i Hasty te CUP ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HomE EcoNomics AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library Fish hatching. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003232760 FISH HATCHING. FISH HATCHING, BY FRANK T. BUCKLAND, M.A. M.R.C.S., F.Z.9, STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD: AND LATE ASSISTANT-SURGEON SECOND REGIMENT OF LIFE-GUARDS. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1863. FW SH SO BIL 205855 LONDON : BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. Mevicnter, IN THE NAME oF ENGLISH PROGRESS, TO . M. J. COUMES, LVINGENIEUR EN CHEF DE PONTS ET CHAUSSEES, CHARGE DES TRAVEAUX DU RHIN A STRASBOURG, ET DE PISCICULTURE DE HUNINGUE. [See page opposite. SALMON OVA AND NEWLY HATCHED FISH. DEVELOPMENT OF THE YOUNG SALMON. ——_ No. 1. Egg of salmon, natural size, just taken from the parent fish, No. 2. The same, with the eyes of the young fish just be- coming apparent; this takes place about the thirtieth or thirty-fifth day, according to the temperature. No. 3. The young fish coiled up in the egg, and just ready to be hatched. No. 4. The young fish emerging from the shell. No. 5. The empty egg-shell, showing longitudinal rent made by the young fish. No. 6. Young salmon about two days old, natural size. No. 7. The young salmon (about two days old), magnified. The umbilical vesicle, containing the yelk and the oil globules, with blood-vessels ramified on its surface ;—the head—the huge eyes—the badly-developed mouth—the fins—and the thin transparent body, should be observed. PREFACE. a —_4+—— THE substance of this little book was delivered by myself, in the form of a Lecture, at the Royal Institution, Albe- marle Street, on the 17th of April, 1863, and is a record of the observations which I have made during my experiments in Fish Hatching carried on during the winter months. From time to time I have reported progress in the columns of “The Field,” and have now, by the permission of the Editor, been enabled to embody my notes in these pages. I have, however, added much information (though I continue to speak in the first person) xii PREFACE, derived from the experiences of others, kindly communicated to me; and also from closer subsequent investigation on my own part. I trust that those who read the book will find it useful, and that it will enable them to carry out Fish Hatching on their own. account. I must here record my sincere thanks to Professor Faraday for his kind attention, and also to Professor Tyndall, who was good enough to exhibit the young fish alive under the electric lamp, thereby adding so much to the general interest which I was most pleased to hear was caused among those present on the night of the Lecture. Frank T. Bucguanp. ATHENEZUM CiuB, PALL MALL, May, 1863. CONTENTS, pes CHAPTER I. Value of Observation.—Land and Water compared.— Game v. Fish.—How to prepare Eggs.—How to count Eggs.—Number of Eggs in Fish.—Spat of Oyster.—Hard and soft Roe.— Colour of Fish Eggs.—Toughness of Ege. ‘ é , 1—21 CHAPTER II. How the Fish deposits her Spawn.—Fish Nests.—Salmon Spawning.—Trouts’ Nests.— Experiment with Eges. —Salmon depositing its Eggs.—Salmon covers her Eggs.—The ‘‘ Old Soldier.” —Skeleton of Salmon.— Salmon found Dead.—Stormontfields Fish . . 22—41 CHAPTER III. Enemies of Ova.—Enemies of Fish Eggs. —Mill Wheels. — Fish eat their own Eggs.— Water Insects.—Larve of May Fly.—Human Poachers.—Water-Ouzel.—Ex- amination of Gizzard.—Other testimony. — Mr. Gould’s opinion.—Verdict for Water-Ouzel.—Dab- chicks.— Rats. — Water-Shrews.-—Swans most de- structive —Evidence about Swans.—Swans at Lale- xiv CONTENTS. ham.—Swans in Pond.—Result of destruction of Fish Eggs é . a id 3 ‘i . 42—81 CHAPTER IV. On the Protection of the Eges, and hatching them by artificial means.—Artificial Nests——Out-door Boxes. —Gravel for Boxes.—Darkness necessary.—In-door Apparatus.—Filter the Water.—Dead Eggs.—Tem- perature should be low.—Mr. Buist’s Observations.— Time required for Development.—Grayling Ova.— Development of young Fish.—Water Babies.—The Hospital.—Birth of Fish.—Difficulties of young Fish.— Young Charr.—Steeple-Chase Salmon. — Weight of young Fish.—Lower jaw developed.— Eye of young Fish.—‘“‘ Hides” for Fish.—Defor- mities.—‘“‘ Siamese twin”’ Fish.— Microscopic appear- ances of young Fish.—Blood-vessels.— Pectoral Fins. —Mr. Hancock’s Report.—Muscle of Fin.—Nutri- ment, how conveyed.—Anatomy of Umbilical Bag. — No Duct exists.—Gill Fever.—How to feed young Fish.—Midges for Fish,—Young Fish rise atthe Fly. —tThe Master of the Tank.—Turning out Fish. — Shallows best for Fish.—Salmon in a Ditch.—Diffe- rence of growth in Fish.—Cause of the Phenomenon. —Difference in Food.—Shells v. Insects. —Transport of Ovaand Fish.—Transport of Eggs, —To unpack the Eggs.—To carry young Fish.—Young Salmon from Sweden.—Fish Breeding in Sweden.—Salmon to Australia.—The Establishment at Huningue.—M, Coste and Mr. Coumes.—Mr. Ashworth’s Labours,— Loughs Mask and Corrib.—Its pecuniary advantages, —Transportation of Live Salmon,—lIts cost. —Reap- CONTENTS. xv ing the Harvest.—The Tay Fisheries.—England’s interest therein.—Fish turned into the Thames.— Salmon in Thames.—Skeggers and Strikes. —Thames Trout.—A Learned Trout.—Progress of the Science. —Government should help.—Conclusion . « 82—221 Appendix 223 FISH HATCHING. CHAPTER I. —+—— I Have been entrusted with the honour of bringing before you, this evening, the im- portant subject of Fish Culture—a trust I feel much pleasure in accepting, and which I hope faithfully and truthfully to be able to discharge. I shall not make any attempts at elocution, but merely endeavour to give plain statements of the results of my own observation, and of other friends interested, both practically and theoretically, in this important matter. This subject as yet has B 2 FISH HATCHING. only been considered to be an art, but I trust you will deem, before I have concluded what I have to say, that it is justly worthy of being promoted to, and to take rank among, the true sciences. The study of the natural products of this earth, whether animate or inanimate, has ever been the aim and object not only of the sons of science, but it has also afforded high intellectual profit and amusement to all classes of intelligent observers. It has, however, been urged against the study of Natural History that it is not prac- tical, that no actual benefit thereby flows to the public in general. It is, therefore, with the more pleasure that I shall endeavour to show you this evening, by practical demon- stration, that in one respect at least close VALUE OF OBSERVATION. 3 observation, followed by close reasoning, has led to the realisation of important practical facts, which promise to be eventually the origin or increase of revenue to private in- dividuals—a, source of national wealth, and certainly a great boon to the public in general. The culture of fish is just now beginning to attract public notice in this highly-favoured and densely-populated island, and it will be my aim to show you both its theory and practice, whereby those who have no oppor- tunity of carrying it out, may reason upon its scientific phenomena: those who have fisheries, ponds, and other waters, may actually develop the theory into practice. But in order that you may rightly under- stand why fish should be cultivated by B2 4 FISH HATCHING. artificial means, and why it is so necessary so to do, I would beg to examine—first, the various causes of their scarcity ; and, secondly, to point out the means whereby these causes may be avoided, so that your painstaking and care shall be rewarded fourfold. LAND AND WATER COMPARED. If you will for a moment observe this wooden globe as I turn it round, you will at once perceive what a vast preponderance the water has over the dry land; in fact, we may fairly say that three-fourths of the whole earth is water. We are for the most part fully cognisant of the inhabitants of the land—we have subjugated those which are serviceable either for food or for labour LAND AND WATER COMPARED. 5 to our race—but how little do we know of the inhabitants of the water! Man has dominion given him over both land and water. Of the former he has taken every advantage ; from the earliest days there have been agri- culturists, or land farmers. The human race, however, seem to have entirely forgotten the second item in the double privilege given them; they take no pains to cultivate the largest portion of their earth—the waters. Who ever heard of an agueculturist or water farmer? We have been asleep—we have had gold nuggets under our noses, and have not stooped to pick them up. “ All that glitters is not gold,” nor, again, are seemingly worthless things to be despised as valueless. Tons of fish, worth thousands of pounds, only want a net placed round 6 FISH HATCHING. them, to be converted into bank notes ; but they want looking after; they want culti- vation. You must not kill your “golden fish” (the “golden goose” may now retire on half-pay), you must not watch the spawning fish-mother to her nest, nor must you permit others to do it—for the sake of her unwhole- some carcass (for which the French cook at the Palais Royal will give you a franc or two), destroy her, and at the same time thousands of young fish. “O, fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint !” would dear old Virgil have said of the aque- culturist, if he had known what we now know. You must not, O friend, put your heel upon yon mass of tiny round balls, which, if pro- perly treated, would most assuredly, in about four years, develop themselves into huge GAME v. FISH. 7 silver-coated salmon, and, what is more, will cost you not a penny for food or keep. This is simply a case of cause and effect. If your gamekeeper will put his foot in the nests of the pheasants and partridges, don’t whine piteously about having no game. If you keep the coverts quiet in the breeding season, and are rewarded with good sport, you are not really lucky, you only reap the reward of foresight and prudence. Game birds and beasts on land have their coverts—over these strict watch and ward is kept. Over the water coverts, forests, and plains, where live and breed the fish, but little labour, if any, is bestowed. You offera premium, and you issue a habeas corpu against hawks, rats, weasels, hedgehogs, and - all kinds .of so-called vermin destructive to 8 FISH HATCHING. your land game. You allow the water vermin to run riot; there are no traps set for them ; they have their full swing. Among animals living on land, practical observation will tell us that their rate of increase is, compared to the increase of fish, but very small. In fact, we find it especially recorded that the waters brought forth abundantly. I will proceed to show you that this is the fact. By way of contrast, we shall first notice that the highest oviparous animals, the birds, produce during the season but a small num- ber of eggs compared to fish: thus, a good “barn-door fowl’s produce in one year is about 120 eggs. Not trusting to calculations that have had the run of Natural History books HOW TO PREPARE EGGS. 9 for the last fifty years, I have examined the roes of the ordinary fish used for human food, and am enabled to place before you the following table, and also the specimens them- selves, to show what an enormous number of eggs are deposited by fish. But I must tell you how these calculations are made, that you may repeat them for your- selves. I get the mass of the roe from the fishmonger, and these have been kindly and chiefly presented to me by Mr. Grove of Charing Cross, and Mr. Townsend of Agar Street. I make a few cuts in the membrane which contains the roe with a knife, and then plunge them into water, which is at the moment of immersion posi- tively at the boiling point : being composed of albumen, the eggs obey the natural law and 10 FISH HATCHING. coagulate in an instant. I then add a little common salt, and continue to boil the eggs till they all become quite detached from the membrane and swim about in the water loose like marbles; if any adhere to the membrane, they should be gently removed by a soft brush or by shaking in the boiling water. I then, when all the eggs are quite loose, pour off the water and pour the eggs into a meat dish, and dry them slowly either in the sun or in the oven, the door of which is left open to prevent their becoming baked into lumps. I then weigh the whole mass of the eggs, and put down the total weight on paper. I then weigh out five grains from the mass, and get them counted over care- fully under a magnifying hand-glass on white paper: this is ladies’ work. HOW TO COUNT EGGS. 11 Having ascertained the number of eggs in five grains, I send off the figures to a young man, Mr. Heap, the son of one of the soldiers in the 2nd Life Guards, who is an ex- cellent arithmetician, which I am nod, and who returns me the results. By this means, which others can also adopt, I have been enabled to obtain the tables below, and to show you the actual eggs in labelled bottles kept for future reference. Now I have not been Goth enough to destroy a spawning salmon, but experience shows that salmon carry about one thousand eggs to every pound of their weight. The following table, the results of the spawning operations during the last season at the breeding establishments of Stormontfields, will show the actual num- ber in an individual salmon. It has been FISH HATCHING. 12 published in “The Field,” in answer to a letter of mine, by Peter of the Pools. 000°G12| & SI 1gg | GIL | &2 ¥ ¢ os ee . . (Ts 000°4T j SI 9 8 00009 | 9 g OF GB 1 I I dequieseqy 000‘09 6 I 03 9 ” as "gg © ‘adit eu0u — wen (6 g ee eee 9% (74 000°F% ¢ I 6I II sa ik ' FB e 000'06 ee j FI II ee ig * 8 x 000% I 3 EY 6 7d if " 06 Hs 000'0r | & g 0g 9I 0% it “or 000°8T sre |Apqaed a). Zz was ne - YT “ 000°F I ae FI SI 5 ps * GT a 000‘0T # S 6g 8 71 I ‘ $1 i -adta au0u wee vee el 6 ‘ vee + [] reqmiaaoN ‘aslIt) |WOUW][YG | ‘as[lty |uouyeg "BAO “spunog jo UL tac) £@) “aqeqd toq wan “potaedg "po742 NT STO M ‘OST ‘CUO HLNOW[ GNOWIY LY GUNAVdg GNV GHLIGN asTlUy GNV NOWTIVE NUMBER OF EGGS IN FISH. 18 Weight of Total number Fish. of Eggs. Trout* . . db. : 1,008 Jack . . 42Ib . . 42,840 Perch . . lb. : 20,592 Roach . . 3lb. . 480,480 Smelt . . 2ounces . 36,652 Lump Fish . 2]b. . . 116,640 Brill . . 4Ib. . 939,775 Sole . . 1lb . . 184,466 Herring . $)b. : 19,840 Mackerel . 1lbh . . 86,120 Turbot » Bib. : 385,200 Cod .. .20lb . . 4,872,000 These all are the specimens I have been enabled up to this time to examine ; I shall * Trout, like salmon, carry, on an average, 1000 eggs to one pound of their weight ; but this rule does not apply to trout under a pound. Again, as regards other fish, the heavier they are the more eggs they carry ; therefore I give the weight of the fish I have examined. 14 FISH HATCHING. feel obliged for further specimens should my readers obtain them.* I must not forget the spawn of the angler-fish (Lophius pis- catorius). In Feb., 1862, a fine specimen was sent to me from Brighton. On opening the abdomen I found it three parts filled with a red coloured substance; it was loose, and fell out of the abdomen in the form of a long ribbon : what was my surprise to find that this was all spawn, a mass of genuine eggs! I laid it out, and found upon measuring it that it was no less than stv yards and three quarters in length ; and when spread out broadways presented a flat ribbon seven inches broad, as thickly studded with ova the size of turnip seeds as a rice pudding is with * Address to ‘‘ Field” Office, 346, Strand, W.C. SPAT OF OYSTER. 15 grains of rice. Imagine for a moment the millions, I may say billions of young anglers that would have been produced from this single mother-fish. The oyster must not be forgotten. T. C. Eyton, Esq. F.LS., &c., has given us a monograph on its history ; he gives the num- ber of young oysters in the shell of the old one at spawning time, and commonly called “the spat,” as 1,800,000. The oyster must and shall be cultivated in this country. I propose shortly to take the matter in hand. M. Coste and the French pisciculturists have done so much in the way that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for being all behind- hand in this important matter. 16 FISH HATCHING. ANATOMY OF OVA. I cannot in this place refrain from a bit of anatomy. You will see in this diagram how the eggs (or ova) are placed in the body of the fish : you may see this fact any morn- ing yourselves when the matutinal herring is placed before you; and you will then understand once for all that the hard roe is composed of the eggs, whereas the soft roe is the milt of the fish, This diagram of a common trout will show you how these eggs are packed together, and how beautifully they are arranged, reminding one somewhat of figs packed in a box ; there is hardly room to place a pin’s head between any of them, and they curiously enough resemble a section of a bees’ honeycomb. HARD AND SOFT ROE. 17 You may be desirous of knowing how these ova are formed. Here is a preparation from a salmon, which will show you that the ova are thrown off from a long finger-like membrane, one side of which is laminated like the leaves of an opened book ; it is in these leaves that the ova are secreted, and you may see some of them still adhering in siti. I have ascertained for a fact that behind the ova ready to be extruded, say this year, are other ova, as small as pins’ heads, which will arrive at maturity next year. When the ova are ripe they detach them- selves from the membrane and lie quite loose in the cavity of the abdomen ; they are not, however, I believe, all shed at the same moment, but at various intervals,—so say observers of salmon spawning. They say_cor- 18 FISH HATCHING. rectly, as it is not likely that all the ova should become loose at the same moment. COLOUR OF OVA. I have observed a curious circumstance as regards the fact that the eggs differ in colour in different trout, At the beginning of this year S. Gurney, Esq., M.P., kindly invited me down to assist in taking the ova from some of his trout, who live a luxurious life in that part of the Wandle which belongs to him. We found the fish quite ripe, and in a few minutes obtained a very ample supply of the most beautiful ova I ever be- held. It was there that I remarked for the first time that the ova of some of the trout were of a splendid coral-red colour ; others, on the contrary, were almost as white as COLOUR OF FISH EGGS, 19 peas, yet all good eggs. This depends, it is said, upon whether the trout is a red-fleshed trout or a white-fleshed trout. Again, I found subsequently that the young fish hatched out from the red eggs were much brighter than those hatched out of the yellow eggs: the cause I hope to be able to ascertain when I have a favourable opportunity of examining the flesh of the fish from which the spawn has been taken. This fact as regards the difference of colour in the eggs has been observed by others, for in “The Field” G, A. writes as follows :— “Srr,—In Mr. Buckland’s account of im- pregnating ova in the Wandle, he speaks of the variety in colour of the ova being attri- buted by his informant to the colour of the flesh of the parent. Mr. Buckland very c 2 20 FISH HATCHING, rightly says that wants further investigation. I beg to inform him that the same great variety exists in the colour of grayling ova, though the parents in that fish are not red- fleshed. Moreover, the same variety exists in the colour of the yolks of our matutinal eggs, and we don’t have red-fleshed hens. The pale and the red fish ova are equally fertile, and the colour does not depend on the age of the parents. These two points I have proved. I cannot believe it to depend on colour of flesh, and therefore attribute it solely to variety in feeding.” Fish ova are exceedingly hard and tough, and very elastic, rebounding from the floor like an india-rubber ball. This is a beautiful provision to prevent them being crushed and otherwise injured by the stones and by TOUGHNESS OF EGQ. 21 the running streams in which they are deposited. The external coating, at least of salmon and trout, is an exceedingly hard, horny, semi-transparent membrane. (See Ex. periment, p. 29.) CHAPTER II. HOW THE FISH DEPOSITS HER SPAWN. THE word “eggs” necessarily implies the word “nest.” Let us now examine the man- ner in which the fish deposits her eggs, and also the nest—for we may fairly call them nests even though they be only a heap of stones—which the parents provide for them. Birds build with twigs and other vegetable material. The salmon and trout can make no use of these materials, so they deposit them among stones. Other fish, especially sea fish, make use of vegetable material, either FISH NESTS. 