving at Folkestone, there were fourteen survivors of the thirty-six which started from Kopa- cheni, and I am happy to say that every one of these reached Mr. Francis in the most lively and promising state—somewhat thin, it is true (for they had been kept upon short commons all through the journey), but apparently as full of life and vivacity as such little creatures could possibly be. “Immediately on his arrival in London, Sir Ste- phen Lakeman, with most praiseworthy public spirit, thought more of the fish than of himself; for without even driving to an hotel, he made his way to The Field office; and I need not describe with what de- light he and his charge were welcomed. In a very short time we were on our way to Twickenham, having (as we thought) deposited the siluri safely in 108 FISH CULTURE. the guard’s van. Alas! the troubles of the little fellows were not yet over. When the train drew up at Vauxhall, the guard rushed to our carriage with consternation upon his face. ‘Oh, pray, gentlemen, come to the van! I hadn’t turned my back half a minute before a [blank] fool of a porter shoved in a package, and turned over your barrel of fish, and nearly all the water has run out.’ This was sad news —to weather this long journey of nearly 2,000 miles successfully, and then to be shipwrecked between Waterloo-bridge and Twickenham! Out we rushed, and into the van. The guard’s report was too true ; but I at once ascertained that some water was left in the barrel. ‘Water! water ;’ I shouted, louder than Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner probably did, and for- tunately a porter had time to fetch just one bucket from the pump, which we managed to get into the barrel. The rest of the journey Sir 8. Lakeman and I performed in the van, determined to leave our precious charge no more to the care of either guards or porters. I must do this particular guard, however, the credit to say that the accident was no fault of his; that he did all that lay in his power to remedy it as soon as he discovered it, and that he manifested very great concern at the occurrence and interest in the welfare of our charges, THE TRANSPORT OF FRY AND FISH. 109 “So we got them safely down to Mr. Francis’s, and on the brink of the pond turned them into a trough -—fourteen little siluri, all alive and kicking, and as spry and frisky as possible. Their size varied from an ounce and a half to two ounces, for they are not more than three months old; but Sir 8. Lakeman (who is well acquainted with the fish) declares that in a few weeks, when they have had the benefit of fresh water and plenty of food, their increase will be rapid and astonishing. When put into the water, they dived down to the bottom at once, with an easy vigorous movement, and waving their long barbels about, quite as if they knew their way about the pond which they then saw for the first time. From their flourishing condition, there is every reason to hope that they will increase and multiply. Indeed, I have now very little doubt that, with ordinary luck, this country has now acquired the Silurus Glanis. “This is, so far as I am aware, the first time that this valuable fish has been brought to our shores ; and the gratitude not only of the Acclimatisation Society, but of the country, is due to Sir Stephen B. Lakeman for the admirable manner in which he has effected the task which he unselfishly, and let me say patriotically, imposed upon himself. That the silurus is a most valuable fish there is no reason to 110 FISH CULTURE. doubt. Its extraordinary rapacity and the enormous size to which it grows will require that it shall have lakes and ponds specially allotted to its use; but all witnesses concur in pronouncing it to be one of the must delicious fishes that exist. “James Lowe, “ Joint Hon. Sec. of the Acclimatisation Society.” To the above I have but to add, that seven days afterwards, when this sheet was sent off, the young strangers were exceedingly well and hearty, and feeding ravenously.—F. F. ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 111 CHAPTER VI. ON THE FOOD OF FISH AND ITS PRODUCTION. THERE is not an insect or small reptile that inhabits the soil beneath us, the air above us, or the waters around us, that is not food for fishes in a greater or less degree. Worms of all kinds, flies of all kinds, grubs and larve of all kinds, cockchafers, crickets, leeches, snails, humble-bees, young birds, mice, rats, frogs, beetles, all serve the turn of one fish or another, and so in turn help to produce food for man. Black beetles, for example, often looked on as a nuisance in houses, are caviare to the trout; and I have seen two or three trout devour a panful of them with the greatest avidity. Nay, I have seen a wary old six- pound stream trout, that had been tempted with every conceivable variety of bait, succumb to the temptation of a black beetle. Small frogs, just emerged from tadpoleism, they rejoice in exceed- ingly ; and I have even seen them take young toads, though some do repudiate the taste on the trout’s 112 FISH CULTURE, part. Nothing living comes amiss, but doubtless some kinds of food agree with them far better than others. But we know very little on this branch of the subject. It is dreamland to us, with a very little ascertained waking reality. What do.we know even of the various breeds of the same species of fish, save the bare fact of their existence? What do we know of the food and conditions most favourable to them? Consider the trout, Can any fish display greater diversity or variety of size and value than trout? And how do we account for it? Trout in one stream will be much larger, firmer, redder, and better shaped than in others. This may, in a measure, be owing to the greater abundance of food ; but I have every reason to believe that it pro- ceeds quite as much from the kind of food that they are enabled to obtain. In‘some rivers and lakes we find the trout large, handsome, red, and vigorous fish ; in others, we find them small and meagre; nay, even in the same lake the fish will be influenced in a strange way by locality, so much so that the very breed even appears to be different. It would seem difficult to account for this peculiarity upon any other hypothesis than that of food and the nature | of the water and soil around them, and yet the fish appear to be a totally different breed; and it ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 113 certainly appears possible that the character of the fish may have changed by degrees, through succes- sive generations, and owing to being bred and fed in a different manner from the other fish. I have placed trout from one stream into another, and after years could very easily distinguish them from their compeers of the stream. But it is doubtful if their progeny would show and retain their special charac- teristics, though if they interbreed with the fish of the stream, as they would be pretty sure to, the breed might possibly be improved by the infusion of fresh blood. Few experiments of any note have been tried in the feeding of fish, this being as yet almost untrodden ground; but I once heard of an experiment being tried in the following manner:—Equal numbers of trout were confined for a certain time by gratings to three several portions of the same stream. The fish in one of the divisions were fed entirely upon flies ; in another, upon minnows; and in the third, upon worms. At the end of a certain period, those which had been fed on flies were the heaviest and in the best condition ; those fed on minnows occupied the second place; while those fed on worms were in much the worst order of the three. The probability is, that had another pen been set off, and the fish I 114 FISH CULTURE. fed with a mixture of all three species of food, the fish in it would have far exceeded any of the others in weight and condition. Some rivers notoriously produce larger trout than others, although the character of the soil they flow through may to all appearance be very similar. I will instance two, both of which are tributaries of the Thames—the Chess, a branch of the Bucking- hamshire Colne; and the Wick, a little stream run- ning through High Wycombe. I select these two streams because they are only some ten or twelve miles from each other, and because they are as nearly as possible of a size. Now, it is generally supposed that the very best and most fattening food provided by Nature for the trout is the may-fly, or green-drake. This fly abounds in profusion on the Chess ; it is rarely if ever seen on the Wick—in fact, it may be said not to exist there. The minnow, like- wise supposed to be most excellent and nourishing food for the trout, is also a stranger to the Wick ; or if it exists there, is not found in any considerable number. Sticklebacks and miller’s thumbs are found in places, though they do not abound in all parts of the stream. The caddis, or case grub of the smaller ‘flies, however, is very abundant; and in some of the hatch holes there are a considerable quantity of leeches. ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 115 On the Chess a trout of two pounds would be a very fine one, the fish averaging from half a pound to a pound and a quarter. On the Wick it would be an ordinary fish; indeed, they are not con- sidered fair takeable fish under a pound and a half. They are often caught of four and five pounds, and Ihave known them to run up to seven or eight or even ten pounds; and this in a small stream, little more than a good-sized brook, is a most astonishing size; for not only do these fish acquire this unusual weight, but they arrive at it very rapidly indeed. I have had many opportunities of knowing how they will increase under favourable circumstances, as one of the fisheries on the stream belonging to a friend of mine was on one or two occasions almost destroyed by bleach and tar water—some forty or fifty brace of fish being all that were saved: none of them were over two pounds, and yet, in two years, many of them had grown to six and seven pounds’ weight." Taking the Wycombe fish as a breed, I may say that they are the heaviest and thickest fish, for their ‘length, it has ever been my lot to see; while the colour of the flesh of a good fish, instead of the ordi- 1 Since this was written I regret to say that again have the whole of his fish been destroyed by filth sent down from above. F. Ff. 1864, 12 116 FISH CULTURE. nary pale pink of a really well-conditioned trout, is often of a deep red, much redder, indeed, than that of salmon. On -the other hand, the Chess fish are not particularly handsome, shapely, or well coloured. Here is a