23 as in the case of the stickle-back, building a true nest, or else depositing the eggs upon the fronds and leaves of the plants, some after the manner of insects. When the fish—I speak now of the salmon and trout—are about to spawn, they set to work and make their nest. They choose, above all places, a shallow gravel bottom, the reason being that there shall be a more rapid flow of water, and hence a greater supply of oxygen to the eggs themselves and also to the young ones when born. The most ‘natural breeding-grounds for the salmon are small, rapid, mountainous streams, deep pools being in the neighbourhood, wherein they can rest and take shelter. They, doubtless, ought to have pools; because, as I said be- fore, a salmon does not deposit her ova at one 24 FISH HATCHING, and the same time, but at intervals. During these intervals she drops back into the pool, and recruits her strength for further opera- tions. From this simple fact we may learn much as regards the increase of salmon by natural means.* To use the words of that practical man, Mr. Ashworth, in a letter to myself, “We find, and I have seen it, that the smallest streams of pure water are the safest, the most productive, and the very places selected by the parent fish for depositing their ova ; and if protected for two months in the winter * And this is the meaning of the salmon making such vigorous efforts to get up from the sea to the higher waters. Instinct seems to tell them that the young will die in deep water; they therefore make superpiscine efforts to get up cataracts and waterfalls, and attain the shallow brooks. Give them free passage up, and protect them when there, and they will increase and multiply exceedingly. SALMON SPAWNING. 25 (December and January), any river may be made productive in which the weirs are made passable by ladders, and in which all natu- ral and insurmountable obstructions, such as rocks, cascades, and falls, are made accessible, and such waters we find are the purest.” The fact of salmon spawning in shallow streams is ably described by Mr. John Miller, the intelligent and active resident superin- tendent of the Messrs. Ashworth’s fisheries, at Galway : — “Gatway SALMON FisHERy, “Weir's House, 10th Jan. 1863. “ T was very much struck yesterday, 9th January, 1863, on walking along a small river called Strawberry Hill. It takes its rise out of a small lake between Tuam and Dun- more, but nearest to the latter, and wends 26 FISH HATCHING. its way for five miles westward, and falls into the Clare river, at Miltown. It is divided into two small branches at the top ; each of these rivulets is about one and a half mile long, and several hundreds of salmon have spawned in each of the rivulets this season. What surprised and interested me most was to see salmon of 5lb. to 7lb. weight sticking so tenaciously in a small stream, and the water so low and so far in the season. I measured the brook in many places with my walking-stick, which is about three feet long, and the average width does not reach the length of my stick. The fish were swimming about in places only two feet wide and one foot deep. They. would not leave the place, but swam up and down a dozen yards, and returned. to the beds again—no deeper TROUTS’ NESTS. Q7 water near them for half a mile on each side. This little river is no exception this season,— there are two streams, equally as small, running through Mr. O’Rork’s and Mr. Jack- son’s lands, at the top of Grange river, where a great many salmon have spawned this season, and where we never observed any- thing but trout before.” I myself have never had the opportunity of examining a salmon’s nest, but I have, to use the schoolboy’s expression, “robbed” many a trout’s nest. One knows the nest by observing in the bed of the river a hillock, or mound of gravel, about a wheelbarrow full, and a hollow sort of ditch in front of it, as though some one had been scraping it up with his heel. About the beginning of this 28 FISH HATCHING. year I went down to the residence of J. Hibbert, Esq., at Chalfont Park, near Ux- bridge, in order to procure trout spawn for his hatching boxes ; and as we found that the fish had all spawned, both he and I went into the water to get the egos fromthe nest. The mill hatch was put down, so that the stream was much diminished, and we were enabled to scrape the gravel away easily with our hands, like the pictures of monkeys digging up nuts. I was much surprised to find the egos of the trout at such a considerable depth in the gravel, certainly from one to two feet. They were all about loose in the gravel, reminding one of plums in a pudding. T hollowed out a basin in the nest, and the eggs fell by their own weight intoit. When sufficient were collected, I scooped them out EXPERIMENT WITH EGGS. 29 with an impromptu net, made of an old soda- water bottle wire and a bit of netting, such as is used by ladies. I cannot understand how the trout manages to get her eggs so deep in the sand. They certainly sink in the are ; but one would fancy the current would whip them away ina moment. Again, how is it that they are not often crushed? I have stated above their coats are very elastic ; but IT had no idea they were so tough. In order to ascertain positively how much direct weight they would bear, in the presence of my brother officers, I tried experiments on the eggs by placing iron stamped weights on individual eggs. I was astonished to find that they were not crushed till I had placed no less than five pounds six ounces on them. As regards the mode of action and the 30 FISH HATCHING. relative parts taken by the male and female parent fish in making the nest, in which the female deposits her eggs, I am enabled to give the following important evidence from Mr, C, F. Walsh, of Dundee. He writes to me thus :— “ Sir,— Now, I have seen hundreds of fish in the act of spawning—I have seen as many as thirty brace engaged in the operation at one time, but I never saw the male fish take any part in the work ; the fanning up of the gravel is all done by the female. I say fanning, because I never saw any boring of the head into the ground ; the female turns on her side, and by strong undulations drives up a cloud of gravel from her tail, How she contrives to remain on the same spot I cannot say ; but as they always spawn in a strong SALMON DEPOSITING ITS EGGS, 31 current, perhaps she uses only sufficient force to hold against the stream. Stones and gravel are easily moved under water, and therefore the exertion necessary to throw up a bed of gravel is not great, To convince myself of this I put some gravel into a trough of water, and holding a dead fish by the head and on its side, I gently undulated it, and I found the stones were puffed away as if by a gentle breeze of wind, I am aware that in all books on the subject it is said the male makes the ridd, but I am convinced there is no truth in this; the male fish ‘wait on,’ and their whole spare time appears to be occupied in ‘pitching into’ every other male fish within sight, They rush on, open-mouthed, and generally turn on their side in striking ; and by the time the business is over they are 32 FISH HATCHING. much scratched and scarred. May not the injured state of the head be accounted for by their coming in contact with stones in their headlong assaults ? “T will mention one other thing I have ob- served. The female fish does nod first deposit her spawn and then leave it to be impreg- nated by the male ; the male cares nothing for the spawn, except to eat it ; his object is to be with the female, for the protection of whom he will fight as long as he is able. The spawn- ing process is carried on in this manner :— The female works away at the ridd, and after she has made a kind of trough she lies in it quite still; the male—who, during the time she is working, is carrying on a constant war —comes up, enters the trough, and assists the female in her efforts to deposit the spawn in SALMON COVERS HER EGGS. 33 the gravel-formed nest which she has heaped up. The male then drops astern. After a short time, the female again throws herself on her side, and fans up the gravel, advancing the trough a little, and covering up the de- posited spawn. This operation is repeated till both fish are exhausted. A great quan- tity of spawn is of course wasted, being eaten by trout and other fish, which are always waiting about for the purpose. The exhaus- tion of the males is greater than that of the females ; they die in numbers; the females do not die. You may pick up a great many exhausted and dead males, but seldom a female. “C.F. Watsu.” Now, it is well known that at the spawning season the male salmon has an enormous D 34 FISH HATCHING. beak, a huge finger-like projection at the top of his lower jaw. I now’show you two pre- parations to demonstrate this fact ; and also a coloured diagram, carefully drawn from nature, by Mr. Jennins. It is a question as to what this beak really is in structure. Upon making a section I find that it is not bony, but a mass of a purely cartilaginous growth from the bone below. It disappears, moreover, when the salmon is not breeding. I therefore conclude, with Mr. Walsh, that it is simply an offensive and defensive weapon, and is analogous to the horn of the deer. Anxious to make a closer examination of one of these ee salmon, I wrote to Mr. Allies, of Foregate Street, Worcester, who kindly sent me a huge salmon which he THE “OLD. SOLDIER.” 35 found dead on the banks of the river Teme, He was 22Ib. in. weight, and 43 inches in length, and terribly out of condition ; if in good condition he would have weighed between 40]b. and 50lb. They called him an “old soldier”—a very fit name,” for many of his scales were of that peculiar dull red which so often adds charms to the rural scenery at that most delightful of all places, Aldershot. The physique, moreover, of our salmon reminded one of an “old soldier ”—a fine old fellow, plucky and brave to the last, but who had served his time, and bearing many scars and wounds upon his person, to say nothing of a great bit of his upper jaw * A Thames fisherman tells me his father used frequently. to find salmon in this condition in the Thames, and they were called ‘‘ old strikes,” D2 36 FISH HATCHING. torn away in some fierce conflict with an angler, had summarily retired from the service for want of a Chelsea Hospital. The cause of his death was doubtless pure exhaustion; there was no actual diseaas about his body, save and except “bad places” on his scale armour. Whether these were wounds caused by his mining opera- tions in guarding his wife’s nest, or simply constitutional, I am unable to state for certain. Mr. George, of Worcester, sent me, moreover, the head of a second spent-salmon, in which the skin. is quite worn off the bottom of the lower jaw. The injury in this case I really think, from its appearance—and my idea is confirmed by the opinion of others —was caused by friction against the stones when nest-making. | SKELETON OF SALMON, 87 After I had caused, a life-sized water- colour portrait to be made of the “old soldier,” I packed him off to the British Museum, where, in a few weeks, he will figure as a beautiful white skeleton, and add much to the interest of Dr. Giinther’s ichthyological gallery. I asked the doctor if the “old soldier” was big enough for a skeleton ; he replied, “ He is big enough ; did you ever know a big salmon caught but what somebody else had caught a bigger ? I shall take him.” His skeleton will show what a beautiful bit of water-going archi- tecture there is in a-salmon’s skeleton. I have since received a female salmon from: Mr. Allies; of Worcester, which he found dead after spawning in the Teme. ‘This was a valuable acquisition, for Dr. J. E. Gray. 38 FISH HATCHING. requested that she should be presented to the British Museum, and she will shortly be placed in the ichthyological galleries in the form of a skeleton, a fit companion for the “old soldier” I have described above. Dr. Giinther and myself made an examination of this fish to ascertain the cause of death. We found that exhaustion was not, as in the male fish, the cause of death. There was actual inflammation and considerable de- crease of the left ovary, which was found to be in such a condition as to tell us much of the mode in which the ova are first: of all formed -and afterwards protruded from the ovary itself, I understand from Mr. Allies that, as‘a rule, many more male than female fish die after spawning. He says, “I saw five large cock-salmon dead in two miles of SALMON FOUND DEAD. 389 water. We have picked up sixteen dead male salmon and but one female.” This is a curious fact, rendering it important that those who have the opportunity should examine the dead fish they see in the water, with a view of gaining more knowledge as regards the cause of death in both sexes. The reason why so many male fish are found dead is, I believe, twofold : first, many die from positive exhaustion ; secondly, from wounds inflicted in actual combat. Mr. Samuel Woodcock, of Bury, Lancashire, in- clines to the latter opinion, for he writes : “T can explain to Mr. Buckland the reason why so many more male salmon are found dead than females.. The males fight, des- perately, and often kill each other. I have seen them repeatedly lacerated with as many 40 FISH HATCHING. wounds across their backs and. sides as a fishmonger inflicts in crimping them. The female has not the perils of war to encounter. In the water these wounds look white, and cause the fish to be distinguished at a great distance. I have frequently discovered a salmon ridd by no other sign than seeing a strip of white, apparently about the length and breadth of two fingers, waving in the stream at right angles to the current. This indicates the wounded warrior, tending his mate, or reposing upon his laurels.” Again, Peter of the Pools writes: “I observe what Mr. Walsh says as to the reason of so many male fish being found ‘dead, and he accounts pretty well for it. ‘Our artificially-spawned fish run no such risks, as the males do not hunt each other, STORMONTFIELDS FISH. 41 but all are returned carefully to the river, and never a dead one has been found, either male or female, after undergoing the opera- tion. As an instance of safety to the fish, I may mention that a few years ago, a fine male fish of about 20lb. was used for spawn- ing purposes at Stormontfields. A mark was put on him by means of a piece of copper wire, and two years afterwards he was got when nearly 301b. weight on the same ford and at the same season; and, after doing duty again was returned to the river hale and strong, but was not traced afterwards.” CHAPTER III. ENEMIES OF OVA. Now, supposing the nest to be made, and the ova deposited therein, how many of them will ever come to life, or grow up to be fish fit for human food? As in the case of Virgil’s bees, we hear with sorrow, “Tum varia illudunt pestes.” What a catalogue of these “pests of the water” to the new-born, tender, and helpless little salmon, can we enumerate! Let us examine these in detail. First, accidents at the time of spawning. Many of the eggs do not get properly im- ENEMIES OF FISH EGGS. 43 pregnated at the time of spawning, or not being caught by the gravel, are washed away constantly by the stream. Then down come the floods and overwhelm the ffests with mud and rubbish, or else sweep them bodily away, level to the bed of the river. Here is a case in point: Mr. Buist writes in “The Field,” March, 1863, “From eighteen salmon and twenty-two grilse we had filled our breeding-boxes with 275,000 ova. Imme- diately after our ponds were filled the rivers came out in great floods, which dispersed the salmon, and, it is feared, that as these floods continue till the end of December, the fine appearance of fish would come to little account when left to all the contingencies of spawning in the rivers. The 310 fish not spawned would all be ripe within ten days, so 44, FISH HATCHING. that from those left to their natural course there would not have been so many fecun- dated eggs from the 310 as we have in the breeding-boxes from the forty fish. All these fish were caught on one ford where the Almond joins the Tay.” Then again, we have the reverse of floods —we have droughts; and the nests made when the water is high become bare and exposed to the air when the water goes down ; either the eggs die from this cause, or else the young when hatched out, having no water, “refuse to exist.” I have seen a shallow ditch leading out of Ruislip Reservoir one mass of dead fry of roach, dace, and jack, the water having been let‘out for the canal. Nor must we forget mill-wheels. Here is MILL WHEELS. 45 evidence from a writer in “The Field” :— “On one of the principal breeding streams that supplies the Shannon, within the last few years a new tail race was made at the Ballyartellagh mill, on the Nenagh river, and the fish are able, in their endeavours to get up stream, to pass a certain distance under the wheel, when they are struck on the head or back of the head by it, and either killed or so much injured that they drop down stream and die. On one occasion, after a small summer flood, when but few fish were running, I saw thirteen picked up; and if this takes place at that time of year, what must be the destruction when the large run of spawning fish takes place in the autumn ? It is already provided that there shall be guards both above and below, but the old 46 FISH HATCHING. cry of interfering with the milling powers has made it a dead letter.” The same thing happens to trout. I picked one up at Car- -shalton, killed by a decided scalp wound from a mill-wheel. Second, fish eat the eggs, and these not only minor fish but trout, who wait below the nest and scramble for the eggs, like boys scrambling for coppers; nor am I certain but that the trout will actually go and rout for what eggs they can manage to pick up out of the nest, for Andrew, the keeper at Hampton, has seen them with their noses grubbing in the nests, and their tails project- ing out of the water, like so many sharks’ fins out at sea. I have myself taken trout egos from a trout’s mouth, and so have other observers, for Mr. Woodcock writes as fol- FISH EAT THEIR OWN EGGS. 47 lows:—“On December 9th, whilst the. keepers were netting the river Dunlop, for salmon for my use, I examined a small stream on ‘the bog, noted for the quantity of trout which breed in it. We took a number of male fish—sea-trout and river-trout—before we caught a female. Observing a number of ova in the trough in which I deposited them for a temporary purpose, I was led to inspect their throats, and every male fish I examined except one had ova in its maw. I had a still stranger account from a friend of mine, who was getting a stock of breeding-trout for the Ribble. He had taken seven pair of trout, and had placed them, with Ramsbot- tom’s sanction, in a small pool for safety, until the time for manipulating had arrived. When these fish came to be examined, it was 48 FISH HATCHING. found that all the females, except one, had entirely got rid of their ova, and the seventh partly so, and that every fish, male and female, except the one which had only partially spawned, was absolutely gorged with ova. “JT never remember to have seen either of these incidents recorded before; and they are both capable of being verified by ample testimony. What wonder that trout should _ be scarce when both mother and father devour the ova!” Again, Mr. Ashworth tells me that he has taken no less than 500 peas (fish eggs) from the maw of one trout. He placed these by themselves in a hatching-box, and most of them in due time produced young fish. Salmon, too, will eat their own eggs, and we WATER INSECTS. 49 used formerly to see salmon ova, preserved in salt, sold at the fishing-tackle shops for bait. This mode of fishing is so deadly that it is now made illegal. Then we have water insects innumerable. The common water shrimp, for instance, of which I now show specimens, finds out the nests, and treats the eggs with as much mercy as rats do the grain in a wheat stack. These water shrimps will get into hatching-boxes, and if ever we choose an animal to lead a forlorn hope into a fortress, let it be the water shrimp; if he cannot get in himself through the perforated wire, he sends in the junior members of his family, who, sharing the fate of Horace’s weasel, grow so fat and well that they cannot get out again. 50 FISH HATCHING, Mr. Godfrey, the proprietor of Thorney Broad Fishery, near Uxbridge, tells me that at the spawning time the roach actually covers the weeds near his weir; the water shrimps and other insects come down upon them like the hop dogs upon the hops in Kent, and in avery short time clear them almost entirely away. It is a question whether the caddis worm attacks eggs or not. I rather think not, but I am not yet certain.* Besides the water shrimp we have the larva of the May-fly (specimen exhibited), a sort of just retribution against the fish, who will eat them when they turn into May-flies. These formidable creatures do * See in Appendix an account of some curious experiments on the caddis, by Mr. Smee. LARVA OF MAY FLY. 51 an immensity of harm. ‘They fasten on the egg, pierce them with their sharp nippers, and they turn white and dead in an instant. The Messrs. Ashworth, of Galway, report that, in one year they deposited 70,000 salmon ova in a small pure stream adjoining a plantation of fir-trees, and these ova they found to be entirely destroyed by the larva of the May-fly. More evidence on this point can be found in “Life in Nor- mandy.” The larva of the dragon-fly is also a destructive pest of the waters, and has been justly called the river tiger. I show speci- mens of the river tiger, which Mr, Allies caught in a salmon’s nest in the river Teme, in Worcestershire. There are other insects which eat the zE2 52 FISH HATCHING. spawn besides those above mentioned. Observers, observe for yourselves ! 4th. Human Poachers——At the time of spawning, the salmon or trout—usually as wild as a fox—becomes as tame as a barn- door fowl, and any little boy walking by the side of the stream can kill them with a stick,—become the easy prey of the poachers, and millions of their eggs are destroyed which would otherwise have been deposited. Tons weight are at this time captured and sent to Paris; why they do not kill the people who eat them there I know not. Anyhow, these fish are poi- sonous to Englishmen. Mr. Ashworth’s head bailiff knows this from practical ex- perience. He once ate a portion of one, and in consequence was made so ill that HUMAN POACHERS. 53 he was confined to his bed for two days, and he was a strong, powerful, healthy man. I now show you a magnificent clean-run fish, weighing between 30 and 40 pounds: that is a salmon for the Englishman. That— (pointing to the kelt)—is “vrai saumon écossais” of the Palais Royal cooks. These wretched poisonous fish are exported to France under all possible disguises—some- times packed in baskets as game, with the feet and tails of game birds and _ beasts protruding from the baskets, sometimes even as fruit-trees. The British Fisheries Preservation Association have taken the matter up in a most praiseworthy manner, and are doing their best, by appeals and representations to Government authorities, both in England and France, to stop this 54 FISH HATCHING. destructive export of spawning fish. We must all wish them success in the effort. It may have struck my readers that I have not mentioned, among the pests of the fisheries, the water-ouzel and the dab- chick. I do this advisedly, as I have inquired carefully into the matter, and now publish, by permission of the Editor, the correspondence, and the results which have been obtained through the medium of the columns of “ The Field.” “ T enclose a water-ouzel, shot in the very act of poaching (?) on a spawning ford. If Mr. Buckland cannot find traces of roe in its stomach, even making all allowance for rapid digestion, I shall certainly spare the lively, innocent little fellow in future.—RiFut- MAN (Sutherland, Jan. 17).” .WATER-OUZEL. 55 “(I have, as ‘ Rifleman’ wished, made a most careful examination of the bird, from the stomach downwards. I was pleased: to find the gizzard (which is by no means very muscular) quite full. I placed it in a vessel of clean water, divided it in half, and emptied out the contents, the whole of which I passed in detail under the object-glass of a microscope. I could not find the least trace of fish ova ; I looked especially for the horny egg-cases, for these would be the most likely portions of the egg to escape digestion, but I could not find any appearance whatever of them. The contents of the gizzard consisted entirely of the hard external cases of water insects, portions of the legs with the hooks attached, and broken fragments of other portions of their bodies, intermixed with 56 FISH HATCHING. some vegetable structure, and several small fragments of gravel and transparent quartz. If ‘Rifleman’ should see another water-ouzel on the spawning-beds, I should much like him to get it and send it to me, that I may repeat the examination. Water insects are attracted in large numbers to fish ova, and the bird I have examined evidently knew this fact.— F, T. Buckuanp. |” “The notice in your paper of last Satur- day, that one of these birds had been sent to Mr. Buckland for examination, caused me to look over my notes on this subject, made in the spawning season 1856-7. Up to that period I, in common with other preservers of salmon and trout, took it for granted that, because this bird is so constant a visitor on the salmon, while that fish is spawning, it is WATER-OUZEL. 57 so solely for the purpose of feeding upon the ova, and, in consequence, thinking I was getting rid of an enemy, I took great pains to destroy as many as possible. Amongst. those I killed, twenty fell to my gun just as they emerged from spawning-beds, every one of which I at once opened from bill to gizzard. On examination both before and after washing, with the naked eye and under the microscope, I could not in one single instance discover a trace of ova, neither of case of ova, nor of the oleaginous matter which forms the contents of the case ; in- stead of this, I found the stomach full of the larve of flies, whole and in fragments, and always more or less of fine sand. About this date I heard of the destruction of ova in the boxes at Stormontfield by the larve of » 58 FISH HATCHING. the stone-fly, and it immediately occurred to me that I was destroying a most efficient assistant, and that the water-ouzel was one amongst the many exquisite links constantly presenting themselves to the student of the natural history of this valuable fish. During the formation of the spawning-bed, the salmon turns over gravel, in the interstices of which lie the larve of aquatic flies, to which the water-ouzel is debarred access until so turned over by the salmon ; and the more frequent the visits of this useful bird to the newly-turned gravel, the freer will the spawning-bed be from these hurtful insects. This opinion subsequent experience has con- firmed, and preservers of salmon will act wisely to protect, as a most able assistant, the falsely-accused water ouzel.—J. H. Horsrat.” EXAMINATION OF GIZZARD. 59 “ Allow me to add my testimony to that of Mr. Horsfall, Some years ago, when a discussion was rife on this question, I caused a dozen of these birds to be shot during the breeding-season, and on the breeding streams. On examining their food, I could find nothing but sand and water insects, and their remains—not a trace of ova of any kind. I believe the water-ouzel to be entirely innocent.—SamvEL Woopcock (Bury, Lancashire, Jan. 31).” « As I noticed some remarks on the sub- ject of the water-ouzel and fish ova, I pro- cured one of these birds, which was shot in the act of feeding ; and having dissected the stomach and gizzard, found the inclosed, which I send for Mr. Buckland’s inspection. It consists, apparently, of the remains of 60: FISH HATCHING. insects ; but, if Mr. Buckland will put it in water and examine it closely, he will find a small spine (?) of a fish—H. E. Fox (Rydal, Jan. 20).” | [“I have examined the contents of this bird’s gizzard, and, as in the former case, can find nothing but a mass of the horny cases, legs, hooks, &c., of water insects, and not a trace of fish ova. ia could not, unfor- tunately, find the spine mentioned by Mr. Fox. In the last specimen I examined, there were several spine-like bodies, which, how- ever, were forms of infusoria. From the evidence now before us, I think we can hardly help the conclusion that the water- ouzel goes to the spawning-beds, not to eat the spawn, but to eat the insects that destroy the spawn, and which are, as pisciculturists OTHER TESTIMONY. 61 well know, attracted by it. It is, moreover an illogical conclusion, that, because a bird is seen on the spawning-beds, it therefore eats the spawn. We want a third premise in the syllogism. The poor water-ouzel may, therefore, after all, be the friend, not the enemy, of the proprietors of fisheries.—F. B.”] “Having seen a water-ouzel visiting my hatching ponds, I shot it, and subsequently I killed three more near a natural spawning-bed. After dissecting these birds I found one ovum just devoured, but as it was not of the healthy pink colour, but was white, I suppose that the ouzel had picked it out, not for the sake of the roe, but for some insect which at the time was feeding upon the egg. The gizzards contained nothing besides remnants of insects. The bill of the ouzel not, being formed for 62 FISH HATCHING. © shovelling in large objects, such as salmon roe, but for picking such small things as insects, I should say that they are an instrument in the hands of an all-wise Providence, for removing insects feeding upon the ova, and at all events such an insignificant means could not have been chosen for the purpose of neutral- ising the too great increase of salmon. I think it wisest for man not to interfere in the management, and to spare my lively little friend the water-ouzel, — GoTHENBURGER, February 14.” At a scientific meeting of the Zoological Society, in February, 1863, among other points that I brought foward for discussion was the various causes of the destruction of the ova in their natural state. I quoted the results, as regards the water-ouzel, already MR. GOULD’S OPINION. 63 obtained by myself and other gentlemen (especially the gentleman whose letter I now have by me), and which have been lately published in “ The Field,” all the evidence of the witnesses going to prove that the con- tents of the water-ouzel’s gizzard were not ova, but the remains of water insects. John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., the highest Euro- pean authority on all relating to birds, &c., then put into my hands the last number of his magnificent work, “The Birds of Great Britain,” and requested me to read aloud to the meeting the following :— “ Among fishermen the water-ouzel has a bad character, from their belief that it feeds upon the ova of the trout and salmon ; hence in some parts of Scotland it is destroyed by every device ; but the charge, in my opinion, 64 FISH HATCHING. has not been established, nor have I any reason, after taking considerable pains to in- vestigate the subject, to believe that it is just. During my visit, in November, 1859, to Penwyre, the seat of Colonel Watkyns, on the river Usk, the water-ouzels were very plentiful, and his keeper informed me that they were then feeding on the recently- deposited roe of the trout and salmon. By the Colonel’s desire, five specimens were shot for the purpose of ascertaining by dissection the truth of this assertion, but I found no trace whatever of spawn in either of them. Their hard gizzards were entirely filled with larvee of Phryganea and the water beetle (Hydrophilus). One of them had a small bull-head (Cottus G‘obio) in its throat, which the bird had doubtless taken from under a VERDICT for WATER-OUZEL. 65 stone. I suspect that insects and their larve, with small-shelled mollusks, constitute their principal food; and it may be that their labours in this way are rather beneficial than otherwise ; for as many aquatic insects will attack the ova and fry, their destruction must be an advantage. I believe, indeed, that birds generally, nay always, do good rather than harm in the check they give to the undtie extension of insect-life ; and it is not a little interesting to observe how their varied forms are adapted to this particular end. There is no element, and scarcely a situation, in which insects can live, that is out of the reach of their more powerful enemies the birds.” The water-ouzel having, therefore, been fairly put on his trial, the verdict first arrived F 66 FISH HATCHING. at by the gentlemen assembled was “ Not proven.” A distinguished ornithologist pre- sent considered this was not sufficiently strong ; the jury thereupon reconsidered their decision, and ultimately returned their verdict thus: “ Water-ouzel fully acquitted of the charges of eating fish spawn.” I hope the readers of this will also agree in this opinion. Besides the water-ouzel, the dabchick has been accused of eating the spawn. I have examined the contents of the gizzards of two of these, that were shot in the spawning-beds, and sent to me to report upon. The first specimen contained insect remains hardly digested at all; in the second the contents of the stomach were more comminuted, I therefore sent them to a’microscopic friend, DABCHICKS. 67 who reports as follows *:—* I have carefully examined the remains of the bird’s food, but cannot find any signs of fish ova having formed part of his diet. The matters you have sent are entirely insect, and consist of legs, wing cases, and a caddis-worm case.” There are now, I should mention, two living dabchicks in the aquarium house at the Zoological Gardens ; and, though such a common bird, Mr. Bartlett has hitherto had great difficulty in procuring living specimens. I went into the water and took out of a net with my own hands the female, when we were catching trout to take the ova for hatching purposes. The little creature went with a terrible bang into the net, swimming under water, and we thought we had got a very if * “The Field,” March, 1862. - F2 68 FISH HATCHING. large trout. I took her carefully out, and gave her to Mr. Bartlett, who has since got a mate for her. We have learned a fact from these two pretty birds. There are a great number of small fish in their quarters at the Zoological, and they eat an enormous number of them, diving after and pursuing them with arrow-like velocity. If, therefore, they do not devour the spawn of trout, they will the young fish. We have acquitted the water-ouzel and dabchick of eating the ova, but now I bring the charge against the common house (not water) rat, for Froude—the intelligent keeper to Mr. 8. Gurney, M.P.—has written to me to tell me, that these rascals had made a run and got into the house where the ova were deposited, and actually devoured several RATS—WATER-SHREWS. 69 of them from off the glass rods. They must have got into the water to get at them. I want, moreover, information about the water-shrew. I hear that this little fellow eats the ova ; his teeth are insectivorous, but still he may eat fish-eggs. The accusation, anyhow, has been brought against him, and I should much like to inquire into the matter. There are birds who are most destructive to spawn, and common ducks lead the van of these feathered poachers. I saw a lot the other day hard at work on a spawning-bed, as I was looking over the bridge at Romsey, and watching the trout in Lord Palmerston’s beautiful fisheries. Readers, if you want fish, drive off the ducks; you cannot have both. Again, the swans are most destructive ; though ornamental, they are more than useless, par- 70 FISH HATCHING. ticularly in ponds and in the river Thames, where they do incalculable mischief to the fisheries, and slay their millions, gobbling up the newly-laid spawn with their long beaks and spoon-like bills. In 1861, I was deputed to report, with the late lamented Mr. Arthur Smith, upon this point, and we sent in a report to the British Fisheries Preservation Association, recording our actual observations of these poachers, taken when they were at work, for which purpose we made a voyage on the Thames, near Windsor. I myself, therefore, am fully convinced of the immensity of harm they do to the Thames, but I prefer calling other witnesses as well, for the subject has been well ventilated in “The Field,” and every year it turns up again about the end of April or beginning of May. SWANS MOST DESTRUCTIVE. va Thus, in May, 1861, Mr. Francis Francis, the Angling Editor, a highly experienced and good observer, writes—‘“I happened to meet Milbourne, the water-bailiff, while fishing up the river a day or two since, and J asked him what he thought of the swans eating the spawn? He said, ‘Lord bless you, sir; they not only eat it, but they eat nearly all of it. At this very time there has been as fine a lot of jack as ever I saw spawning in Walton Reach. They spawned up the ditches and cuts, and as soon as they spawned the swans would go up the ditches after them and eat it all up ; and you could not drive them away. Some people, who don’t know anything about it, won’t believe it. I called Mr. Wheatley, of Walton, out a few days ago. He wouldn't believe it, and I showed him the swans gob- 72 FISH HATCHING. bling the perch spawn down off the bows by quarts. ‘ What d’ye say to that now 2’ says I. ‘I wouldn’t have believed it,’ says he. And no one would who didn’t see it, sir. Last year they ordered the breeding of swans to be stopped. This year they have continued it again. The number of swans already between Walton and Staines is beyond belief. They swarms there; and if they’re to be allowed to breed, we shall have such a mess of swans that the river will be regularly smothered with them. Suppose they don’t know where nor how to find the spawn? Gammon! Don’t a donkey know where to look for thistles, and don’t I know where beefsteaks grow ?” “ Any gentleman who doubts the mischief the swans do, can now have ocular demon- EVIDENCE ABOUT SWANS, 73 stration, as they are just finishing off the perch and jack spawn, and will be ready in a few days for the roach, chub, and barbel. I made a little calculation as to the quantity of fish they keep from the river every year, and at the very lowest computation that can be made, it amounts to one hundred millions. At amore reasonable and probable calculation, it is possibly nearer a thousand millions. No wonder sport is indifferent—no wonder the roach and dace are disappear- ing!” He is followed by Greville F. thus: “An owner of a piece of once-excellent and well- stocked water, near here (Kintbury on the Kennett, near Admiral Dundas’s), chuckled mightily over the gift of three brace of swans, which served two years to decorate 74 FISH HATCHING. his domain. His stock of fish, however, dwindled and dwindled away, and men were set at night to watch for poachers who never came. About the middle of last year, I be- thought me of your remark, ‘ that he had taken to the bosom of his waters a set of downy rascals who would not leave the weight of a scale therein.” I told him of this; he had one of their craws examined ; evidence of their piscatorial pursuits was there in plenty. The other five underwent a similar examination, and they were plucked. The water is gradually assuming its old character, but it will require at least two or three years, and the absence of all swans, to restore it to what it was. The worthy land- lord of the angling hostelrie at Weybridge, the elder Harris,. writes, ‘there never was EVIDENCE ABOUT SWANS. 