point well worthy the consideration of those who wish to take up the science of pisci- culture. What particular species of food can it be which not only makes up for the total absence of the may-fly and minnow, but so feeds the fish in this admirable little stream, that there is no river, large or small, which I have ever seen in all England, can for its size equal it in production? What, then, can be the particular food that fattens them so rapidly ? My own impression is, that the fresh-water gammari, or pulex, to which I have previously referred, have not a little to do with it, for these insects abound in this stream even to profusion— to a greater extent, indeed, than I have ever found them in any other brook. The trout feed upon them voraciously ; and it is a very common thing to find in the trout a mass of these insects, half digested, and as large as a filbert. I have seen the trout picking them off the walls, which pen the stream in some places, as rapidly as a child would pick blackberries from a hedge; and I am induced ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 117 to think that this insect has, as I have said, much to do with the’ fineness of the fish; and the more so, because, wherever I have found it to exist in any quantity, I have invariably observed that the trout are of fine size, and in unusually good condition.1 In lakes, also, it is a very common thing to find the trout in one lake large, bright, and well fed, and 1 These insects of course thrive better in sluggish than in rapid water, though they do well enough in either when there are weeds. They are peculiarly well-adapted for lakes ; and were I owner of a lake, I would leave no stone unturned to introduce them in large numbers. They feed upon almost anything, and are the scavengers of the water. They are very fond of the large fresh-water mussel, and destroy and eat them in large numbers. These, which are easily introduced, should be as food for the trout food. Where the streams are too rapid for the plentiful production of the gam- mari, it would be by no means a bad plan to make here and there (where the situation of the soil and the banks suited such a plan) small shallow ponds, supplied with water by means of a small pipe, and having an exit to the stream. In these the requisite kind of weeds might be planted, a stock of these little insects turned in, and some kind of offal or other food occasionally being cast to them, and the insects left to thrive and increase. They would of their own accord make their way into the stream, where they would afford excellent food for the trout. Other kinds of insects might be also placed in such food-breeding ponds, where they might propagate and multiply in safety. By such a method as this almost any amount of the food best suited to the trout might no doubt easily be produced. For if we increase the stock of fish, we must, of course, if their size and weight is to be kept up, grow food for them somehow, and this seems not to be a very difficult plan. 118 FISH CULTURE, in another, very similar in appearance, and perhaps only a bare half-mile distant from‘the other, they will be long, black, and lean, with heads out of all proportion to the thickness of the body. In another, probably but a similar distance from the first two, the trout will be abundant, but very small, though bright and well coloured. These varieties, I have every reason to believe, are caused partly by’a differ- ence of water, produced by the absence or presence of certain plants, these of course giving a difference of food, To exemplify this: I remember some years since, while fishing in a wild part of Donegal, near’ the little village of Ardara, coming upon a cluster of small lakes. The trout in some of these lakes were small, bright, and very plentiful; in others, they were of a good size, but not handsome, But in one of the lakes, a small one—a mere pool, of perhaps a couple or three acres in extent—my attendant in- formed me that the trout, though of a dark colour, owing to the peat colour and depth of the water, were large and well-shaped, and of good flavour, often running up to five and six, and even seven or eight pounds’ weight. But the lake was what is termed among anglers “a sulky lake,” that is, the fish very rarely rose well at the fly, and probably it might he fished a dozen times without producing ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 119. a single fish, though there were times and days, if the angler chanced to hit upon them, when very good fishing might be had, and when the lake ap- peared alive with fish. I fished the pool, however, and had the good fortune, by sinking the fly, to take one of the trout, a strong well-shaped fish, though somewhat dark in colour, and of two pounds’ weight. We also caught specimens of the fish in the other lakes, and the difference between the fish I have already mentioned. While fishing the small lake I accidentally allowed my fiy to sink to the bottom, and on pulling it up again with some difficulty I brought up a large piece of a thick moss-like green weed, with which the bottom of the pool appeared. to abound. On examining this weed more closely I found it swarming with a variety of insects, chiefly water-snails, the small crustacea that inhabit fresh water, and large quantities of the caddis of some considerable fly. The abundance of food thus found at the bottom of the lake fully accounted not only for the large size and good condition of the fish, but also for its being a sulky lake, or for the trout not paying much attention to the flies upon the surface of the water. For they had no difficulty in pro- curing any quantity of food they needed at the bottom, without swimming hither and thither to 120 FISH CULTURE. seek it, or giving themselves the trouble to come to the top. Colonel Whyte also mentioned a fact somewhat of this nature, some time since, in the Field. Ue related, that wishing to improve the size and condition of his fish in a small lake, he cast into it a bushel of the small crustacea, which are often found on water-weeds. These increased rapidly, and as they did so his trout increased in size and improved in condition wonderfully ; but it is also fair to say, that they became much shyer of rising to the fly. Probably the reason why the fish sometimes rise well to flies, and not at others, in Jakes like those of Donegal (which are by no means few), is owing to the fact that the abundance of caddis at the bottom may be undergoing some trans- formation, into flies perhaps, which ascend rapidly to the top of the water, and the trout are thus led in pursuit of them to the top of the water, where the insects rest, and are easily captured. If anglers, being aware of this fact, made some little study of entomology, so far as to know about the time when these insects undergo their transformations, they might not be induced to seek such lakes so often in vain. In the instance I have noted the lake is deep, and the water dark; and the fish at the bottom, engaged with ground food, do not see the flies at the top. ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 121 In the great Irish lakes, as Lough Erne, Lough Arrow, the Westmeath lakes, and others, the large trout which inhabit these lakes never come to the surface in any number, save at the rise of the may-fly. In a good fly season they rise with great freedom, and wonderful takes are made; at other times they can only, save at rare intervals, be picked up by spinning. Of course I am not referring to the small things that get on the shallows, but to the sly old fellows who scorn a midge-fly. On the Thames, also, the large Thames trout are always more upon the rise and on the look-out for flies when the big stone-fly (which is a perfect monster on the Thames), puts in an appearance in April, or when the few green drakes that are found in it show themselves. It is not to be supposed that these large fish will take notice of anything but large flies, because it would take myriads of the smaller ones to make a meal for them ; and therefore it should be the aim of the pisciculturist to increase, by every means in his power, by the importation of larve, &e., the larger flies, if he desires to improve the fly fishing in any lake or river. Again, I will instance the fish in Loch Leven, which grow to a fine size, and are almost always in superb condition. The bottom of the lake, in places, 122° FISH CULTURE. is grown over with a peculiar weed; in this is found a great variety of insects, chiefly crustacea, as small snails of various sorts: the lake also abounds in the more minute entomostracee. Large quantities of both are often found in the stomachs of the trout when taken. Here sport with the fly is generally good, because the lake is shallow and clear, and the fish see the fly well.’ In other lakes again, where these species of weeds, which form the harbour and sub- sistence of these insects, are wanting, it will usually be found that the trout are small, or, if large, ill-fed and meagre, I know also a small lake in Wales, where the fish never take a fly until after dark, when fish from two to three pounds weight (an unusual size for Wales) may be taken. This lake abounds in leeches, and the trout are very fine in it. A quarter of a mile off is a similar lake, in which trout do not thrive at all, and, indeed, are seldom found; while about a mile from it are one or two small lakes, in which the trout do not average three ounces. And yet the character of the lakes, and the soil in and about all of them, are apparently precisely similar. Yet one more instance I must select, to show the changeable and contrary habits of fish, In a large mill-pool belonging to a friend at Alton, are some wonderfully fine trout, the trout running from two to ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 123 twelve pounds. To take trout of five and six pounds with the fly, and to hook them of even larger size, is not at all uncommon, Last season (the summer of *64), I took four fish in two evenings, which together weighed close upon seventeen pounds, and magnificent fish they were. Yet the fish in the stream that feeds the pool seldom get beyond two pounds, or there- abouts, in weight; of course there is a great deal of food in the pool, mainly consisting of water-snails and sticklebacks. Some years the fish run very freely at the minnow, and do not notice the fly much, but in other years the minnow is at a discount, and the fly at a premium. I have never seen any very large flies in the pool, yet the flies the fish take are usually large palmers—like nothing, I should think, which they can