75 no manner of doubt about the dreadful mischief the swans do. They eats up the spawn of every kind of fish until they have filled their bags, and then on to shore they goes, to sleep off their tuck-out, and then at it again. What is to be done! Another spawning season has gone over, and still the devastation remains in fuller force than ever. Cannot some movement be organised that shall have for its object the protection of the next year’s fecundation 2” Again, we read in “The Field,” of about the same date, the following :—“The old adage of Marlborough that ‘we should never under-rate an enemy, applies to swans as well as men. J, therefore, hasten to modify, in some measure, the statement I have made, that these creatures may be 76 FISH HATCHING. readily kept off the spawning-beds, and that a lad placed upon each of such localities during the short period of ‘ nature’s pro- cess’ would serve this purpose. This, I now regret to be compelled to say, would be wholly inefficient. Let those who think otherwise repair forthwith to Penton Hook (by-the-by, what has this beautiful locality done to the makers of maps, that it should be left entirely out of nineteen out of twenty of the charts of the Thames ?), and he will find his work already cut out for him. The grayling are now spawning there, and can be seen by any one approaching them quietly in a boat, upon the side of the Hook, which empties itself into the main river ; and there likewise is a flock of swans (literally the debit for the credit) totalling up the whole, and SWANS AT LALEHAM. 77 leaving no balance behind. The water-bailiff at Laleham has done his best to drive them off, and although he may succeed in getting them down a mile or two, they are back again directly his back is turned, with perhaps three or four more of their kind, politely (it may be) invited to the feast, or attracted, not unlikely, by the spawn around their gourmandising bills. I, therefore, infer that unless powers be given to the bailiffs to use more than gentle means, the London City Companies must lie under the impu- tation that they are permitting these Dandos of spawn to eat and waste that which in common honesty they cannot but conscien- tiously acknowledge to be the property of others.—GreviLLe F.” “TI think I can bear testimony to swans 78 FISH HATCHING. being more destructive to the spawn of fish on the Thames than has yet been mentioned. I was fishing from a coracle moored at the mouth of the river that debouches into the Thames by Egham Weir, when a swan came up the river, crowding all sail, in great wrath, to drive me out of his dominions. He came on until he was within the length of my rod, which I dropped to lay hold of the paddle, as he seemed bent on capsizing my craft with his wing. Suddenly, however, he turned an eye on the water, and, poking his head and neck down, he rushed several yards, bringing up a bleak of the largest size in his mouth, which he turned and swallowed, head first, as quick as a heron could do. Thus his wrath was appeased ; but I heartily wished for an air-cane gun, when I certainly would SWANS IN POND. 79 have stopped his further poachings—maugre the £5 penalty.—PxERIPLECTOMENES.” “ A friend informed me, last week, that he was walking by a pond in which was a brace of swans. The large carp were spawning and were rolling over the water-weed like pigs, and he assured me that the swans actually lay beside the carp, and eat the spawn as it came from them, and a gentle- man who lives close to the pond told him that he had constantly seen them doing it. In another pond I know of, some years ago, there was a quantity of small fry (young carp and tench) always in the pond. A pair of swans were put on, and now there are a few fish of two and three pounds weight, but nothing smaller, and very few of them; as the young stock is killed every year by the 80 FISH HATCHING. swans, of course there is none hatched to replace the fish that are caught.—FRancis FRANCIS.” Besides the above, I have letters innumer- able on the same point, all agreeing that the swans should be considerably thinned. The Hon. Spencer Ponsonby tells me that the swans, in consequence of these and other representations, were diminished in quantity, but they sadly want looking after again. Never did I feel so much pleased as when, in the autumn of last year, I saw a boat-load of these feathered poachers floating down the river, each one in a basket all to himself, the result of a swan-hopping ex- pedition.* The swans belong, I believe, * A great many of these swans were sent to Australia, and I hope they may be soon joined by their relatives. RESULT OF DESTRUCTION OF FISH EGGS. 81 to the Woods and Forests and the Dyers’ and Vintners’ Companies. We have seen now, therefore, what some of the causes of destruction of fish eggs are. I say nothing of the desolating causes after they are grown up into fish. The results are—we will take the case of the king of fishes, the salmon—that, according to given data and accurate calculations of the returns of fisheries made by Messrs. Ash- worth and Buist, only one salmon’s egg out of every thousand deposited by the parent fish ever becomes a fish fit for human food. Other fish, both fresh and salt water, suffer in proportion, or we should not have such long prices to pay for turbot, soles, and other first-class fish at the fishmonger’s. CHAPTER IV. ON THE PROTECTION OF THE EGGS, AND HATCHING THEM BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS. Tuus, then, Gentlemen and Ladies, I have endeavoured to demonstrate to you the im- mense difficulties which surround on all sides the eggs of salmon, trout, and other fish, when deposited in their natural state by the parent fish. I wish now to show you how these difficulties are to be obviated, and how human care can be brought to bear upon the eggs of these really valuable animals. Instead, therefore, of allowing the ova to be deposited in the natural nest, we catch ARTIFICIAL NESTS. 83 the fish in a net, we take the eggs from her,* we treat them in the manner which was first discovered by two poor fishermen (honour to their memory) and afterwards developed by M. Coste, professor of embryology at Paris, and we place them in an artificial nest, such as I will endeavour to explain to you. In the first place, you must provide an artificial nest, and, in the second, an artificial mother. Now the former consists of gravel placed in a narrow box, either of wood, earthenware, or zinc ; the latter consists of a stream of shallow water, which shall be run- ning day and night. For hatching on a large scale I recommend you to procure boxes such as this—a model of * The manner of doing this is fully detailed at the end of the book, for the benefit of those who wish to perform the operation, o% 84 FISH HATCHING. those used by Mr. Ashworth. It is made of elm, oak, or deal, and is six feet long, eight inches deep, twelve inches wide, an enlarged mignonette box in fact. You must recollect the two requisites—a run- ning stream and shallow water. You must fix the box according to your locality. You can place it either in a narrow, fast-run- ning ditch which you know will never fail you, or, better still, place it near a spring where you can regulate the flow of water by means of hatches, large or small. You must guard both the entrance and the exit of the box with a bit of perforated zinc, the holes of which must be sufficiently large not to obstruct the current of water ; and you should also have a plate of perforated zinc fixed in any convenient place, a foot or two above the OUT-DOOR BOXES. 85 box, to stop the scum, &c., of the water. Above this may be placed an extra sentry, viz., a new birch broom ; saw off the handle close to the twigs, and fix it with the loose ends of the twigs pointing up stream. These twigs will catch the weeds and other mess that come down with the water. The cleaner the water you pass into the eggs the better for them. You should have wire covers, which can be padlocked to the boxes, to keep out the shrew mice and rats, and the fingers of meddling boys; and you should have boards ready to place over these to keep out the light during the incubation of the ova. These boxes may be multiplied ad infinitum, so that the water that passes through No. 1 86 FISH HATCHING. should fall into No. 2, and so on, like water falling down (only at the ends) from one step of a staircase on to the step below it. The box should be a little inclined to favour the flow of water, and the water should have a fall from the end of one box into the head of another of a few inches. You must take care so to level and arrange the boxes as that, should the stream from above fail, some water should always be left to cover the eges. If you have not convenience for placing the boxes in a parallel row, you can place them side by side, at right angles to the stream whence the water is derived, having a hatchway for each. Your boxes being all ready for putting down into the stream, get some gravel, river gravel will not do, but dig it out of a GRAVEL FOR BOXES. 87 gravel pit, sift it through a sieve—the meshes of which are half an inch—and when you have enough sifted, Joi i¢ for an hour or so in a copper till it is quite clean. The boiling destroys the sporules of the vegetation, and also the eggs of the minor water beasts that eat the spawn. Then get the mason or the carpenter to fix the boxes in the stream, or better do it yourself; get the levels right by means of bricks, wedges of wood, &c., and then wheel down the gravel to the place ; then, with a spade, carefully deposit in the boxes your boiled half-inch sized gravel, to the depth of about two or more inches. You must then place a layer of about one inch in thickness, or one and a half, of gravel stones —take them as they come—each stone being about the size of a walnut. The reason of 88 FISH HATCHING. this stratification is that the young fish, being hatched under the big stones, shall not get down much below this level, being stopped by the half-inch gravel. Set your stream going for a few hours, and see that it works properly, being always about two or three inches in depth, and flowing per- petually. Now then you are ready for the eggs. When you have got them, carefully dis- tribute them with a spoon among the big stones under which they will naturally roll, and leave them alone. The stream should be gentle and continuous, but not fast enough to bother the eggs. Should the reader not understand this, let him go down to Hampton, near Hampton Court, and Mr. Ponder will show him his DARKNESS NECESSARY. 89 boxes at work, and he will see the whole thing in a moment.* With all your precautions for keeping the stream clear, you will find a deposit settle on the eggs, and this to a greater or less extent. To avoid this, keep them dark; put boards over the tops of the boxes, and, if you please, get some common roofing slates, and place these on your walnut-sized stones, taking care that the water shall flow freely under them. You will find the slates will catch the deposit which falls from above downwards, and you can easily take them out and wash them when dirty. It is, in my opinion, a mistake, to actually bury the eges in gravel; the slates and the walnut- * If Mr. Ponder is not at home, ask at the Red Lion Hotel for the keys, and the keeper, Andrew, will go with you. 90 FISH HATCHING. sized stones are sufficient protection. All you want is darkness, which is unfavourable to vegetation, and your boards and your slates will do all this. There is no objection to your lifting up the stones every now and then, to see that the eggs are all right, and to pick out the dead ones, 2.¢., those that are turned white, either with a forceps or a glass tube of the right diameter, to catch the egg.* You may, too, brush the eggs with a soft camel-hair brush, but do it gently—very gently—as moving them disturbs the vivification of the young fish that is going on inside. When the eg is developed, as will be explained hereafter, * Put your finger on the top of the tube, pass it down to the egg you wish to catch, take your finger off, and the egg will mount instantly into the tube. IN-DOOR APPARATUS. 91 there will be no danger whatever in moving them. So much, therefore, for the out-door ap- paratus, which, by the way, should not be too far from the dwelling-house, or it will be neglected. It will work well if properly managed, and operations are required on a large scale; but for ordinary experiment I far prefer the in-door apparatus; because this can be fixed up in a green-house, or other convenient place, and can be watched with greater ease without exposure of the observer to the cold: during the winter months, during which the process of hatch- ing will be going on. Now the in-door apparatus consists of a series of boxes, about the size of mignonette boxes, or even smaller; those used by Mr. 92 FISH HATCHING. Smee are 20 inches long, 43 deep, and 6 wide, which can be placed one above the other, so that the water can fall either by means of lips over the sides, or over the ends, like my boxes in the “ Field” Office. These boxes may be made either of zinc or earthen- ware.* The water can be caused to flow from a cistern, and will run down through as many boxes as you please to place one above the other, either side to side, or else end to end. These boxes must contain either a series of glass rods, upon which the eggs can sit, and which is a neat and clean way of hatching them, or can be filled with the boiled half-inch gravel, so that two inches of * By next September or October I shall be able to tell the reader where these may be procured, or any how can give him a model. FILTER THE WATER. 93 water can be always running over them; regulate your stream by means of stop- cocks, and find a place for the waste water torun. The water would be all the better for being filtered. This is not absolutely necessary, if it is naturally pretty pure, but it is certainly advisable. Filter it through charcoal, gravel, sand, or any other simple and commodious material. The same water, if clean, may be used over and over again; but fresh water is, of course, pre- ferable. If the reader does not understand this, let him call at the “ Field” Office, 346, Strand, and see my apparatus at work, or let him pay Mr. Ponder a visit ; this gentleman (or in his absence his keeper) will be pleased to allow visitors to examine the boxes by 94 FISH HATCHING. means of which he has met with such great success in fish hatching. All things ready, place your ova either on the glass rods or on the gravel ; have a bit of board ready, fitting the tops of the boxes accurately, to keep out all the light (which is so favourable to vegetation), and look at the eggs every morning, to see how they are getting on. You should also support, by means of stones or pegs fixed into the gravel, bits of roofing slates over the eggs, to prevent the deposit, after the manner suggested for the out-of-door boxes. You will, of course, find some of the eggs die. Even the most attentive human nurse will lose some of the eggs, and you will know these in a moment. The egg, instead of being a bright pink and fresh DEAD EGGS. 95 colour, turns to an opaque, or pale white colour; this is a sure sign that it is dead. Remove it instantly, for it will most assuredly contaminate all its neighbours. They will adhere to it as if fastened by strong glue, and in a short time they also will die. A curious fungus, too, you will see, will spring up upon these dead eggs, and if you place one by itself in a bottle, you will see the fungus growing up from it on all sides, like the hair of a doll electrified in the electrifying machine. Do not disturb the eggs more than you can possibly help. If the deposit is very great, attend to your filter ; carefully increase the stream of water, and in time you will be rewarded by observing that the egg is vivified. You will know this by observing 96 FISH HATCHING. two black specks appear in the egg, which are the eyes of the future fish, and you will also see a faint line running around nearly three-quarters of the egg, the body of the future salmon or trout. When you S60 this, congratulate yourself the egg is alive, and will probably hatch out all right.* The time of the eye appearing, and of the young fish hatching out, depends entirely upon the temperature. It is a most curious thing to observe how greatly temperature affects the development of the ova into the young fish, and I look upon this, not only as a most interesting physiological phenomenon, but also as a beautiful provision of nature, that the young * See drawing. TEMPERATURE SHOULD BE LOW. 97 fish should not be hatched out too soon, too early in the year, and acquire its mature growth before the food on which it subsists is to be found, but that they should both be produced simultaneously. Keep therefore your temperature low, or you will hatch your fish out too early in the season. This is one of the first results I obtained. Thus “ The Field” window began to hatch on the 16th of January, at the temperature of 52° to 55°. The Zoological fish did not begin to hatch till Jan. 21, the temperature being from 48° to 50° The temperature made all this difference; but mark again another and most important difference. The fish which take the longest time to hatch are al- ways the strongest fish of the two; a fact which agrees with Mr. Ponder’s obser- 1 98 FISH HATCHING. vations at his green-house apparatus at Hampton. Mr. Bartlett has informed me that he had hatched salmon ova in the short space of thirty days from the time of impregnation ; and he has given me notes of observations which he published at the time. Curiously enough, Mr. Ponder has arrived at somewhat similar results with trout ova at Hampton, last year. This is the experience at Stormontfields as regards temperature, as sent me by Mr. Buist. “ Of the 275,000 ova in our boxes, the whole are now (March, 1863) quick and bursting into life, a great many of them are already hatched, and the others are very healthy, and the young fish may clearly be seen in them, and are burst~- MR. BUIST’S OBSERVATIONS. 