be in the habit of seeing. This case differs entirely from any I have remarked elsewhere, and it is to me as yet, I confess, a piscatorial puzzle. A close analysis of the contents of the pond, as concerns insects and weeds, would no doubt throw some light on this interesting fact, which I hope some day to be able to make, as it appears to combine the best sport and the largest fish—which is precisely the point we desire to arrive at. It cannot be doubted that the condition and size of 124 FISH CULTURE. trout, as well as other fish, depend almost wholly upon the supply of food, and I think I have shown that the particular kinds of food are also a great desideratum. Now, it being known that particular kinds of weed are favourable to the production of certain species of insects, what can be easier—when the soil is favourable to such a measure—than to transplant a sufficient quantity of these weeds, and the larve of the insects which will almost always be found to abound in them, from one lake and from one stream to another? For example, with respect to the gammari so often noted, what could be easier than to transplant weed? This would serve as food for the large fresh-water mussel found in almost all waters, and it would serve as food for the gammari, which in turn would serve as food for the fishes. It may be said, with regard to some lakes and streams, that they are so gravelly and rocky, that the weeds would hardly thrive in them; but it is seldom indeed that some nooks and corners do not exist, in or about the banks of lakes and streams, where there may be found sufficient soil, which, with a slight admixture of the natural soil, and a judicious planting of these weeds, may not be made to grow them to some small extent; and the weeds, once introduced, will gradually increase year by year, forming their own soil, and ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 125 naturally producing those requisites which are the most favourable to their production. Of course judg- ment must be exercised in carrying out such experi- ments, quite as much as would be exercised in the introduction or cultivation of a new food-producing plant in agriculture. We acclimatise every species of agricultural plant, and examine its qualities and capabilities, for cattle or for ourselves; we study the soil and manure suited to it, &c. &c.; we have shows and prizes for the best specimens of agricul- tural productions, and thousands of persons assemble to note and study them; but who ever thinks of acclimatising an apparently worthless water-weed ? All plants, even to the meanest looking weed, have their uses for man; and among the fauna of the world, there must be many which would be valuable to us in the light above indicated. We have received one from America—the anacharis alsinastrum. This weed has hitherto been a terrible nuisance, growing so rapidly as to fill up our smaller rivers and ponds in many instances in an incredibly short time ; but it might be that this weed, so troublesome and so difficult to eradicate in the south, would be a great benefit to the hill and moor lakes of the hard north. Hardy water-plants, in which insects can thrive, are greatly wanted there; and it might be found that 126 . FISH CULTURE, the introduction of the anacharis alsinastrum, and its attendant insects, would have a very favourable effect on the size and flavour of the trout found in such places. It would in time become a very interesting and valuable fact, to hear that Mr. So-and-so had brought home a new water-weed, favourable to the production of certain water insects, from Lake Nyanza or elsewhere, There must also be a vast number of water insects, which would prove valuable to our fisheries if introduced, provided we knew all about them. There are hundreds—nay, thousands—of lakes in Ireland and Scotland that are now worthless, pro- ducing nothing but wretched little starved trout of ten to the pound, which might more or less be con- verted by these means into valuable properties. I think I have said enough to show that there is here a very wide field for discovery. Here is, as I have said, a new world—a new science to be learnt. The modern taste for aquariums and vivariums has given us some small insight into how to cultivate those plants which we already possess, but we do not study even these to discover the natural duties and uses for which Providence designed them. We do not in a like manner work out the properties of the insects that inhabit them; and what could be more easy, or would be more interesting, to the entomo-+ ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 127 logist, than to watch the changes and the habits of the various insects that people the waters—to see the most delicate, beautiful, and harmless little flies in creation spring from curious and ungainly grubs, or fierce predaceous larve, changed in form as in nature, to a degree altogether unaccountable! What wonderful and interesting processes would not reveal themselves to the curious observer ! How encouraged he would be to note each new fact, and record every phase of each transformation! How valuable, too, would be the study of the peculiarities of these beautiful and almost microscopic entomostraca ! What more delightful to the student than to know that he is making new discoveries most beneficial to mankind, and which will be connected with his name in future generations! There is no part of creation uninteresting, without its uses, or which does not possess its benefits for man; and there is none, therefore, which is not worthy of his most earnest attention. Those who first study this science, and who first discover its hidden secrets and virtues, will deserve well of their country. For it is well said, that “he is one of the greatest benefactors to his country, who makes two blades of grass 2 grow where one grew before;” and, therefore, he who makes two, twenty, or two hundred fine fish, 128 FISH CULTURE. where one wretched starveling only grew before, will assuredly not be very far behind in his de- servings. Leaving for a time the subject of water-weeds, let us take other views of the necessaries for good water cultivation. Many rivers are starved, in a great measure, for the want of a few trees and bushes along the banks, as foliage is one of the great purveyors and providers of food for trout, and therefore, in many places now destitute of it, and where the trout run small, it should if possible be encouraged. For this purpose few trees are so valuable as the pollard, when it grows old. The trunk holds and conceals myriads of grubs aud beetles, which cannot fail to some extent to find their way into the stream, and so form food for fishes. Some people are very fond of introducing minnows into their rivers and lakes, to supply food for trout; but minnows, unfortunately, feed on precisely the same kinds of food as trout. They aré incessant rangers in search of food, and very voracious, and before he becomes food in his turn, probably a minnow of fair size will, at a very low calculation, have devoured twenty times his own weight of food; and, consequently, instead of bene- fiting the trout, the minnow has deprived him of nine- teen times its own weight of varied food. This quite ON THE FOOD OF FISH. 129 accounts for the fact of trout often rather falling off and deteriorating in lakes into which minnows have been largely introduced. Vegetable-feeding creatures are rather what are required than such as feed on other insects. The minnow is capital food for big trout if thrown to them in a stew, or as a change and variety where already abundance of food exists. But where food is so scarce that the trout suffer from not getting enough, to introduce minnows by way of increasing the food of the trout is certainly a fallacy. I know of several streams where the min- nows abound to profusion, so much so as to be in parts a nuisance to the fisherman, yet are the trout wretched starvelings, seldom reaching three-quarters of a pound, and always lean and lank and out of condition. 130 . FISH CULTURE. CHAPTER VII. ON THE CROSSING OF BREEDS OF FISH. AND now we arrive at another valuable consideration —that of crossing of breeds. There can be no doubt much may be elicited here. In some rivers, the race of salmon and trout are naturally small, and without apparent reason. In Scotland, for example, there will be four rivers running into the same estuary, and the breed, shape, make, and size of the fish of every river will be distinct and different. In some, the fish will be long and thin in shape; in others, short and thick. In some, they will scarce ever exceed twelve or fourteen pounds in weight, and in others they will run up to twenty, thirty, and even forty pounds, if allowed to exist for a reasonable time. Now, here it is evident that the rivers themselves can have little or nothing to do with the growth of the fish, since the great feeding grounds wherein the fish grow and increase their weight, and that at a rate out of all proportion to that of any other animal, ON THE CROSSING OF BREEDS OF FISH. 131 are identical, being the broad sea; since salmon never increase their weight in the fresh water after their first trip to the sea, but rather fall off and deteriorate. Why is it, then, that, enjoying these feeding grounds in common, some thrive so much better and faster than others? It cannot be doubted, that it is in the nature of some breeds to increase more and faster than others, even as a Hereford or Norfolk steer exceeds a Welsh or Highland stot, feed him and breed him how, where, and when you will. We have discovered how, by the crossing of breeds of animals, we can get those which carry flesh best, and increase the fastest, upon a small amount of food. How easy it would be, therefore, having discovered the same thing with regard to fish, to transplant and cross the breed of salmon and other fish, until we found that which is most valuable and suitable to our. various rivers. Here is another branch, then, of the science, scarcely inferior in importance to the last, but of which we know literally nothing. Is it not a sur- prising thing, that a people whose interests are so vast in the elucidation of such questions, should be content to remain in ignorance of them, and should make scarcely an effort to obtain enlightenment on them? It would be very difficult to compute how many millions a year are lost to this country by an K 2 132 FISH CULTURE. ignorance of fish culture. Indeed, it may with some reason be said that the absence of proper understand- ing and cultivation of our waters may make just the difference between wealth and poverty. Having said so much, it is needless for me to pursue this fruitful and important theme further. It is to be hoped that public attention will be awakened, and that we shall speedily begin to make up for the time we have so lamentably lost. The subject of hybrids is one which, in the present state of knowledge we have upon it, possesses an interest in a scientific point of view rather than a practical. An experiment as regards the rearing of hybrids was tried in the season of 1864, by Mr. Buckland, who, as I gathered from the Field, crossed the eggs of salmon and trout; but I believe the experiment did not succeed, and the eggs never hatched. It would have been interesting to have had the particulars as a guide for future experiments, but they were not published. I incline to think that hybrids between salmon and trout are much more rare than is sometimes supposed; as, if they were by any means common, the races could hardly fail to become in time strongly intermixed, owing to their occupying almost the same spawning grounds, and at about the same time. ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 133 CHAPTER VIII CONSIDERATIONS ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. THE next points to be considered are the wider dis- semination of the best kinds of fish we at present possess, and the acclimatisation of other kinds found in foreign countries, but at present strangers to our waters. The best fresh-water fish we have are salmon,! sea-trout, charr, trout, greyling, burbot, lampreys, perch, eels, flounders, and gudgeous. The tench, carp, bream, dace, roach, pike, &c., require the assistance of cookery to some extent, not exactly to make them acceptable, but to make them, let us say, palatable or agreeable. It is diffieult to explain the exact estimation of these fish; but we may say, 1 I do not enter here upon the m-ans whereby salmon may be more widely disseminated, and why they are not more plentiful ; the subject is too large for a place in the body of this chapter ; it is so much « subject by itvelf, that I Lave so placed it in the Appendix. 134 FISH CULTURE. if not very well cooked, one would not select any of them for choice at a Blackwall dinner, though they all afford wholesome food to some one. Now, there are many trout streams which are not, perhaps, capable of supporting salmon to any extent, but which might be greatly improved in value by the cultivation of the spawn of the sea trout. Of course, in speaking of sea trout, I refer to the white or salmon trout, and not to the Hriox, Grey, or bull trout, which is, compared with the other, almost a worthless fish, being a bad riser for the angler, and, though excellent while small, an indifferent fish for the table when of any size—two bad qualities not usually found in the salmon trout. Moreover, although a handsome fish, it is so destructive, that, wherever it appears in any quantities, its far more valuable congener, the white trout, and even the salmon, gradually disappear before it. I recommend it, therefore, to be kept down, as we keep down vermin in our shootings, or, being a very prolific and hardy fish, it is apt to inerease beyond all bounds with the least encouragement. The Tweed and its tributaries suffer heavily from a mistaken preservation of it, There are many of our salmon rivers which might easily afford good sea trout, if they were duly introduced and encouraged ; for the addition of sea ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS, 135 trout will not in any way interfere with any other fish, and they are next in value, both for the table and the sportsman, to the salmon itself; and any one who has seen the manner in which some of the wes- tern Irish rivers and lakes swarm with this delicious and game fish, will readily testify to the value of such an introduction. In some of our southern rivers, where they are called “ bouge,” they are little inferior in size and the estimation they are held in to the salmon proper. At the charr I must pause. Charr at one time were far more plentiful in this country than they dre now. Their principal habitat was the Lake district, when few of the lakes were without them. They are found also in many of the Irish lakes, in one or two in Wales, and perhaps some half-dozen or a dozen in Scotland. The practice, however, of taking these fish in such vast quantities in nets, when they come into the shallow water to spawn, has terribly thinned them, and in many lakes they are very much reduced in numbers. The charr, moreover, is the most delicious fish that inhabits our fresh waters, and this, too, is another incentive to its destruction. There are, according to some ichthyo- logists, several species of charr; a¢cording to others, they are simply varieties. It is believed by some 136 FISH CULTURE. that the charr of Windermere, Llyn Bodlyn, Lough Melvin, and elsewhere in the British Isles, is iden- tical with the Ombre Chevalier. I shall touch on this point when I come to the consideration of Lakes. It is tolerably certain, however, that it is not iden- tical with the great Northern or Scandinavian charr, as it is said never to be found in rivers, save at spawning time, when one species at least, found at Windermere, runs up the river Brathay to spawn. The habits of the northern fish appear to be widely different from those of its southern congeners, since it is constantly found in abundance in rivers, not alone near their junction with lakes (whence, as it might be supposed, they had migrated for a time), but altogether away from lakes. Lloyd, in his “Scandinavian Adventures,” mentions taking them with the fly again and again in rivers; and he is supported by very many other authorities. The Rev. F. Metcalf, in the “Sportsman in Norway,” also speaks of catching charr in rivers. He mentions one of six pounds, which he caught with a minnow close by the falls upon the Mallanger river. Further up the river, he again speaks of catching large numbers of splendid trout, charr, and greyling; and to show that they are not confined to particular localities; he afterwards speaks of quantities of char being ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 137 taken in the nets near the river's mouth, where the water was almost brackish. A friend of mine fishing the Salangs river, in 1863, goes even further, and says that they not only caught the charr in the river's mouth constantly, but that the fish even had the sea louse on them, showing that this species of charr was migratory like the salmon. Now, the consideration for us is, not that our charr are not found in such places, but that the Scandinavian charr are ; and as there is no great difference in the character of many of our rivers and lakes, and many of the Scandinavian rivers and lakes, it certainly appears to me that we might easily transplant and add this very delicious fish to our fauna with con- siderable advantage. I have had specimens of a charr sent me from Iceland, of two and three pounds’ weight. There they appear to inhabit the most rapid streams, and they take the fly and bait as freely as the trout. They were sent to me by Mr. Hogarth, the lessee of the river Sog, where they abound in profusion, as a kind of trout, a belief which I was the means of dispelling. The Scandinavian charr is constantly taken of seven and eight pounds’ weight, and, according to Mr. Lloyd, of sometimes double that weight. The Ombre Chevalier, as I have said, is supposed 1358 . FISH CULTURE, to be distinctly a lake fish; so I shall not treat of it here, but take it under the head of Lakes. The greyling needs little description. It is a very well known fish, abounding in many of our rivers and streams. As an edible fish, it certainly comes next to trout, and even contests the palm with it when in good season in the months of October and November. Where the rivers are small, it would be advisable, if it is to live with trout, to establish a breeding apparatus to keep up the trout stock, the expense of this being but small; for although the greyling is a very handsome addition to a trout stream, and finds fly-fishing for the angler at that period of the year when the trout does not, it is a great ground-feeder. Its habit, at times, is to grub. or rout like a pig in the gravel and sand; and hence, as they are in the best condition when trout are spawning, they are apt to destroy the spawn and, to greatly reduce the supply of that valuable fish, I am compelled to own that I believe they do a good deal of mischief, and there is often a strong, and not unfounded, prejudice against them. They might possibly be made, in many of our mixed. rivers, to take the place of worse fish, such as. barbel, &c. They are, however, being somewhat widely spread ‘about over the country, owing to the ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 139 popular discussions which have taken place upon them in various publications. In Scandinavia they are said to abound, not only in the streams, but in many of the lakes—a fact unknown in this country, but very worthy of note. Much has been said of the burbot. In Switzerland and in Scandinavia, this fish is very highly esteemed, and travellers who are among “the initiated” make as great a point of having Jék for dinner as the cockney does of whitebait at Blackwall. -Having partaken of it, I can quite concur in any strong eulogy of its merits. It is a very firm, white, and delicious fish. The head somewhat resembles the fin of turbot, and the liver is not equalled as a delicacy by any other morsel of fish substance in existence. Had it been known of old, the Roman emperor would certainly have added burbots’ livers to the great dish of nightingales’ tongues. It is a shy fish, hiding in holes and under roots or stones, and is of no value to the sportsman, as it is seldom taken, save on a dead or night line. It abounds in many of our rivers, particularly in those of the midland counties, and can easily be distributed ; but as it is a very voracious fish, and a great burrower in the soil, it is almost doubtful whether it would not devour more spawn than it 140 FISH CULTURE. is worth. This, however, is, I am bound to say, but a mere conjecture on my part, which remains to be solved by further experience.* The Lamprey. This is unquestionably a delicate fish for the table, though, from some cause or other, its popularity, once considerable, has so far diminished that it is hardly ever seen in a bill of fare nowadays ; and in many places so strong is the prejudice against it, partly, perhaps, owing to its ungainly appearance, that the inhabitants refuse to partake of the lamprey, and cast it away when they chance to capture it. The appearance of the flesh is somewhat similar to the burbot, but, with a peculiar and indescribable flavour, it is certainly inferior to the burbot as to the head and liver ; indeed, the liver of the lamprey should be very carefully removed before cooking, as it is of so bitter and unpleasant a flavour that it is apt to taint the entire fish. There are various ways of cooking the lamprey ; stewed, however, it presents the best dish for the gourmand, but it is also potted and made into 1 Since this was written I received about a score of live burbots from Mr. Peach, of Derby. My object was to get them at spawning time, and to breed them in the usual way; but, unfortunately, the season passed before they could be obtained. I put a dozen of them, however, under the charge of Mr. 8, Gurney, of Carshalton, his water being more suitable tv them than mine, and I trust, when the next season coies, to be able to carry out my intentions. ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 141 pies. It can hardly, however, be considered a fresh- water fish, as it spends the greater part of the year in the sea, merely entering our rivers, like the salmon, in the months of April and May, to deposit its spawn ; until this process is completed, it is in good condition. It is seldom taken in the sea, however, and when taken in the river is caught in any way but that of angling. It grows to a considerable size, and often weighs three or four pounds. Its power of fixing itself to stones, or wood-work, or any other substance, by means of the sucking apparatus at its mouth, enables it to surmount any fall or obstacle to other fish. It is found in almost all our larger English rivers, as the Severn, the Trent, and formerly it was common in the Thames: in the latter river, however, it is rarely met with now; the sewage and filth, probably, has driven it elsewhere, In the Usk it abounds, and in some of the Scotch rivers, but in neither case will the natives use it as food. In the Shannon it is also plentiful. There is another species of lamprey, much smaller in size, salled the lampern, which resembles at first sight a grig, or small eel; it is of some ten or twelve inches, or even more, in length. This little fish comes into many of our rivers in vast shoals with the earliest winter floods, the water being somewhat 142 FISH CULTURE. fresher and clearer at that time. It has not yet aban- doned the Thames, but is taken in large quantities at the various locks; at Teddington and Moulsey are the chief fisheries. The fish are chiefly bought up by the Dutch long-line fishers, who cut them. into short lengths to bait their spillets with, the bait being very tough and bright and attractive to the fish, Large sums of money are often shared amongst the Teddington fishermen as the produce of their fishing. The fish are taken in wheels or basket-traps, similar in make to the eel-traps, and many thousands are often taken in a night. As a table fish they are certainly liked by some people. At Worcester they are potted and are in great request. I cannot say that I appreciate them, however, having tried them in various ways. They are rather rich and strong- flavoured. Perhaps, when marinated (baked in vine- gar, bay-leaves, and spice), they are better than in any other form; and even then I do not think the operations of the Dutch fishermen deprive us of any considerable delicacy. One thing I may say in con- nexion with them, viz. the offal makes capital: bait for barbel, Certainly it is not nearly so desirable a table-fish as its larger congener. ' Perch, eels, and flounders are sufficiently well known to render any description needless, Perch ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 143 do not improve in flavour by being placed in waters having mud at the bottom; but a good stream-perch, from a clean gravelly water, is by no means a fish to be despised. I may perhaps here mention by far the best way to cook a perch. Take a good-sized fish and lay it on the gridiron precisely in the condition in which it comes out of the stream, merely cleansing and drying the scales. Do not cut off either the fins or the tail, or the juices exude from the cuts; when it is suffi- ciently done, take it off the gridiron (do not let it cool), make a slit down the back, insert your knife under the skin and lay aside the mass of scales and skin, which will come off like a suit of armour, leaving the firm, white, juicy flesh exposed; rub the flesh well over with a slice of butter; pepper and salt to the taste. Flake off the flesh with your knife, leaving the skeleton and interior intact, and you will find the meat as delicate and delicious as that of any fish that comes to the table. The ordinary methods of cooking perch utterly destroy the firmness, juici- ness, and flavour which it naturally possesses. Perch should certainly not be introduced into waters that support trout or salmon, as they are voracious devourers of small fry, and in such places ‘are not worth their keep. 144 FISH CULTURE. Eels are, perhaps, better suited to muddy than gravelly rivers, though they abound in both and are better flavoured when taken from the latter. They are great spawn-eaters, and it has been questioned whether the eel pays for his keep owing to this cir- cumstance. In some salmon rivers I have seen the lower pools in a perfect boil, when the eel fry is migrating, with the constant rising of the fish as the small eels wriggled along the top of the water; so that the salmon, if the eels be supposed to be de- structive to them, exact summary vengeance. Their ravages, however, amongst salmon and trout spawn cannot be very extended, as the spawn is in the gravel during the winter, and eels are not active in frosty weather. They may, and no doubt do, how- ever, take a heavy toll from the helpless fry when first developed in the spring, as the eels then begin to move. The Dutch keep eels out of their carp ponds as much as possible, as carp spawn in June and the eels would no doubt do damage to them. Eels, where they have the chance, migrate about autumn in large numbers towards the brackish water near the rivers’ mouths, the water there being usually several degrees warmer than that higher up. Those which remain behind, as many do, bury themselves ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS, 145 in the mud or seek some hole in which to hybernate. It has been questioned whether the eels that so mi- grate do so for the purpose of spawning in the brackish water. I think it cannot be questioned that they do spawn there, or whence those countless myriads of small eels, which, under the name of “ceel-fare, migrate from the brackish water up to the fresh in many of our large rivers? I have seen them in the Erne, in Ireland, pushing their way up even from the sea in countless millions, early in the month of May. I think there can be no doubt that they spawn as well in the brackish as the fresh water, but that if they have the choice they prefer the warmer or brackish water. Of late years, in the Thames, they have not had this choice, owing to the filthy water about London, in which it has been proved that eels cannot exist. The consequence has been the dis- continuance of “eel-fare,” once a very striking and remarkable sight, on the Thames. The eels have, it would seem, from this circumstance, greatly dimi- nished in numbers ;' and whether it be that the fresh- 1 Were it not for the above conditions, the eels which might be taken during their periodical migrations at the wears on the Thames, would, owing to the vast extent of the river itself, and its large and numerous tributaries, be worth many thousands of pounds a year; whereas, now a very few hundreds—possibly not more than one or two—represent the annual value of the eels taken on the L 146 FISH CULTURE. water spawning is not so favourable to their increase as the brackish, or whether large numbers of eels still migrate and die in the foul water, or that, getting down with a flood to aid them, they do spawn and the fry are killed when they reach the foul water, I am quite unable to say; but I have little doubt that, when the Thames is once more purified, “eel-fare” will in time again recur to it. el fisheries are in many places very valuable. The fishery on the Erne realizes many hundreds of pounds a year. Any eulogy as to the excellence of the sharp-nosed eel for food is needless. There are three kinds of eels known in England: the broad-nosed, the sharp- nosed, and the snig. The former is a coarse, foul- feeding, and worthless fish, but is not very plentiful ; the last is a very local species, found chiefly in the Hampshire Avon. Flounders for the most part are not taken in any very great quantity above the tide-way, and may therefore be encouraged as far as possible. They are an admirable table-fish, however they may be dressed. A Thames flounder is held a special delicacy ; large quantities were formerly caught from Battersea to Thames, Formerly many stages or “ Bucks,” as they are termed, existed, and were a valuable property, but most of them have been abandoned long since, ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS, 147 Hammersmith. Of late years, however, the sewage has affected even them, and they are scarcer. In most of our brackish and tidal waters they abound. The Gudgeon is a most delicious fish, although a small one; it is scarcely less delicate than the smelt: Few gravelly rivers in the midland counties are without them. They serve, too, not only to furnish an excellent dish for man, but a piéce de résistance for all fish of prey. The fact is not generally known, but gudgeon will thrive very well in ponds. In one of the ponds in Richmond Park—the largest of the Penn ponds—it has been the custom of the anglers fishing there, in order to save the-trouble of carrying home their bait-kettles full of water, to empty their cans and tur the remainder of their live baits into the pond. Many of these baits being at times gudgeon, they have lived and thriven, and have bred so freely, the keeper has informed me, that on the gravelly part of the pond it is easy to catch four, five, or six dozen in an hour or two; but the gudgeon thrives equally well in a muddy pond and in even stagnant water, for I once emptied my bait- kettle into a horse-pond; there were about a score of large gudgeon in it, and they bred rapidly in the pond, so that in a year or two there were abundatice of gudgeons of all sizes. I have, however, never L 2 148 FISH CULTURE. eaten gudgeon from a muddy pond, and therefore cannot vouch that they would retain their delicate