99 ing the shell daily. In consequence of the fine open winter, the eggs have hatched in our ponds in 115 days, and have done so corre- sponding to the days oii which the eggs were deposited. Thus the eggs on the 13th of November have hatched on the 8th of March, and have continued doing so in the corre- sponding days. In former seasons they have taken from 130 to 140 days, according to the temperature of the water. In spring water flowing from the rock in winter, where the temperature is always equal, I have known them to hatch in about sixty days.” Not only does temperature affect the eggs, but also the young fish, for in the second week in February the sun’s rays fell at mid- day almost direct upon my boxes, causing the temperature of the water to rise nearly m2 100 FISH HATCHING. to 60°. This was too great a heat for the young fish, and the weakest of them began to look very sickly. I however immediately placed a large block of ice in the earthenware tank which supplies their water, and thus lowering the temperature, the fish showed their gratitude by becoming lively again. Luckily I was able to obtain ice quickly, but I thought (while waiting for it) of the ex- . periments in carrying salmon to Australia, and what would have happened if “ The Field” window had been the “between- decks” of an Australian clipper just passing through the tropics, and the young fry had just been hatched out of the egz—what grief and sorrow it would have been to thew human nurse if he found his stock of ice was all exhausted. Anyhow, we have learnt that TIME REQUIRED FOR DEVELOPMENT, 101 the young fry soon begin to pine if the ther- mometer marks many degrees over 55°.* The proper temperature of the water both in and out of doors ought to range from 40° to 45°. Mr. Ponder’s observations tell him that at this temperature it requires thirty- five days for the eyes to appear (i.e. that the Jish is formed in the egg), and that they hatch out fourteen days afterwards ; this same result has been obtained by him for two seasons following with very little variation. Again, he has observed that when the temperature was 50° (in the spring of the year) the eyes of the fish were visible in twenty-six days, and that he hatched then out in ten days afterwards. Lay it down * See report on experiments carried on by Mr. Youl and myself at the'end of the book. 102 FISH HATCHING. however for an axiom, that the higher the temperature for the egg the weaker the fish produced from that egg,—anything above 50° is weakening. The first fish again hatched out from a batch are the weakest, the last are the healthiest ; when however they once begin to hatch they will come out all in a mass, two, three, or four thousand of a morning. The proper temperature for trout and salmon eggs is 40° to 45°, and again I repeat it, any- thing over 50° is weakening. Grayling, however, appear to be an excep- tion to this rule; Mr. Ponder has obtained a fair supply of the ova of these fish, which the Thames Angler Preservation Society are about to introduce into the Thames. The quantity obtained amounted to between GRAYLING OVA. 103 fifteen and twenty thousand, and though several of these have died, the remainder promise to do well; they are much more delicate than trout ova, both in appearance and hatching, and seem to die at the least provocation ; they are beautifully transparent, and when viewed in the sun of a lovely opalescent hue. He has discovered about these a most interesting and I believe a novel fact. The body of the fish is perfectly visible in nine days, and the fish will actually hatch out of the egg in fourteen days. I have some young grayling now at “The Field” office, and most beautiful little things they are. If they get into the boxes with the trout and salmon, these fish will attack and devour them. 104 FISH HATCHING. YOUNG FISH. All difficulties and troubles with the eggs having been overcome, we are at length re- warded by seeing the young fish begin to come out of the egg. When I first received the salmon and trout eggs from Hunungue, the eyes of the young fish were just visible as two small jet-black specks—the sign that they will bear transport ; the oil globules could also be seen in the substance of the egg, and the tail of the fish could be observed moving from side to side witha rapid vibratory movement. The young fish increased. in size daily, and every morning their growth was plainly perceptible; more especially could be noticed the form of the head, and the darkening of the trans- parent substance which would eventually be DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG FISH. 105 the body. I have already ascertained one fact, and this (as the question has frequently been put to me) I shall venture now to mention. The eggs do not grow—i. ¢., they do not increase in circumference or in diameter—but the fish inside them most certainly increases in bulk, till at last it becomes so large that the egg-shell suddenly bursts, and out comes the young fish. I have never yet seen a more beautiful sight than the gradual development of the young salmon and trout. We begin with a globule of albumen (or white of egg) ; we see within it a faint line, and two black spots ; day by day these become larger till the young fish is born. Time goes on; the umbilical vesicle is absorbed, the colour appears on the scales, the long single crests 106 FISH HATCHING. which one observes at birth as running down the upper and lower parts of the body, resolve themselves, as it were by magic, into the various fins distinctive of the adult creature, and we have a perfect fish before us. Nature, ever wonderful in her works, surpasses herself in the beauty and minute- ness of finish of these little fish. On the morning of January 14th, White (the viper-catcher, whom I place in charge of my boxes at the “ Field”), came up to report to me that the fish were hatching. I imme- diately went down, and found two of the salmon out of their shells, and quietly reposing among the ova. Sprightly young creatures were these water-babies, not yet two hours old. The; moment they saw the spoon with which I wanted to catch WATER-BABIES. 107 them coming near, off they went with a rush and a dart like a full-grown fish, using their tails only as a mode of progression. They have, moreover, a heavy weight to carry, for attached to their belly is a large bag, nearly the size of a lemon-pip, but more oblong in shape, which contains the nourish- ment which they must absorb into their systems before they are able to shift for themselves ; the moment the contents of this forage bag are gone, they at once begin to feed with the mouth, like adult fishes. I removed the new-born fish immediately into the lower trough, which contains gravel. In an instant away they wriggled under.a stone, where they reposed in security, their bag helping to keep them down. A gallant Colonel the other day asked me 108 FISH HATCHING. a question. “I was walking alongside my river,” said he, “when I found a moorhen’s nest in the rushes. I took up one of the eggs and broke it, and out came a young moorhen, who looked at me for an instant and then swam away in the greatest haste. Now I want to ask you, Mr. Buckland, how it was that this moorhen chick knew that I was not its mother?” In a similar way, I want to know how it is that these tiny water- babies, who are as yet not much more than hardened jelly, should know who is their enemy and who is not. Their whole desire seems to be to obtain concealment, and this because instinct (implanted even in these minute but beautiful little creatures) tells them that if they wish to live they must hide themselves the moment they are born. THE HOSPITAL. 109 Other fish—water insects of forms and shapes to them monstrous and ogre-like—hunt for their young lives; they therefore seek con- cealment from the dangers that threaten them, and thus help to maintain the existence of their species. As the fish were hatched they fell through the glass rods upon which they were placed as eggs, and when I paid my daily visit I in- variably find the eggs decreased in number, but the young ones in the tank below the rods much zncreased in number. So fast, indeed, did they hatch, that I was obliged to construct a new tank entirely for the young fry. The sickly fish I placed in the tank nearest to the water-pipe, that they might have the first “breath” at the water; I called this the Hospital. 110 FISH HATCHING. It is most interesting to watch the egg at the moment of hatching. If you have luck, you may happen to be gazing on a particular egg, when of a sudden you will see it split in twain at the part corresponding to the back of the fish ; you will then see a tiny head with black eyes and a long tail pop out, and you will see the new-born creature give several convulsive shudders in his attempts to quit himself from the now useless egg-shell. (See woodcut.) Poor little fellow! he can’t manage to get out—the shell is too tight for him ; take, therefore, a soft hair-pencil, press lightly on the egg-shell; he seems to know you are his friend ; he gives another vigorous kick or two, and presto! he is free and has commenced life. If we judge from his motions, he must enjoy life, for away he BIRTH OF FISH. lll swims as fast as his tiny fins and wriggling tail will carry him round and round in a circle, and then plump down he goes to the bottom of the tank and reclines upon his side, breathing freely with his gills for the first time in his life (for when in the egg he does not and cannot breathe). Even at this early period of his existence, he seems to know that a spoon is his enemy, for invariably when I place a spoon near him or his brother fish, off they scud ; they are aware that one of ° these days a spoon will be the divider and dissector of their cooked bodies, and think that it is come before its time, and it is high time to be off out of its way. In my boxes I was enabled to show actually being worked out, under our very eyes, many problems of nature ; which problems, 112 FISH HATCHING. when carried out on a large scale in the beds of rivers, are really most important as regards our British salmon fisheries. All my eggs (salmon, trout, salmon-trout, and charr) soon hatched out, and the glass rods upon which they were placed became idle. The whole batch of salmon-trout were gone by February 4, leaving a mass of empty egg-shells in the water ; and the young fish, which have fallen through on to the gravel underneath, were as ‘ healthy as possible. They are curious little fellows are these baby salmon-trout. I can see no difference when they are just hatched, between them and the common trout, except in their colour. The mass of young salmon- trout look like a number of drops of the yellow barley-sugar; the common trout, on the contrary, are much more pale in colour DIFFICULTIES OF YOUNG FISH. 113 and are like drops of white barley-sugar. This depends, I find, on the colour of the oil globule in the umbilical vesicle being different. Both kinds of trout are very much more quick and active than the young salmon ; when touched with the brush they jump up instantly, like a hare from its form; and having (also like the hare) run in a ring two or three times, drop down again to the bottom. The form of the umbilical bag of the common trout is much more round than that of the salmon, rendering it, therefore, more difficult for the fish to get rid of his egg- case ; the little creatures often get their bodies out of the egg, but not their umbilical vesicles, and this seems to annoy them much ; and J have every day to lend a hand to lots of these little fellows to enable them to make a decent I 114 FISH HATCHING. entrance into their watery world. One of these trout I thus assisted, it struck me, had a very peculiar appearance, something wrong about the head. I put him in a small bottle, and held him to the light. To my astonish- ment, I found he had pink eyes—yes, regular pink eyes, like a white rabbit ; and gentlemen who were with me confirmed my observation. In other respects he was like the other water babies, I was curious to see if he would turn out an albino, for who- ever yet heard of an albino fish? Unfortu- nately he soon died. But of all clumsy performers commend me to the baby charr. Most of the charr eggs persisted in half hatching, that is, the young fish protruded his head and great staring eyes out of the egg-shell, and there became YOUNG CHARR. 115 a fixture. Every morning I found a lot of these half hatched, gazing stupidly at each other, like a lot of village youths who have tumbled down at the winning-post of that exciting but not elegant race, called “jumping in sacks.” The fish are as help- less as the rustics ; they cannot get out, they are tied round the neck, and, unless the friendly camel-hair brush is at hand to assist, they die then and there ; as though they had just put their heads out, and, not feeling satisfied with their position in life, had re- solved to retire before they incurred further trials and temptations. I have hatched alto- gether, therefore, very few of these young charr ; but when they are hatched, they are very beautiful little things. The salmon from his birth is a great dandy, and a smart, 12 116 FISH HATCHING. knowing-looking fish ; the trout is also smart and very active, flying about the water like a transparent tadpole ; but poor little charr is a delicate one. His body is like a slip of white isinglass ; his umbilical vesicle is like a water-drop on a cabbage leaf. He tries his best to live, but he and his brethren more often fail than succeed in the attempt. If, however, they do‘manage to get through the first few days of their lives pretty well, they are, I think on the whole, afterwards more hardy than the salmon or the trout. There are numbers of them now alive and well in a ditch near Mr. Ponder’s hatching boxes at Hampton. Out of one lot of Rhine salmon which were a first-class lot of eggs, I hatched several, but lost more. The eggs were (if I may use the STEEPLE-CHASE SALMON. 117 expression) not strong eggs. The young fish inside attained proper size, and managed to burst his shell; but then he could not uncoil his tail, but gave up his chance, turning white, like a bit of boiled white of egg. Some of another lot of salmon were strong fish. I woke one of them up, the other day, who was apparently quietly reposing fast asleep on the gravel in the apparatus I had in my barrack room. He jumped up with a start, and went straight at the perforated zinc fence which divided him from the charr eggs ; he cleared it (the top is just below the level of the water) like a greyhound. He then charged the next fence, also of zinc (between the charr and the salmon-trout), miscalculated his distance, and ran his head right into one of the holes of the zinc, where it stuck fast 118 FISH HATCHING. till I made him “rein back,” touching his nose with the camel-hair brush. The cunning fish then, by swimming round and round, at last found that he could go round the end of the zinc (which did not touch the side of the vessel), so he simply “sneaked through the gap” and got well into his place again. The last jump he made was at the end of the upper basin—where the water is made to drop by means of a bit of cotton lamp-wick into the lower basin. Twice did this plucky little salmon go fiercely at (to him) this for- midable cataract ; twice he fell back again ; the third time, however, I helped him over with a lift in the rear with the brush, and he took a tremendous drop in among his cousin salmon, who were hatching out in the basin below ; there he now remains, and as he has WEIGHT OF YOUNG FISH. 119 chosen his own quarters I leave him there, hoping he finds himself better off than before starting on this cross-water steeple-chase. One of my many visitors to the tanks at “The Field” office was narrating to me how he once caught an enormous salmon in the Tay, weighing some thirty odd pounds ; this immediately put the idea into my head to weigh one of my salmon. He has, poor little wretch, a deal of way to make up before he arrives at thirty pounds, for at present (four days old) he hardly turns the scale at two grains. By the kindness of Mr. Ashworth, of Cheadle, near Manchester, I am enabled to show you a drawing of the young fish who weigh about two grains, and about two days old. He has also given the fol- ‘120 FISH HATCHING, lowing observations as regards the increase of weight in the young salmon :—“The fry, at three days old, is about two grains in weight ; at sixteen months old, it has increased to two ounces, or 480 times its first weight ; at twenty months old, after the smelt has been a few months in the sea, it has become a grilse of eight and a half pounds, it has increased sixty-eight times in three or four months ; at two years and eight months old it becomes a salmon of twelve to fifteen pounds in weight. After which, its increased rate of growth has not been ascertained ; but by the time it becomes thirty pounds in weight it has increased 115,200 times the weight it was at first. “JT do not suppose there is any other animal that increases so rapidly, and at so LOWER JAW DEVELOPED. 121 little cost, and that becomes such a valuable article of food.” . In various creatures the progress of de- velopment is different; thus, for instance, in the human baby, the first portion of the body developed is the lower jaw, and this for an obvious reason, because the most material want of the baby is to obtain the mother’s milk by suction. Now, if the lower jaw were not solid and firm, in vain would it try to suck. Now, in the case of the fish, nature has kindly packed up all the nourishment that it will want for some six or eight weeks in a neat little bag or parcel, which she has affixed to the body of the fish in such a manner that it shall be gradually absorbed into the general system ; the fish does not suck milk like a 122 FISH HATCHING. warm-blooded animal, so its lower jaw is not developed. What is then the most important organ to the young fish? He has numerous enemies, and it is his first object to get out of their way. The eyes, therefore, are the organs which first arrive at perfection ; and they are indeed perfection in this minute, jelly-like creature. | The eye ig in perfect working order at the moment of birth, though the rest of the body is far from perfection. The lens of the eye igs amply developed, as I proved by placing a dead fish in spirit of wine, and ob- serving that the lens turned white instantly it touches the spirit. Thus I was enabled to see, and accurately to judge of, its size and shape. The lining coats of the eye, more- over, are already at birth painted with that EYE OF YOUNG FISH. 123 beautiful silver-and-gold lining which the angler will see if he cuts open the eye of the next fish he kills, It is especially well seen in the eye of the cod. This eye, however well suited for the purposes of avoiding danger, is by no means tolerant of light, a fact which I observed and immediately acted upon, for one day I found to my horror that many of the young salmon (the first lot) in “ The Field” apparatus were beginning to die. I immediately lessened their depth of water, and put them in water about an inch and a half, and not four inches deep ; but still the little things persisted in dying. I could not at first make out the cause, till at last, having watched them most attentively, I observed that they one and all poked their noses under the stones, as if 124 FISH HATCHING. for concealment; many of them—stupid creatures—even getting their heads so far under these stones that they could not get them out again, and there they remained till next morning, when I found them literally drowned, and with their tails projecting up- wards, like the tails of dogs and cats we see drowned in shallow water by that most simple but effective apparatus, a stone and a cord. I concluded from the actions of these fish that light was unpleasant to them, and that they wanted hiding-places. I recollected, moreover, that one generally sees swarms of such small fish near bridges. I therefore got some bits of zinc and some stones, and built miniature bridges in the tanks. I touched up the salmon one by one, and three out of four of them swam away. under the bridges in “ HIDES” FOR FISH. 125 amoment. The next morning I found but few outlying salmon in the tank, and on lifting up the bridges was pleased to find that my plan had succeeded, and that they found out the bridges, and crept under them for shelter, and there they lay all together like a lot of rats under a barn floor. I remarked, more- over, another result: defore the fish went under the bridges, they were comparatively pale-looking things, with no colour in their bodies ; a few short hours had made all the difference, for three out of four of them had, after they had been out of the light, acquired the regular fish colour, and looked no longer pale and miserable. I found subsequently that my experiment had succeeded well; for plates of zinc I then substituted bits of common slate, such 126 FISH HATCHING. as are used for roofing houses. These, sup- ported by four stones, form capital “hides ” for my young fish, and it is most amusing to see them all run away frightened when I lift up the slate. Broken bits of flower-pots form good hides. Those who rear young fish should, there- fore, above all things, recollect the necessity for making “hides” for the fish. DEFORMITIES. Now it is not to be supposed, that out of so many thousand fish we shall not have some cripples; accordingly, among the fish which I have hatched, it is curious to observe these deformities, which, however, I must say, are the exception, and not the rule. Some of these fish have regular humped DEFORMITIES. 