flavour. After the fish above noted I should place the pike or jack, the dace, tench, carp, bream, roach, and, lastly, chub and barbel, and I would take occasion to draw a strict line here, None of these fish would I admit, if possible, into purely trout or salmon rivers, their room being in such places far better than their company. There are many rivers, however, of a mixed character, where they are found in great abundance, and where they manage, owing to the varied character of the water of the rivers, to do well enough together, though even here the more delicate fish cannot but suffer severely from them; these are, however, usually large rivers: in small ones, if largely introduced and left to themselves, they would in time almost destroy both trout and salmon. As they do so exist, however, and are looked upon by many as affording a wide range of sport, they must be considered accordingly. In such cases I would recommend artificial breeding of better fish to be carried on largely as the only means of coping with the coarser species, Many rivers, again, are merely white or coarse fish rivers, unadapted to salmon and trout; and as ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 149 sueh I treat of them. In rivers, however, like the Usk, Severn, and Wye, where the coarse fish have increased so much in parts as to become a positive nuisance, I would keep them down by every means in my power. Dace and roach are very fair eating when taken in clear gravelly rivers. They may be pickled or potted or plainly broiled, salted and peppered, a slice of butter being laid on them while hot. Even chub can be __ eaten in this way, but any fish of above half a pound ~ should be crimped. Barbel are liked well enough by some people, but the fish should be split down the back, and the backbone should be taken out before it is broiled. Indeed, few of these fish are really thrown away, for they form acceptable articles of food amongst the poorer classes, while the Jews at their various fasts employ them largely ; so much so, that I have known sixteen shillings per hundred paid for average-sized dace. The Jews, however, as it is well known, are adepts in cooking fish, and we might take a useful lesson from them in this respect. Everything, however, depends as regards their tooth- someness upon the cooking. Perhaps jack and tench are the only two which are ever now subjected to plain boiling; but even with jack, veal stuffing is used to give flavour to the dish. Some people think ‘150 ‘* KISH CULTURE. well and some highly of jack, and formerly it was in greater request than even salmon, and it was con- sidered a great delicacy ; I cannot, of course, coincide in any such verdict. I have, however, eaten jack when it formed one of the components (scarcely an indispensable one though) of a very excellent dish, in which also were sauces and spices, wine gravy and — stuffing, but the game was hardly worth the candle. The best jack I ever ate was one of four pounds from the River Till, in Northumberland, and it certainly was an enjoyable dish; but the Till jack have a very high character, and justly. Possibly their food may have something to do with it, as no fish but the ‘salmonide, minnows, and a very few perch, inhabit the Till. Some people even yet waste port wine over carp, but sure I am that it is a mistake, at any rate, .as regards our ordinary English pond carp. But I must .own that we do not manage our ponds with the same care and skill as they do in Holland. Of this, however, I shall have to speak presently. In a river it cannot be denied that a carp is a far better fish than he is in a pond. Indeed, as regards its desira- bility both as.a table and as a sporting fish, its capa- -bilities are much increased in the river. Of late years many of them have been turned into, and have ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 151 escaped from private waters into the Thames; and it is found that the fish does well, increases rapidly, bites boldly, and plays very gamely; and that, too, not merely in dead dull eddies, but in the more rapid streams, many being taken in the Richmond preserve; and in the rough and wild waters at Teddington weir, very good sport indeed is often obtained with them, and they are caught up to ten pounds’ weight. It need hardly be observed that, in such localities, the edible qualities of the carp are greatly improved ; and so easy a fish is it to naturalize and transport, that the only wonder is that the Society which takes charge of the waters of the Thames has not, with these facts before it, introduced it more widely into all parts of the river. The bream is widely distributed, many of our rivers and lakes already abounding in it. There are two kinds: the carp bream, which is the largest and best fish of the two; and the silver bream, a small indifferent fish. I shall treat it more fully when I come to ponds. In edibleness it may rank next to the carp perhaps, and before chub and barbel. I come now to one or two fish which are really rather salt than fresh-water fish, though they enter the rivers at times; and, first of all, I must notice the little Whitebait (Clupea alba). All sorts of suppositions 152 FISH CULTURE. have been made concerning this most delicate little fish. It has been supposed to be the fry of some score of different fish, and it is now said to be the fry of none of them, but a fish of itself? The shad at one time bore away the honour of paternity from all competitors, but it was found that whitebait existed where shad did not, and shad, on the other hand, existed where whitebait had never been met with ; and as it was difficult to reconcile such ap- 1 The whitebait disappears from the Thames by the middle or end of August. In the month of October I have taken it on the coast of Suffolk in almost any quantities. The variety of size amongst these fish is very remarkable, as they range of all sizes from an inch long up to seven inches, which is the largest size I have found it. Atthis size it strongly resembles a small herring. Indeed, I have compared it carefully with the young of the herring, and I confess that I find it difficult to detect any difference. The similarity is so very striking, that I am inclined to think if the whitebait is not the veritable young of the herring, that a large quantity of the young of the herring do duty for whitebait. Amongst the shoals were many sprats, but they could be recognised at a glance. The sprats died speedily, the whitebait were much more long-lived and active. I opened one of the larger ones, but could find neither spawn nor milt, and am inclined to doubt from this whether, even when seven inches long, they are a mature fish : if they are not, then the question as to whether they are really x distinct species, or whether they are the fry of a yet larger fish, and if so, what that larger fish is, becomes important. I have never heard of their being taken of larger size than I have noted, though, on comparing the larger whitebait with the smaller herrings found amongst the shoals of full-grown herrings, as I have said, it needs a better ichthyologist than I am to detect the difference, ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS, 153 parent incongruities, the whitebait has been left to its own affiliation, and is unmolested, save by the nets- men, being declared by Yarrell to be a separate fish. Some would-be-thought gourmands assert that the fry of other fish, or even minnows, if the same amount of pains were bestowed upon them, would be equally delicious. I greatly doubt this ; nay, I utterly repudiate it, and refuse to believe it. In matters of this especial kind I am inclined to think that what- ever is 7s, For example, turtle-soup 7s, and the man who says that mock-turtle is equally good is (not a judge, at any rate). The nearest thing as a delicacy to whitebait is a dish of a very small bleak.1 They are delicious; nay, the larger bleak, cooked in the way that sprats are cooked, form an excellent dish, and are scarcely inferior to gudgeon. Having acci- dentally passed over the bleak, I incidentally mention it here. It is a fish too well known, though of too small importance, to need any great space for deserip- tion ; and, as it is very much of a surface-feeding fish, it takes little from the other fish, and it affords an admirable source of food to the more predatory fish also, as the pike, perch, and trout; and these do feed 1 I should have added above, that the bleak also for a time struggled for the honour of paternity to the whitebait, but was soon put out of court, 154 FISH CULTURE. upon it largely. The movements of a shoal of bleak on the surface of the water are very interesting to watch; and the rapidity of its movements, and con- stant restlessness, as it darts hither and thither after a stray fly or floating substance, is very amusing. As I have already said, although caught in rivers, the whitebait can hardly be called a fresh-water fish. The Shad is a fish I have previously referred to. There are two kinds of shad. Yarrell adopts for them two names by which they were partly known before, namely, the Twaite shad and the Allice shad. The former, which used at one time to abound in the Thames (so much so that a portion of the Thames was even named Shad Thames), comes into the rivers to spawn in May, and is seldom met with after August. It is a very indifferent and comparatively worthless fish for food, being bony and coarse. Its size is from twelve to sixteen inches long. The Allice shad is a much larger fish, running up to four or five pounds in weight. It is not so well or so commonly known as the Twaite shad. It is found more abundantly in the Severn than in any other of our rivers, and formerly afforded sport to numerous fly-fishers about Worcester, and even now many are eaught. But of late years it has followed the salmon, and has greatly fallen off there. It was rarely met ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 155 with in the Thames. This shad comes into the rivers to spawn, before the Twaite, usually appearing in April. For the table, it is very much the best fish of the two. Shad may be taken both by the bait and with the fly. The shad may be also considered as rather more of a salt than a fresh-water fish; and as in the case of the salmon, it is driven from the Thames by the sewage. The higher it ascends a river the better its flavour and condition becomes ; and, as jit is a valuable and prolific fish, it should not be neglected in any scheme for improving our fresh- water fisheries. No doubt the Allice shad could be introduced, by artificial breeding, to other of our rivers, where it would be highly acceptable. The Sturgeon occasionally enters our rivers, but it is such a partial visitor that little is known about it in connexion with them. The flesh is said to be excellent, resembling veal. The great fisheries for sturgeon are in the Caspian Sea and the rivers that enter it, (more particularly the Volga,) in the Danube, and the Baltic. It is possible that, by the transport of ova, we might much increase the numbers of this valuable fish in our waters, and induce it to become a more regular visitant to the larger rivers. l The French have included the sturgeon and the sterlet in the list of fish to be acclimatised, but the difficulties and expense of 156 FISH CULTURE. The flesh is said to be excellent. Of the swim- ming bladder, when dried, the best isinglass is made; of the roe, the appetizing caviare is manu- factured. There is a small member of the Crustacea which might be cultivated far more than it is in many of our waters with great advantage. I refer to the fresh- water Crayfish. This delicate little fish forms an excellent edible, whether eaten by itself or used for the purpose of making into soup. Crayfish soup is looked upon by gourmands, and justly, as a choice and most desirable addition to a feast. In Germany, especially, the nobles pride themselves upon their crayfish. In England, it is used, in addition to the above methods, as a garnish to turbot more particularly, In many of the rivers and streams in our midland counties, it is found in large numbers; in others, it exists, but not to an extent to make fishing for it profitable. In many tributaries of the Thames, it is very plentiful; I may instance, the Windrush, the Lambourne, and Kennet, the streams about Oxford, and in the Colne. It is found, but not in abundance, in the Thames itself. carrying out the operation has hitherto deterred even them. I wrote to Mons, Coumes, the superintendent of Huningue, who was here in 1862 on a mission, for information as to the acclimatisa- tion of sturgeon, but he could not give me any, , ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 157 The way in which it is fished for is curious. From one to two dozen small and shallow hoop nets, upon iron rings of from a foot to fifteen inches in diameter, are prepared. In the midst of each is tied a small piece of liver. The fisherman walks along the bank of the stream, and drops a net thus baited into every available spot. The iron ring carries the net to the bottom, where it remains. Having deposited all his nets, he then returns to the first one which he dropped in, and, by means of a string pegged to the bank, he suddenly hauls it up to the surface, and usually finds two or three crayfish attracted by the liver. Having taken them, he replaces the net in some equally de- sirable spot, and goes on to the next one; returning, after an interval, to haul them all over again. In this way, several dozens of this little fish may be taken in a short time. There is little difficulty in transplanting this fish} as they can be taken when full of spawn, in Sep- tember or October, and can be carried alive to any distance, with little trouble; and if the stream they are conveyed to suits them, they will soon increase and multiply to almost any extent. Rivers which 1 A large quantity of them have been transplanted by the Accli- matisation Society of Great Britain to the Earl of Breadalbane’s streams. 158 FISH CULTURE. are not too rapid; and with overhanging banks and’ marly (not muddy) bottoms, suit them best. I placed, some which were full of spawn in my river in October, 1863, and in September, 1864. While catching sub- jects for the aquarium I caught a small crayfish, about an inch in length, and a very amusing and, interesting inmate of the aquarium he forms. Judg-. ing from this circumstance, their growth must be rapid. They may easily be kept in stews, but will then require regular feeding. Indeed, I make no doubt but in small spaces of water, properly ma- naged, with a sufficiency of holes and hiding-places for them, and by feeding them with proper and: sufficient food, they would breed and increase to any. extent, and a very profitable trade be carried on in them: their food need be but of, small consideration, as they will eat offal in preference even to other matters. They make good use’of their nippers, when handled, and are apt to pinch somewhat sharply. One way of taking them is to thrust the hand up into the holes under old roots and banks, and letting them fasten on the fingers, to draw them out thus. I do not strongly recommend the plan ; but the reader can try it if he likes, and, if he does not mind the pinch, will no doubt find amusement in it, particularly as he may, perhaps, occasionally lay hold of a water-rat, ON THE BEST KINDS OF FISH FOR RIVERS. 159 whose sense of his attentions will, possibly, be even more strikingly expressed. The pearl-bearing Mussel, which abounds in many of our rivers, particularly in the Teith and Tay in Scotland, and the Donegal river in Ireland, might also be a subject for cultivation, as it would not only be valuable for its pearls, but form food for insects, on which the fish live in turn. These mussels have received some little attention from the Acclimatisation Society. Mussels of a some- what similar kind are found abundantly in most of our rivers, and it is possible that some of them may even contain pearls. The culture of Leeches is largely practised upon the Continent, and handsome profits are yearly realized by it. The best leeches come from the south of France, from Italy, and Hungary. It is doubtful whether our climate is not too cold for successful Hirudiculture. To those who wish to study this subject I recommend the work of Mons. Jourdier. 1 The pearls in this river have been taken of large size and very pure water, as much as 60/. or 701. having been given for one. I saw some very fine ones in the possession of Colonel Hamilton, especially some beautiful black pearls, and I brought some both black and white from the river myself. 160 FISH CULTURE, CHAPTER IX. ON FISH TO BE ACCLIMATISED. WE have now to consider what fish there are which we can with advantage introduce into our rivers, that are entirely strange to them. And I shall make, perhaps, a somewhat sweeping assertion, when I aver that we have possibly too many in them already, as many of the coarser kinds being to an extent destructive to the better class of fish, we could well spare them; many of these fish are not natural to our waters, having been acclimatised by us; and beyond those I have already mentioned, there are few, if any, which it would be worth our while to introduce into our /irst-class rivers. We have already the best freshwater fish in the world in our salmonide ; there is but one member of the salmonide, if we except the Coregoni, and the Northern chart, of any consequence left for us to introduce, and that is the Salmo Hucho. The huchen is said to be a very voracious fish, and ON FISH TO BE ACCLIMATISED. 161 among the small fry of fish particularly so. It is said to be an excellent fish for the table; but when much fished for it readily becomes a very shy fish to the angler’s lures. The chief objection to it is that it will only answer in our best rivers, where we have already much better fish, which its presence would hardly be advantageous to. Under these circumstances I think its introduction would be a questionable advantage, and I would advise that we improve and increase to the utmost our salmon and trout, and leave the huchen alone, lest we sacrifice the substance to the shadow. There is, perhaps, one fish mentioned by Lloyd, in his “Scandinavian Adventures,” which it might be worth while to learn something further about, viz. the Ide. This is a river fish; it grows to eight or nine pounds weight in the Scandinavian waters, though it is not often taken above five or six pounds. It is a good fish for the table, lives chiefly upon aquatic plants and insects, and affords good sport to the angler. It somewhat resembles the shad in appearance. The Black-bass of America is another capital river- fish worth some attention. It is excellent for the table, and gives good sport to the angler, and in our white-fish rivers would no doubt be valuable. It is, however, very voracious, and some care and consi- M 162 FISH CULTURE. deration should be exercised in acclimatising it. It thrives well also in lakes, but does not object to a strong current. It is said to be a much better eating fish than the pike. The Mountain-mullet of Jamaica is perhaps one of the most delicate and delicious edibles found amongst fish. In Jamaica, the estimation it is held in is so great, that a dish of mountain-mullet is the common excuse for a recherché dinner, and a prominent inducement to guests to partake of it; and “Dine with me, old fellow; I’ve a dish of mountain-mullet,” seldom fails to. produce the invited guests at dinner-time. The mountain-mullet does not grow to a large size, seldom exceeding two pounds weight, and not often reaching that size. Inhabiting rapid rattling streams, similar to Highland burns, endued with great leaping and locomotive powers, it can make its way almost anywhere, and over any reasonable obstacle. An eye- witness assures me that he has seen one leap sheer over the huge trunk of a fallen cotton-tree, which lay like a bridge across the stream; and although well able. to hold its own in rough streams, it does well enough when these streams are shrunk to mere water- holes by the heats of summer. But, added to its excellent and desirable edible qualities, it presents ON FISH TO BE ACCLIMATISED. 