127 backs ; others have their bodies twisted round their umbilical vesicle, corkscrew-fashion : and when they see the spoon or the brush coming, or are otherwise alarmed, it is cu- rious to witness their attempts to make a start, They are ‘terrible bad goers, and remind one of the clumsy individuals de- scribed by the sailors as “a chap. with a kink in his leg.” Instead of going for- ward, they spin round and round, like a “ merry-go-round” in a horse-pond. If our crippled friends had been wild fish, they would soon have been snapped up by their kind friends their brother fish, or by some hungry water-beast or other. My friend Mr. Ponder, thinking, I suppose, that I must be a fish as well as a human doctor, kindly sent me up a bottle full of 128 FISH HATCHING. cripples from his apparatus at Hampton. I have already hatched out a most curious specimen myself, viz., a trout with two heads, and one tail which serves for the two heads, and one umbilical vesicle. This double fish is alive and well. Mr. Ponder has sent me not only a similar specimen of a trout (also alive), but also a salmon with one tail and two bodies (a most desirable breed of fish in the eyes of the fishmonger, if we could only manage to cultivate them). He also found among the young fish a charr with four eyes, —a trout with body twisted like a bell-spring, —a trout with a body as round as a ring, besides numerous other deformed patients, fit for the Orthopcedic Hospital, diagrams of some of which I now exhibit, drawn by Mr. W. Searson. “STAMESE TWIN” FISH. 129 Strange to say, the “ monster” fish do not always die. The “ Siamese (salmon) twins” are alive and well ; they have but one tail between them, and one umbilical bag—and I should imagine but one sentiment common to both, for when one runs, the other runs also, but which of them has the actual com- mand of the tail I am unable to ascertain. It will be curious to see if these fish will ever dissolve partnership. I do not see how they are todo it. Ifthey, however, do make some mutual arrangement, they will, when grown up, be a curious couple indeed ; and would, as White (the curator of the tanks) remarks, be “ rum ‘uns to catch.” * “ This double fish is still alive, and I was luckily enabled, by the kindness of Professor Tyndall, to exhibit it (or them) under the electric lamp, when they showed themselves ex- ceedingly vigorous, kicking about famously, to the great amusement of the spectators. K 130 FISH HATCHING. The physiological cause of these double fish, I am at a loss to explain. Both Mr. Ponder and myself, however, are of opinion (until a better reason can be found) that the cause of the hump-backed and otherwise deformed fish, is pressure received during their transport in the egg state from Hu- ningue, the soft embryo having been in somewhat bent or damaged. by the adjacent moss or eggs. This seems probable, as out of the 27,000 trout eggs which were taken by Mr. Ponder, and carefully carried in water home by hand, and deposited in the boxes a few hours after they were taken, there are no cripples and zo double-bodied fish, but,. instead, they are all healthy, straight- backed, active little creatures. MICROSCOPIC APPEARANCES. 131 MICROSCOPIC APPEARANCES OF YOUNG FISH. Let us now see if we cannot learn more about the young fish? Get out the micro- scope, and place a young, new-born salmon under a low power, and you shall see one of the most beautiful sights ever beheld by human eye. You shall see the tiny heart, which is situate just underneath the lower jaw, going pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat ; you shall see the blood at one instant in one cavity of the heart (where it appears like a red speck) ; at the next instant it is in the other side of the heart; and so it goes on, day and night, never ceasing, never tired—a great forcing- pump, propelling the blood to all parts of the body, and gradually building up the frame of a future king of fishes. I counted. the pulse K 2 132 FISH HATCHING. of the salmon when it was under the glass, and ascertained that it averaged about seventy in a minute. My friend, Mr. Hall, of Farningham, has made observations on the pulse of one of his young trout. He reports that, on April 6th, when the fish was just hatched out of the ovum, the pulse was eighty per minute. On the 13th it was ninety-five, and on the 17th, one hundred-and- twelve per minute. Just below the heart can be seen on the umbilical vesicle (when the fish is in the water) a bright red streak ; examine this under the microscope, and you will see that this red streak is in fact a main artery ; with a high power, you can see plainly the minute blood-discs coursing along between the walls of this elastic tube. The minor red streaks upon. the umbilical vesicle BLOOD-VESSELS. 133 can in the same way be made out also to be blood-vessels, containing blood-discs running along at a great pace. Again, down the centre of the transparent body of the fish can be seen, with the unassisted eye, two tiny streaks ; the microscope shows that these also are blood-vessels, and that the blood in the one is running towards the head, in the other towards the tail. A more complete and beautiful demonstration of the circula- tion of the blood never was yet placed under a microscope. The blood in the web foot of a frog is pretty enough ; but it is as a school- boy’s daub compared to a painting by Sir Edwin Landseer.* * At this point of the lecture the figures of four or five young fish were exhibited by Professor Tyndall, by means of the electric light. The little creatures were magnified to about two feet long, and kicked about famously on the whitened 134 FISH HATCHING, I have already stated that the young fish are nourished by the gradual absorption of the contents of their umbilical vesicle, but there is, I believe, a phenomenon about ‘this which has not hitherto been observed, or, if observed, not carefully examined. I have noticed, and so has Mr. Ponder, that in many of the young fish the umbilical vesicle has two coats or coverings, so that as the con- tents of the internal coat are absorbed, the external coat is seen, (especially at the lower : extremity,) hanging loose and empty, so that one sees plainly a bag suspended within a bag. Again, in the young fish we may clearly perceive the remarkable action of the two surface on to which the figures were thrown, to the delight of those present, and the great discomfort of the fish themselves. PECTORAL FINS. 135 little pectoral fins; these are moving inces- santly day and night, and carefully as I have watched, I have never yet seen them stop for an instant. A curious result followed from this to the little fish which I hatched in my barrack-room ; the perpetual motion of the fins collected the bits of dust that were floating in the water, and felted them into a regular collar round the fish’s throat. Every morning I caught in a spoon the fish which wore this Elizabethan frill—a touch of the camel-hair brush, and they slipped away out of their collar as merry as ever again. There are, however, certain points in the economy of the young fish which required | interpretation by means of the microscope, viz.: first, the gradual absorption of the 136 FISH HATCHING. contents of the umbilical vesicle into the body of the fish, the one decreasing as the other increases—as well as the curious phe- nomenon of this vesicle having a double covering ; secondly, the perpetual motion of ‘the pectoral fins. I therefore requested my friend, Mr. Henry Hancock, F.Z8., F.C.S., &c., to undertake a microscopic examina- tion of them, and this gentleman has kindly sent me for publication the following inte- resting and able paper on the subject, in which several new and important facts are elucidated, SOME REMARKS RELATIVE TO YOUNG SALMON. By Henry J. B. Hancocr, F.Z.8., F.C.S8. In January of this present year, it was suggested to the author that he should inves- MR. HANCOCK’S REPORT. 137 tigate two points to which, as yet, but little attention has been given, viz.:—1. The motion of the pectoral fin in the fish, whether voluntary or involuntary? 2. The process of nutrition in the young fish, how carried on 2 In regard to the first point, viz, the motion of the pectoral fin, it has not, I believe, yet been inquired into, whether this motion, which is incessantly carried on day and night during the life of the fish, be voluntary or not It has often been con- jectured, and with great appearance of truth, to be involuntary ; the object of this per- petual motion—viz., to keep a constantly changing stream of water before the mouth and gills of the fish, and to remove that portion which has been deprived of the air 138 FISH HATCHING. contained in it, by the action of the gills of the fish—is intimately connected with the involuntary principle by which all organs engaged in the carrying on of life are actuated. Having obtained from Mr. Buckland (2nd Life Guards), and from Mr. Bartlett, of the Zoological Society’s Menagerie, some young salmon and trout, I proceeded to the inves- tigation by, in the first place, submitting a living fish to the microscope, employing for the purpose a 2-inch object glass. Under this power the muscle could be seen distinctly contracting and expanding as it opened the mouth of the fish and moved the pectoral fin. Having thus as- certained the exact position of the muscle, -I proceeded to take a dead fish. and dis« MUSCLE OF FIN. 139 sect it carefully out. Having. done so, I submitted it to the microscope, using this time a j‘)-inch object glass. Under this power the ‘structure of the muscle is plainly visible, and the regular transversely-striated appearance leaves no doubt whatever of its voluntary character. (Object No. 1.)* Not content with this, I proceeded to dissect out one of the pectoral fins of another fish, with a portion of the muscle adhering thereto. In this case also there was no doubt whatever of the voluntary nature of the structure of the muscle. I have also examined the pectoral fin and muscle of the smelt, and find the same striated appearance, and consequently the same voluntary ‘principle. * These objects, mounted on glass, have been presented to me by Mr. Hancock. T40 FISH HATCHING. (Object No. 4.) In the sole, also, I remark the same structure. (Object No. 5.) Although it may be said that the striated structure of the muscle is no absolute proof of its voluntary nature, I think that, as there is -but one instance of involuntary muscle being transversely striated (I allude to the muscles of the heart), we may fairly conclude that the action of the pectoral fin is purely volun- tary. On the other hand, on examining a part of the gill of the young salmon, in which the terminal loopings of the muscle moving it were beautifully shown, I found these muscles (though their fibres were not more than one-third the diameter of those of the pectoral) purely of an involuntary character. Now, to turn to the second and still more NUTRIMENT, HOW CONVEYED. 141 interesting point in our inquiries, viz., the nutrition of the young fish, how carried on ? That is to say, how does the nutriment contained in the umbilical vesicle become absorbed into the body of the fish? This question, interesting as it is, has never before, I believe, been satisfactorily answered. Mr. Buckland showed me a large drawing of a young salmon magnified sixty-six diameters, in which a duct is represented leading out of the umbilical vesicle just above the large oil globule, and tending backwards and upwards into the body of the fish, where it bifurcates and is lost a little above the main artery ; asking me to inquire into the matter and find out whether the duct was a fact or not; and if it were truly so, then where it led from and to. To this point I have, then, devoted 142 FISH HATCHING. myself for some time past, and by the in- valuable aid of the microscope have, I think, succeeded in unravelling the mystery. After a most careful examination of the living and the dead fish I came to the conclusion that the duct was not there. I found, however, a mark which, cursorily examined, might lead a person to suppose that some duct existed, but across which the circulation was proceed- ing vigorously ; but of the supposed bifurcated termination of the duct there was no sign whatever. Having discovered what was not, it remained for me to discover what was: I have now to report the result of my inves- tigation. The umbilical vesicle consists of a double sac containing fatty matter. The inner of the two sacs is covered with a network of ANATOMY OF UMBILICAL BAG. 143 veins through which the portal circulation of the fish is carried on; it also contracts as it becomes gradually emptied of its contents. The outer sac, on the contrary, does not con- tract, and has no circulation over it; in fact, its only purpose seems to be to protect the very delicate inner sac. It appears to be quite insensitive, as the fish is not incommoded by its being cut, whereas he shows discomfort if the inner sac is but touched. The sac con- tains, besides the fatty matter, three or four loose globules of pure oil. The liver is situ- ated on the right side of the fish, just on the boundary between the body and the um- bilical vesicle, rather projecting into the vesicle (as in the human subject the liver of the infant projects beyond the false ribs), as shown in drawing No. 2. On examining the 144 FISH HATCHING. circulation under a high power I was assured of there being matter other than blood cor- puscles circulating in the veins, and, on further examination, came to the conclusion that there were globules of fat mixed with the blood. On examining into the course of the circulation I find that the blood is conveyed from the heart (which is visible just under the gills of the fish) into the liver by a branch of the large trunk artery, which, after giving out branches to the intermediate spaces be- tween the ribs, to the kidneys, &c., is finally lost in the ring of muscular fibre in the tail ; that from the liver, part proceeds by the large vein, shown in drawing No. 2, straight to the heart ; the remainder, after ramifying over the umbilical vesicle of the fish, is finally collected in the large vein (inferior vena NO DUCT EXISTS. 145 cava?) bordering the front part of the vesicle, as shown in No. 1, and returned to the heart, taking with it a portion of the contents of the vesicle received by absorption, which, being transmitted to the liver, is there assimi- lated and again conveyed to the heart by the large vein, shown in drawing No. 2, for circu- lation in the body of the fish. This I consider the right view to take of the mode of nutrition in the young salmon, the idea of the duct being as preposterous as it is incorrect. If, however, I am wrong, I shall still rejoice to have opened a door to discussion on a subject which has hitherto occupied so little consideration amongst men of science. What eventually becomes of the outer sac of the vesicle I am not in a position to state, L 146 FISH HATCHING. not having yet been enabled to examine the fish in a sufficiently forward condition. On a future occasion I hope to be enabled to account for this, as also to state what position the veins of the umbilical vesicle take in the more mature fish.—J. B. Hancock. 37, Harley Street, Cavendish Square. Upon this interesting and important paper the editor of “The Field” remarks :— The explosion of the fallacy of the mythic duct leading to nowhere, and which formed so striking and peculiar a feature in the previous representations of the embryo on an enlarged scale, is a most valuable fact, as clearing up the difficult points in the circulation of the embryo, the eliciting of which forms a step in our knowledge of these interesting little strangers, for which science should be most grateful to our astute and persevering correspondent, whom we beg to thank for the care and skill he has bestowed on this interesting investigation. GILL FEVER. 