163 the strong attraction of being a capital sporting fish, taking both fly and worm freely, and playing like a fresh-run sea-trout when hooked. Whether the fish would stand our winters is the question to be resolved ; in other respects, some of our streams in Cornwall or South Devon, for example, might suit it well enough. Its capabilities, also, of being transported and accli- matised at any distance, have also to be tested. Of its desirableness there can be no shadow of a doubt; and it might further be worthy of consideration, whether even if our winters did not suit it, it would not be the very fish particularly suited to the fine, but fishless streams of the Cape and many of the Australian streams, both of which, like those of Jamaica, become rather water-holes in summer. There is another fish which might do in rivers of a similar character, viz. the Murray-cod. This fish is spoken highly of in Australia, and it grows to a large size. The Acclimatisation Society of Great Britain made an attempt to introduce it, but the experiment was not well managed, and so failed. It might, perhaps, be more feasible first to try it at the Cape, and if it succeeded there, we should have a better chance of getting it thence to England by greatly shortening the sea-voyage; and if it did not succeed there, it would be useless to try it here. M 2 164 FISH CULTURE. CHAPTER X. ON LAKES, POOLS, ETC. AN immense portion of our water acreage consists of lakes. Such of these lakes as communicate with the sea by means of rivers that are passable to fish are, for the most part, capable of supporting salmon and sea-trout. In some there may be but a badly defined passage to the sea; in these instances every art that can render such passages practicable to fish should be put into requisition, as the addition of a lake is always most valuable to a river or fishery, being to the salmon a safe resting-place and harbour of refuge. When there are impassable falls, salmon-stairs should be erected (see Appendix); a weir, with hatches at the outlet of the lake, should be placed so as to force back the water, until a sufficient quantity be collected to form a good run- ning volume, on the first favourable rainfall. If salmon or sea-trout exist not already in them, arti- ficial propagation should be undertaken in the small ON LAKES, POOLS, ETC. 165 tributary head waters; and every possible means should be adopted to render the salmon a tenant of such waters. Where communication, however, is impracticable, then the best unmigratory fish that can be introduced should be procured and encouraged. Few lakes exist that are not favourable to the breeding or introduction of the trout, and I have already shown the best methods of proceeding with them. It will, however, be found that many small and even large lakes abound to profusion in very small trout. The smallness of these trout no doubt, in a great measure, proceeds from their being too numerous for the food found in the lakes. If the in- troduction of an extra amount of food, by the various means I have pointed out, be either impossible or not thought worth the trial, the only way left is to reduce the number of trout; this can be done by netting, or by putting into the lake a certain number of jack, in order to keep the small trout down. But this last is a dangerous experiment, and, if decided on, these jack should be ALL MALES, in order that they may not breed, so as to increase their number ; for if this be not attended to they will in time get so far ahead as almost to exterminate the trout; keeping them down will be an endless task, and they can never after be got rid of. Therefore the greatest attention 166 FISH CULTURE. should be paid to this point The way to be sure on this head is to ‘select the fish at spawning time, when the fact can very easily be ascertained. Fish of about a pound weight or under should be chosen ; but, under these circumstances, they should be taken out by all possible means once every three or four years, and replaced by others, or instead of con- tenting themselves with the smaller fish they will destroy the larger trout. As I have said before, the experiment is very hazardous, and should not be entered upon without due consideration. But it is a, well-known fact, that all the lakes in the south of Scotland, which produce the finest trout, have pike in them; whether in the course of years, if the pike are not kept down, they will continue to have trout in them, is another matter. Long hang-nets, set as trammels, will be found useful in such lakes for destroying pike. Common trout in lakes often increase to a large size ; but there is a trout peculiar to lakes, called the great lake-trout, or, salmo ferox. When full grown, the ferox is a handsome fish in appearance, but his flesh is coarse, and, as an adjunct to the table, he is 1 I own that I do not like the plan, as I have known several lakes quite spoiled by it, though for a time the size of the trout was greatly improved. > ON LAKES, POOLS, ETC, 167 not in very great esteem. As a matter of sport, he is one of the strongest and gamest fish that swims when you have hooked him;} and the killing of a 201b. ferox is no light triumph and no easy achieve- ment—a 30]b. salmon is a much easier conquest. But they rarely take anything but a trolling bait, and that at long and weary intervals, seldom, indeed, rising to a fly (though I have known them taken with it). Oh, that trolling for the mythic ferox, which has fabled itself to my mind as a species of fresh-water kraken! How many long hours have I spent at it bootlessly! As a destroyer of fish of his own kind he is scarcely, if at all, less destructive than the pike, though perhaps a more desirable fish. These very big trout are very apt to make wastes of the water around them. In the management of a lake, the most useful size (if possible), to permit the common trout to arrive at, is about four or five pounds ; and with plenty of proper food in lakes, they should not be long in arriving at that weight. After this they grow more slowly ; they feed upon their own species more largely ; and it is a question whether they are then really worth their keep. 1 As the excellent and cautious Mrs. Glasse would no doubt have remarked if the subject of Feroxes had been brought under her notice, “ First hook your ferox.” 168 FISH CULTURE. I treat this point here solely in a commercial view. If IJook at it as a sportsman, I should say that I prefer a fair chance among a good show of three and four-pounders, to that very rare one of the twelve or twenty-pounder—one soon wearies of always sitting in a boat, with a couple of rods stuck hopelessly over the stern, but one seldom tires of fair sport with the fly amongst fish from 11b. to 4]bs. or 51lbs. weight." I may take occasion here to point out a singular fact, which has often been noted, but not attempted to be accounted for, and that is, that many lakes have numbers of these very large trout, running from 7 lbs or 8lbs. to 101bs. or 12]bs. weight,’ and sometimes. even much larger, and at the same time they have only very small fish as well. I know of many lakes where this is the case; of course, there are also many lakes where this is not so. How is it that there are so very few middle-class fish, fish of 1]b. and 2lbs. or 3lbs. weight, such as the fly-fisher loves to see rising quietly and unobtrusively, just within ? Some who may have had better success at trolling for the ferox than I or any of my friends ever had, may be disposed here to differ with me, “May difference of opinion,” &c. * It is possible that these large fellows may be the ferox, but so little is known of the peculiarities which mark the ferox, that the point is left in uncertainty, particularly as the common brown trout often grow to a large size, and may be confounded with it. ON LAKES, POOLS, ETC. 169 the cast of his fly, sucking in the insects that play over and alight on the lake, as day begins to wane, and the purple shadows of the mountains begin to lengthen and deepen? Oh, for that quiet delicious hour when the cool evening breeze begins to spring up, and Nature to awaken from her noontide siesta, when we can wander along the lonely strand, light of heart and freed from care, casting the seductive flies over each little circlet which betokens to the angler a goodly and a hungry trout below. Now, the cast of flies falls like thistledown, and—“ by the bones of the uncanonized St. Isaac, what a head and shoulders ;” —with a dash curiously unlike the way he would seize the natural fly, he has. it, and turns to descend with his dangerous prize. ‘“ What, ho! bully-rook— not so fast, fair sir!” and with a slight upward turn of the wrist, the fine steel wire is fixed like the tooth of the weasel in the eagle’s leg, and it shall go hard, but like it, too, it shall bring its would-be captor to land. “Hoots toots, what a pother! full twenty yards of line, as I’m a living fisherman and a sinner.” That is all too far away for a near acquaintance, my dainty salmo fario; so, with your leave, my scaly friend, we will gently persuade you to yield us back that twenty yards of silken web you have so lustily borrowed of us. So! he feels the rankling steel, and 170 FISH CULTURE. bounds into the ‘air like an acrobat, to see if haply he can shake it out. By this hand! three pounds if he’s an ounce. Well jumped, trouty; well played,. piscator. That dip of the rod-point saved your tackle G merveille. There’s no fool at one end of the line, whatever there may be at the other. But the struggle is over at last, and poor trouty is consigned to the gradually-filling creel, the prize of the evening. “Lonely,” did I say? Nay, for in yonder bay stands knee-deep another fisherman, fishing for his evening meal too; and clever as you may be at your craft, friend piscator, Goodman Gossip Heron shall show you a trick or two of fishing which you cannot equal. How spectral and like a ghost he looks as. he stands upon the watch! Ah! now you have dis- turbed him ; he is off, and he flaps lazily away, like an over-gorged monster as he is, dropping his last. eapture as he goes home to Mrs. Heron, and all the young Herons, who are anxiously awaiting his coming far up the face of that rugged and inaccessible rock that overhangs Loch Lonely. And now the moon begins to rise. The Lodge is two miles off across the brae ; so fill thy pipe, and, with a light heart and a heavy creel, betake thee gladly and peacefully home- ward, thanking God for his beautiful world and thine own happy lot in it: for certes, good friend, we ON LAKES, POOLS, ETC. 171 cannot choose but envy you that fine basket of trout, that capital evening’s sport, and that delicious home- ward walk. I am writing, as the reader will see, con amore, and I must beg him to pardon this rhapsody as an unlooked-for digression ; for it is hard to be always commercially-minded on such subjects, nor ever to look at the more congenial part of the picture. But to resume my argument. These middle-sized fish are almost wanting.in many lakes I could name, though small ones abound. Now, how is this to be accounted for? That the trout can easily reach the. middle weight if left to themselves is proved by their reaching the greater one. May it not possibly be that these big monsters prefer the half-pounders, or fish of near that size, to their trumpery little two- ounce sons and daughters, which are far more plentiful? One thing is most certain—viz. that their capacity and capabilities are quite equal to taking even much larger fish, and they may prefer one large fish to a dozen small ones. I don’t say that this