147 TREATMENT OF YOUNG FISH. All the young fish having hatched out, my advice is certainly to leave them in the boxes till the umbilical vesicle is absorbed. They do not want any food, as I have before explained, for they are supported by the contents of the umbilical vesicle, and at this time above all others require protection. You may at this time increase your flow of water, as I have discovered, from painful experience, that water which is sufficient for a given number of eggs is not sufficient for the same number of young fish when they come out of the eggs. It is at this time that you will probably lose many young fish from what is called “gill fever.” A nasty tenacious white fungus attaches itself to the L2 148 FISH HATCHING. gills, and in a short time completely obstructs the action. This seems tome to be a regular epidemic among fish, and may be said to be analogous to measles and scarlatina among the young of our own species. You will also observe a fungus growing on the backs of the weakly fish. I know no remedy for these diseases, except separating the fish, that they shall not be overcrowded, causing the stream of water to be increased, and attending to the hides and general cleanliness. By looking to these points you will save many fish, both in your outdoor and indoor boxes. The time will soon arrive when the fish will require feeding. When the umbilical bag is empty they will begin to feed by the mouth, and at this time if you do not feed them, they ‘will peck at each other’s tails, HOW TO FEED YOUNG. FISH. 149 (or, as White says, “ will fly at each other like a parcel of little bull-dogs,”) and be long, lanky in the body, with great bull-dog like heads. The French authorities recommend at this time that they should be fed with the boiled flesh of frogs powdered into mi- nute bits. The Stormontfield authorities use boiled liver, powdering it in their hands, and throwing it in. You must, however, take care that it does not accumulate at the bottom of the water, and thus imbue it with putrescent matter. I should recommend that the fish always be fed ata given spot, and that a bit of cloth, or even a tin tray, or other material should be placed at the bot- tom of the water, at the spot where they are fed, so that you can occasionally lift it out, and with it all the bits of food not devoured 150 FISH HATCHING. by the fish. There is another way of feeding the fish which is very neat and commodious. Get from the fishmongers the fresh roe of the sole, plaice, whiting, or other small sea- fish, it must not be salted, and must not be the least decayed. Mix it up with a stick in clean water, and put a little of the water among the fish. You will see that the un- divided eggs comprising this roe separate themselves, and are just the right size for the fishes’ mouths. They will, if hungry, snap them up greedily. But do not put in too great a quantity ata time. The fish too, be it remarked, feed best at early morning. Again, you may try if they will eat minute water insects, red worms, &c. ; they certainly like minute flies, for “Peter of the Pools” writes as follows :— MIDGES FOR FISH. 151 “ After the bag was absorbed they became very handsome little fish, but we were quite puzzled how to feed them, as we could not devise any food small enough for them to swallow. We tried them with trout roe and several other substances, but we found all too large for them, and they must have lived on some small animalculz which kept them alive ; but, although the little fish were brisk, they grew very slowly indeed after the bag was absorbed. They were supplied every day with fresh water from the Tay, running through atap. They were hatched in the beginning of April, and in June some of them were getting larger. I had then the skin of an enormous eel, about seven or eight feet long, which had been sent me (with a grilse that it had swallowed) from Mr. Buist’s fishings 152 FISH HATCHING. in the Isle of Skye.. This was in the year 1831; When. the weather got very warm, the skin of the ‘eel, from which an oily sub- stance oozed out, was found covered every: morning with small midges, as thick as fur on alady’s boa. This was shaken over the tub, when the little fish sprang up and swallowed them greedily. Numbers of the fish were found dead, with small black swel- lings like balls in their stomachs, which when they were opened, and the balls spread out under a microscope, were found to be the dead flies packed closely together. The fish were therefore more sparingly fed with them, and, so far as food went, scemed to be healthy.” Acting on this hint, I obtained through the kindness of Mr. Hall of Farningham, a bottle YOUNG FISH RISE AT THE FLY. 153 full of minute gnats which he caught in his hall window, and placing them by means of a moistened brush on the top of the tanks in “The Field” office window, was pleased to see the young salmon and trout rise freely at them as they floated down the stream, making a twist and boil of the water exactly like their fathers and mothers in their native mountain torrents: this is a most interesting and amusing sight, inasmuch as the spectator sees in miniature exactly what happens on a grand scale when he is angling for the full- grown fish in their native wild and rapid streams. The young fish is seen in mid- water, gently holding his own by movements of the tail ; the fly comes over him, his tail begins to “ wag,” and in an instant he darts like an arrow from a bow, upwards in an 154 FISH HATCHING. oblique direction, and takes the fly so instan- taneously that the eye cannot observe the action; then comes that peculiar twist and twirl in the water so well known to all fisher- men, and which is made by the tail giving force to the descent of the fish back again into the deep. Again, in the tanks before us we see going on exactly what Mr. Francis has described in “ The Field” as happening on a large scale in the Thames.* The trout and * “T can always tell where fish are to be found, if there are any, because there are certain places—big stones, precipitous banks, &c.—which are favourable resting places; and where such places are, there is certain to be a fish. Catch one, and in due time another will certainly fill his place ; and the most singular part of the thing is, that they will always be fish of near about the same size. The pile I allude to is such « place, and the fish that hang about it are always about five or six pounds weight ; it is known as ‘the white pile,—a pile at the end of the small eyot at Sunbury ; lower down, towards the cherry orchard, there is always a fish of some eight pounds; at the orchard there is always a heavy fish ; off the water-works there is always a fish of seven or eight pounds. At Hampton Court weir, when I fished it formerly, there was a corner where, if THE MASTER OF THE TANK. 155 salmon each chooses his own quarters—be- hind a stone, just at the edge of the slate, under a certain bit of weed, &c., and on his domain he allows no other fish to trespass, on any pretence whatever. There is one salmon in particular, who has chosen the spot where the water falls into the tank, and he is always there, close under the fall. White reports of him that he does not allow any other ever you caught or saw a fish, he was always a whopper—the biggest in the weir. I have known more than « dozen fish taken from that corner during several years, and not one of them weighed less than nine or ten pounds. This is a very extraordinary fact, nevertheless it is a fact; and those old observant fishermen on the Thames who really know ‘ what is what,’ will bear out what I say in this respect, I am sure. The same thing occurs with salmon. There are certain casts for big fellows which no little one presumes to trespass upon, and certain casts for smaller potentates. In smaller trout- streams the same law holds good to the very letter, as every fly-fisher of any experience will verify. Now, it is to increase the number of these ‘likely places’ by dropping in big stones, lumps of old brick-work, &c., that I am advocating. ‘(FRANOIS FRANCIS.” 156 FISH HATCHING. fish near him, and flies at and bites them when he sees them coming; he does not even spare the young grayling that escape from the tank above. These he will “carry about. in his mouth like a cat does a mouse.” The young salmon and trout certainly eat the young grayling when they can catch them, for they are very active ; they also eat young perch. I have placed perch spawn in their tanks, .and as the perch, which are exceedingly minute, hatch out, they are caught up and devoured in an instant. TURNING OUT FISH. A great question now arises as to turning out the fish into the streams, ze. at what TURNING OUT FISH. 157 period they should be let loose into the waters, which the rearer of them wishes to stock. Upon this point authorities differ. Mr. Ashworth, in a letter to myself, ex- presses himself as being of the opinion that if they are turned out at once (z.e., when they begin to feed), they will, from various causes, be lost to the river. Both he and the Stormontfield authorities always keep their young fry in ponds, and feed them till they put “ on their jackets ;” z.¢., assume the smolt coat, and go of their own accord to the sea. It must be recollected that the conditions of the waters of the regular salmon rivers are very different to those of the Thames. But, however, depend upon it Messrs. Ashworth and Buist are right in their opinions, practi- cal men as they are, as regards the salmon. 158 FISH HATCHING. Mr. Ponder and Mr. Francis Francis are, I know, in favour of turning the fish out into the Thames at once—i.e., when they begin to feed —and this because, if the fish is turned down in a state of babyhood, he has to “ graduate through all his difficulties,” and learns to shift for himself; whereas, if kept as a semi-tame fish for several months, when turned down he goes gaping out till Master Jack comes and gobbles him up, and “is dead” (as_ the Yankees say) “before he knew what had hurt him.” Anyhow, I have a curious fact to mention. When Mr. Ponder was repairing the boxes towards the end of last year, get- ting ready for this year’s ova, he found three or four young fish (hatched out last season) which had been residing wnder the boxes since they were hatched. These fish are now SHALLOWS BEST FOR FISH. 159 a good four inches long, and good healthy- looking fellows. We know not for certain how the fish in the Thames are getting on, but the river-keeper (Melborne) has told Mr. Ponder that he has seen several young trout in the shallows. If this be the fact, rejoice, ye Thames anglers, and encourage pisciculture ! Some few weeks ago Mr. Ponder invited me to assist him in turning out a large batch of young salmon and trout. We let them loose into quiet, lone, undisturbed shal- lows,* too shallow for perch and jack (which, by the way, were spawning, and therefore * The fish are all turned into those parts of the Thames which are under the management of ‘‘The Thames Angling Preservation Society,” and which, therefore, are never netted. See the laws of the Society ; and if you are an angler, help their praiseworthy efforts to afford good angling sport to all. 160 FISH HATCHING. weakly when we turned in our young fish) Each fish immediately sought out a resting or a hiding place, behind a stone or bit of weed—for be it remarked as a curious fact, that young trout are not gregartous— and there he took up his position as happy as a fish could be. As regards what became afterwards of these very fish, Mr. Ponder writes me thus:—“ Among the advantages of early turning into the river must be reckoned that of rapid growth. Some of those which you and I turned in were, after only nine days, found to be three or four times larger than those of same age left behind in the troughs.” Andrew, the keeper, has also seen several of these young trout on the shallows at a different place. “One of these,” he says, SALMON IN A DITCH. 161 “would weigh down four of the fish now in the boxes.” We have, however, a ditch at Hampton, about two feet deep, which con- ducts the water from the hatching boxes into the river. About ten yards of this is shut in by perforated zinc, and several of the fish have dropt down into the nursery from the boxes above. They seem to be doing very well, and are useful for observation’s sake ; but of course they require feeding, in addition to what minute food they get in the ditch. My advice, therefore, to. experimenters, as regards the Thames and other southern waters, is to turn out with a gentle hand the young fish on to quiet and undisturbed shal- lows in the main river ; or else into an ever- flowing (not stagnant), broad, weed-contain- ing pond or ditch, whence the young fry can M 162 FISH HATCHING. escape into the stream when they please. It is also advisable to keep some of them in a ditch, containing from one to three feet deep of flowing (not rapid) water, for the sake of comparing them with the fish that have been turned out into the open. A water-cress bed is a capital place. Recollect always they are not to be turned down till the umbilical bag is absorbed, and they require food. As regards the turning out question, when it refers to salmon, and salmon only, I have no positive experience myself, and must there- fore beg to refer my readers to an admirable little book on salmon breeding by Wr. William Brown, of Perth; also the Messrs. Ash- worth’s treatise,* which is full of the re- * A Treatise on the Propagation of Salmon and other Fish. By Edward and Thomas Ashworth, London. Simpkin and Marshall. 1853. Price (I think) 1s. DIFFERENCE OF GROWTH IN FISH. 168 sults of practical experience, and which gives illustrations of many matters which will be useful to the experimenter.* The columns of “The Field” also abound with correspon- dence on this matter, and they are always open to information and discussion on this and other matters relating to fish breeding and angling. Whether the young fish be retained in the boxes, turned into a ditch, or kept in ponds, it will always be remarked that some indivi- duals grow more rapidly and attain a greater size than others. Asa remarkable example of this fact, I give an instance.+ * Natural History of the Salmon, as ascertained by the recent experiments on the artificial spawning and hatching of the ova, and rearing of the fry, at Stormontfield, on the Tay. Thos, Murray and Son, Glasgow; Paton and Ritchie, Edin- burgh ; Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co., London. Price 2s. 6d. + See “The Field,” April 25, 1863. M 2° 164 FISH HATCHING. “ Sir,—As another instance in the strange anomaly in the growth of salmon, I send you three specimens taken from the Stormontfield pond on April 1. As the label on the bottle tells, they were spawned from salmon roe about the end of December, 1861; they: came to life and were hatched in April, 1862 ; they have been fed in the same pond, and you will observe what an amazing difference there is in the size and growth, the largest being 64 inches, and weighing 646 grains ; the second 3% inches, weighing 135 grains ; and the third 24 inches, weighing 26 grains. “ You will observe that No. 3 is a tiny little creature with the parr marks on it; No. 2 has the incipient scales on it ; and No. 1 with these scales far advanced. I have no doubt that at least No. 1, had he been left in the “CTHIAINOWYOLS WOUT TNV ANVS AHL JO Saavd TUAL Se. Vaiiine 166 FISH HATCHING. ponds, would, with others of like size, or even smaller, have gone to the sea this year, and returned as a grilse. No. 2 is doubtful, and may perhaps have remained till another season ; while No. 3, would we allow him, would keep his habitation in the pond. How- ever, as I formerly mentioned, as we have only one feeding-pond, we must turn them all out as we had such a small crop last year, to make room for their younger brethren, far more numerous, that are getting into exist- ence. I trust by this time next year we shall have a second pond, by which we will be able to breed every year; as at present, owing to about one half going off the first year, we cannot leave the other half in the pond, as they would destroy the brood of the second spawning season. CAUSE OF THE PHENOMENON. 167 “You will be so good as to show these to Mr. Buckland, as I would be glad to have such an eminent naturalist’s opinion on this strange anomaly. “ PETER OF THE POOLS.” To this—thanking “ Peter of the Pools” for the compliment—I replied as follows :— “Tam exceedingly obliged to‘ Peter of the Pools’ for allowing me the opportunity of examining these most interesting fish, of which, by the kindness of the Editor, outline figures are given, in order that the very marked difference in size between them can be seen by those who have not the opportunity of examining the specimens themselves. The drawings are given of an accurately-measured. life-size. Now for the cause of the pheno- menon. On Tuesday evening last, I submitted 168 FISH HATCHING. the specimens and letter from ‘Peter of the Pools’ to the scientific meeting of the Zoolo- gical Society. J. Gould, Esq. F.R.S., and Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, were much pleased with the facts narrated, and, after a considerable discussion, gave it as their opinion that, provided always the evi- dence of their being of the same age is well proved, this was simply a case of cause and effect—the bigger fish being the stronger and most healthy of the lot. I myself quite agree with this: a number of fish are turned out simultaneously into a pond; some are weak, some are strong; the stronger, of course, gain the mastery over their brethren, and gain all the advantages of the pond, whatever those advantages may happen to be; the consequence is, that, in proportion to their DIFFERENCE IN FOOD. 169 advantages they become larger than those which have them not. The same thing hap- pens in, so to say, human ponds; for in large cities we find that the babies and young children who are well fed and live in good air are much stronger and healthier—ah, and for the most part larger too, than those born and bred in crowded courts and back passages, and who feed on red herrings and tea rather than on butchers’ meat and beer. Take a given number of children from a given large city, say a hundred of the same age, and put them side by side. I doubt not that we should be able to pick out three specimens from among them whose full-length photo- graphs, if grouped together, shall show as much difference as do the drawings of the three fish now before the reader. A naturally 170 FISH HATCHING. stronger constitution, a better supply of food, and other minor advantages, will make all the difference both in the size of human beings and also in the size of fish ; and this law will apply to nearly all races of animals. If, again, we find, what is not uncommon among ourselves, viz., a specimen of ‘a little old man,’ why should not we also find ‘a little old fish ?’” “ After the meeting of the Zoological So- ciety, I next morning carefully dissected the fish in the bright sunlight and under clear pure water, for I like always to look into the insides as well as the outsides of specimens ; not only for information’s sake, but because it adds additional value to their history. “JT was rewarded for my pains, for I dis- covered a great difference in the contents of SHELLS V. INSECTS, 171 the stomach of these three fish. No. 1 con-. tained a great quantity of small water-shells, and nothing else whatever. No. 2 contained not a single shell, but a quantity of insects, principally winged black ants, midges, and those peculiar black flies who seemed to de- light in committing suicide in the eyes of human beings. The stomach of No. 3 con- tained nothing, or positively next to nothing ; anyhow I could not make out what it was. A lawyer arguing the case might take this difference in food as evidence of the cause of the difference of the growth of these fish. Anyhow, dissection proves the fact, that the food is different as regards fish Nos. 1 and 2; and this, combined with the arguments above stated, will, I think, enable us to agree that the cause of the phenomenon sent by ‘ Peter 172 FISH HATCHING. of the Pools’ is simply difference of natural vigour, and also of food, in these three dif- ferent-sized young salmon. “Thave taken the specimens, which I have put up again in the bottle, to ‘The Field’ office, that those interested in the subject may examine for themselves both the external as well as the internal appearances. “FRANK BUCKLAND.” TRANSPORT OF EGGS. 173 TRANSPORT OF OVA AND FISH. Now, we must not be selfish in our fish- hatching experiments, particularly if we obtain a good hatch of fish, We must think of our friends and neighbours who have waters, and require fish to stock them. The question | now arises, How are we to send them fish, so that they shall get to their destination alive and in good health ? First, recollect eggs are easier to transport than the young fish, and if properly managed may be sent very long distances. The question of the transport of eggs has been a grave matter with the authorities at Huningue, whose business is to distribute eggs. I have myself (as also have many other gentlemen) received liberal consign- 174 FISH HATCHING. ments of eggs of various fish from Huningue, and they have arrived in perfect safety. The newly-taken eggs are placed in their hatching-boxes at Huningue, and there al- ‘lowed to develop themselves till the eyes of the fish are plainly ‘seen in the egg (see Frontispiece). Then, and not till then, can you move the eggs. If you attempt to do so before the eye is seen they will most assuredly die. Wait, therefore, till you see the eyes developed in the eggs you wish to send away. The following is the best mode of proceed- ing :—Procure some wide-mouthed bottles, three or four inches high—common pickle- bottles or tumblers will do very well ;—place at the bottom of the bottle or tumbler a layer of fresh moss (this must have been TRANSPORT OF EGGS. 175 well washed previously), then dip it in clean cold water, and squeeze the superfluous water out, so that the moss shall be wet, but not dripping. Portions of rough sponge, the size of a wallnut, well cleaned, are as good packing as moss, and are cleaner (these must also, of course, be damped). Upon the layer of moss deposit a layer of your “ eye-showing” eggs, and arrange them so that they shall not touch one another. Place another layer of moss, another layer of eggs, and so on till the bottle is full; but there must be no pressure anywhere. Pour out any water that has collected at the bottom of the bottle, cover the top with a bit of common paper, and stab some holes in it with a penknife. Your bottles being all filled, get a stout but light box—arrange your bottles in it in the 176 FISH HATCHING. most convenient position, and stuff them down quite tight with moss that is dripping wet with water, put the cover on the box and fasten it securely. Then place this box in- side another box, leaving about two or three inches of interspace. Fill this up quite tight with wet moss, and send them off by the quickest route of transport to your friend. If possible, give them in charge to a friend, or the guard of the train, and avoid exposing them to heat or to cold. This is the mode used at Huningue with so much success. The boxes from Huningue to London usually occupy from two to four days in their travels, if the railway officials attend to the urgent directions on the box, which they do not always do. A letter appeared in “The Times” by Mr. Francis on this point, I TO UNPACK THE EGGS. 177 have re-packed a box, or rather boxes, which those who call at “ The Field” office can see and examine. Tell your friend directly he receives the eggs to pick the moss out carefully with a pair of forceps, and to place the eggs imme- diately into the apparatus, which should be all ready to receive them. If it be possible, I advise that the eggs, still packed in the bottles, should be “placed upright” in the boxes for a couple of hours, the water not by any means allowed to get into them. The eggs will thus gradually assume the tempera- ture of the water in which it is hoped they will hatch out. A sudden change from the hot box to the cold water is not good for the eggs. All the moss must be cleaned off the eggs when placed in the boxes; they N 178 FISH HATCHING. may indeed be first turned into a basin, and then gently removed with a common spoon into the boxes, and placed either on the glass rods or on the gravel. Of course, you will often have to go long distances to obtain the eggs in the first instance from the parent fish, When you have got them at the river side, treat them with the most tender hand, and never let them be exposed for an instant to the air ; carry them home in pure cold water, either in large uncut decanters or in a common fish- kettle. Carry them in your hand, to avoid shaking, and change the water by dipping it out with a cup (so that the eggs shall not dance about) about every three or four hours. If they have to remain all night at a place, open the cover of the fish kettle, and place TO CARRY YOUNG FISH. 179 them in a tub of cold, fresh spring or pump water which does not contain iron or other injurious chemical solution. The young fish can also be carried long distances, and this in almost any kind of vessel. It is not necessary to keep these vessels steady; moderate splashing of the water helps to oxygenate it. Change the water as often as you can, say every two or three hours; and if you see the fish getting sickly, blow air into the water by means of a common pair of kitchen bellows, or by means of an ordinary shilling pewter squirt; or use the admirable, simple, and inexpensive aérating apparatus sold by Mr. Wright, fishing-tackle maker, of 376, Strand, which the transporters of live-bait for jack- fishing have found so useful. N2 180 FISH HATCHING. I have sent away from my boxes at “ The Field” office several parcels of young fish (both before and after the umbilical bag has disappeared from them) to gentlemen who have fisheries. Thus, a noble Duke took with him to Scotland about a hundred grayling and some charr (from Mr. Ponder’s). Many of the grayling died from simple and un- avoidable causes, and my own negleet in not giving written mmstructions to servants. The charr arrived in safety. My friend Viscount Powerscourt took with him some great lake trout, to stock a newly-formed pond at his estate at Powerscourt, Enniskerry, Ireland. My friend Captain Berkeley, 2nd Life Guards, also took several great lake trout, salmon, charr, &c., into Oxfordshire ; besides, Messrs. Hall, of Farningham ; King, of Wat- YOUNG SALMON FROM SWEDEN. 181 ford ; and several others. The mode of trans- port adopted was common pickle bottles, or ‘small bait cans, three parts full of water, carried by the person who wishes to transport them. The water was frequently half poured out and fresh added, and air blown into it, on the journey. Young fish thus transported do very well, if properly ‘cared for. ‘On arrival, place them, bottles and ail, into the running stream, that the change of ‘tempera- ture be not too great. Of course, with the aint chances of war, some of the young fish will die. To show what a great distance young fish will travel, I must mention that I received a few weeks since some young salmon all the way from Gothenburg, in Sweden. Through the kindness of a correspondent 182 FISH HATCHING. of “The Field,’ “Gothenburger,” we read thus :— LIVE SALMON FROM GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN. S1r,—Two days ago I visited my salmon- breeding ponds, and found the ova in an advanced condition. I brought home a few dozens and placed them in a jar, with the intention of forwarding them to you duly packed in moss. "This morning I have found the greatest part already hatched, and, think- ing it might prove of interest to you to see how the experiment turns out, I send you the fry and the ova, to the number of twenty- seven, inclosed in a jar containing water and river weeds. The jar leaves per steamer for Hull this evening, and will be forwarded by rail, so as to reach you on Monday evening FISH BREEDING IN SWEDEN. 183 or Tuesday morning. The captain has orders to put a small lump of ice into the jar by mid-day, and to change the water every morning. The success of my breeding operations this season has been very extraordinary; two days ago I took out 300 ova with a ladle, among which I could only pick out two addled, showing a return of 992 per cent. I will add that the salmon in my river are acknowledged to be the best in Sweden for strength, colour, and flavour. GoTHENBURGER. Gothenburg, April 10. [The readers of “The Field” will, I am sure, join me in thanking “ Gothenburger” for his kindness in sending us living speci- mens of his Swedish salmon, They arrived 184 FISH HATCHING. perfectly sound and well late on Monday evening, the 13th. There were twenty-six live fish, and one egy on the point of hatch- ing out. I have caused a careful drawing of this to be made by an experienced artist, as the characteristics of the salmon egg, with the young fish inside, are so distinctly seen in its clear and beautiful amber-coloured structure. The vessel they came in is simply a gigantic water-bottle ; and much credit is due to the captain of the Hull steamer and the railway officials who took such care of it during its voyage from Gothenburgh. They are healthy little fellows, somewhat larger and finer than the Scotch or Irish salmon.— Frank Buckuanp. |* * J regret to say these salmon, though very healthy at first, died away one by one. The heat of the mid-day sun upon the boxes was fatal to them ; but they would have lived if I had had better and cooler water to place them in, SALMON TO AUSTRALIA. 185. As the reader probably is aware, great efforts have been made to transport salmon to Australia, and the Australian Government has voted large sums of money for this pur- pose. I believe the key to success has been discovered at last: it is “freezing the ova.” By the kindness of Mr. Youl, who has the management of the experiments, I have been able to assist in these experiments, which are so important and promise so great results, that I have given them in detail and in con- secutive form in the Appendix, for the benefit of future observers. This is the question of the day in the transport of useful fish for long distances. 186 FISH HATCHING. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE, AND WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE, Thus far, then, I have endeavoured to show how the eggs may be taken under human care—how they may be protected from their various enemies—how they may be hatched out, and how the young fish should be reared. It remains now for me to show some results of all this, that it may not be imagined that this is a mere toy, a mere scientific plaything, but a Science as yet in its infancy, and from which the greatest re- sults may be expected. We must, of course, give preference to the magnificent establishment at Huningue, near Basle, a noble example of what has been already done, by perseverance and THE ESTABLISHMENT AT HUNINGUE. 187 energy in a good cause, I have never been to Huningue myself; but when my friend Mr. Coumes, Engineer-in-chief of the works on the Rhine, and also of those at Hu- ningue, came to England, he kindly gave me a series of large and beautifully-executed photographs of the buildings and of the apparatus used, so that the observant spec- tators can see the whole process as it were before them. It is in this wonderful esta- blishment that the eggs of fish are kept, and advanced in their hatching till they arrive at the period at which they will bear travel. It is by these means that many rivers in France are actually re-peopled with fish, employment given to hundreds of poor fisher- men, and the food of the people greatly increased. In order that the reader may see 188 FISH HATCHING. what a vast amount ef good has been done by the French authorities, and what a great example ‘they show to England, I would men- tion that the fish cultivated are as fellows :— 1. Truite commune. 2. Truite saumonee. 3. Truite grande des lacs. A, Saumon du Rhin. 5. Ombre chevalier (Charr). 6. Ombre commune (Grayling). 7. Saumon du Danube. 8. Fera. The number of these eggs distributed is something enormous. In the year 1861, the total quantity of eggs of these fish distributed was no less than sexteen million, four hundred and forty thousand, four hundred.* * I trust to have the returns of 1863 before I go to press with this little book. M. COSTE AND MR. COUMES. 189 Working hard. and enthusiastically in the cause of the improvement of fisheries are several French scientific gentlemen, to whom the highest possible praise should be accorded by the English people. Need I mention the name of M. Coste, who having arranged a system for the artificial propagation of both marine and fresh-water fish (see his reports and. publications) is, as it were, the father of pisciculture ; and of that. liberal-minded man, Mr. Coumes, the engineer of Huningue, who has. so-liberally. distributed so many. thou- sand eggs of fish throughout Her Majesty’s dominions during the last season, and to whom we owe the greatest acknowledg- ments, as well as to the French Government, which makes distributions of the eggs of the best kinds of fish gratuitously to all the pro- 190 FISH HATCHING. prietors of rivers in France who will under- take to hatch and protect them, and make a return of the quantity so produced. I should here record my vote of thanks, and I am sure other recipients will second it, for the large number of sixty-five thousand eggs which have been distributed, since September last, to myself and to owners of various private fish-hatching boxes here in England. I give in the Appendix, by Mr. Ashworth’s kindness, Mr. Coumes’ report, which will be read with interest, and show upon what an enormous scale the French Government are carrying out the science of fish-hatching. I must now mention what has been done in England by my excellent friend, Thomas Ashworth, of Cheadle, Cheshire, who in con- junction with his brother, are the owners MR. ASHWORTH’S LABOURS. 191 of the Galway fishery, and who have literally re-peopled with salmon various streams that previously had no salmon in them, as well as a district of their fishery of thirty miles long by ten wide. They have also opened up a great extent of water, viz., a great number of tributary streams from the Claregalway river, up as high as Ballyhaunis. The reader should look at a map to be able to appreciate what a great district is thus rendered pro- ductive of salmon. It will be remembered that the Messrs. Ashworth commenced artificial propagation of salmon at Oughterard, in Galway, the same season that the French commenced at Huningue, neither party being aware of what the other was doing at the time. I quote Mr. Ashworth’s own words. 192 FISH HATCHING. The district of Loughs Mask and Corrib comprise an area of thirty miles long by ten wide, containing 25,000 acres of water: and receive the waters of some of the finest tributaries known for the purpose of propa- gation. These: loughs and tributaries lie to the north of the Corrib, between Joyce's country, in Connemara, and Ballyhaunis, County Mayo; and what is very singular, that while these lakes discharge their contents into Lough Corrib, and the Corrib has an abundance of prime salmon ; strange to say, not a single one has ever been found in these upper lakes. Owing to a natural barrier of rocks extending between the two lakes, an obstruction has been put to the progress of the fish, and although a pass has been recently constructed there to facilitate LOUGHS MASK AND CORRIB. 193 their ascent, and the gates of the pass left open from October to April, it was all to no purpose—not a single salmon was known to have passed up. But that there may be no failure, so far as human means can go, in filling the Mask with fish, men have been employed in stocking its several tributaries with spawn by artificial propagation ; and as the fact is now established that the salmon species, after visiting the sea, return to the same rivers in which they had been bred, there can be no doubt that, in a short time, as these experiments have proved successful, this extensive district will be thoroughly stocked with this valuable fish. All that will be required will be proper protection, and in a short time Loughs Mask and Carra, like Lough Corrib, will afford ample sport and c0) 194 FISH HATCHING. pleasure to tourists, and become a fertile source of profit to the community. At least 659,000 salmon ova were col- lected, impregnated, and transported into these rivers in December, 1861, from the adjoining streams of Claregalway, where the parent fish are found in great abundance. The process of collecting the ova or egg of the parent fish, as heretofore, has been entrusted to that eminent pisciculturist Mr. Ramsbottom. The operation is very simple, and perfectly harmless to the parent fish. In order to show how easily the operation of propagation may be performed, Mr. Rams- bottom procured at Abbey, in four hours, over 170,000 ova. The 659,000 salmon eges which he procured were transported and deposited in gravel beds selected for the ITS PECUNIARY ADVANTAGES. 195 purpose, in the purest small streams of the rivers at Tourmakeady, Robe River, at Holly- mount, and other rivers connected with Loughs Mask and Carra, were safely hatched out, and are now migrating to the sea (in April, 1863,) in thousands, If the pro- prietors of similar waste and unproductive rivers would adopt this process, there can be no doubt they would vastly increase the productiveness of their salmon rivers and fisheries. What is wanted, is to stock the breeding grounds well; and to do this effectively, it is indispensable to protect the parent fish during the breeding season. We cannot be surprised that this im- portant branch of science should have been taken up with avidity, and prosecuted with energy, by so many nations and peoples, SY. PY wg peop 0 2 196 FISH HATCHING. when we consider the pecuniary advantages that flow from the system, in a commercial point of view. If to the first cost of an animal reared and fattened on a farm, we add the risks that are run in maintaining him in health and condition until he is fit for human food, the profit for feeding is not very great ; but in the case of the salmon, we can send a fish down to the sea, which, even by this artificial means, does not cost a farthing, and he there grows and fattens, without either care or superintendence, with- out cost or trouble of any kind, and when he is in the highest condition, he returns to us worth about as much as a prime fed sheep, which has required to be watched and cared for till it reached that condition. Here, then, as Lord Essex said, “is a mine of TRANSPORT OF LIVE SALMON. 197 wealth under water, as much as any under ground,” and if this be not a branch of public wealth that deserves cultivating, we know of none that is. Mr. Ashworth, confident as he is himself, told me that he could breed salmon easier and at a much less cost than he could lambs. He has continued his exertions, and in December last Mr. Miller, the Messrs. Ash- worth’s resident superintendent, collected and deposited no less than seven hundred and seventy thousand salmon ova in the streams of Lough Mask, with those of last year, making a total of one million four hundred and twenty-nine thousand ova. But in addition to this large supply, Mr. Miller has conveyed forty adult salmon alive, a distance of twenty-three miles in a large tub 198 FISH HATCHING. of water, and by frequently renewing the water on the way, they arrived as lively at the end of their journey as they were at the beginning. Those were the first salmon that had ever been known to inhabit the River Robe, a tributary of Lough Mask. More than this; in order to enable these young, fish to migrate to the sea, 24 was neces- sary that a fish passage extending about two miles in length should be made over the rocky ground between Loughs Corrib and Mask. This great undertaking has since been successfully completed by the Messrs. Ashworth, at a cost of upwards of 650/., under the able direction of Mr. Roberts, C.E., by which means salmon are now enabled to pass up and down freely, and they have already been seen in the fish passage or stairs, and ITS COST. 199 have deposited their ova on fords within the new passage, and thousands of smolts are migrating from Mask to the sea, April, 1868. These are great results. The reader may like to know what is the cost of the artificial hatching of these fish. Mr. Ashworth tells me, the total cost of placing the seven hundred and seventy thousand salmon eggs in the fish nests or hatching boxes, and of transport- ing the salmon, has been eighteen pounds, in addition to the regular and weekly cost of his staff of water-bailiffs and workmen. In order that the reader may appreciate what the actual bulk of these 770,000 salmon ova would be, if all collected together, I would beg to mention that my ingenious- minded friend, J. Lowe; Esq., has calculated . 200 FISH HATCHING. the number of individuals which composed the dense crowd that assembled to wel- come the Princess of Wales on her arrival in London : figures calculated out on given data give us the number of human beings then assembled at 700,000. Imagine a salmon for each human being, and you will have an idea of the number of fish Mr. Ash- worth has hatched out as a stock for his fisheries. The fisheries have benefited by his exer- tions to an enormous extent. There are twenty fish now to be seen, where there was one before. The litile fish go down to the sea, and come back big fish—good, market- able food, and the balance at the banker’s is increased in proportion. Scotland also has done much for her REAPING THE HARVEST. 201 fisheries. The establishment at Stormontfield, on the Tay, is now a household word, and the observations, both practical and scientific, made by Messrs. Buist and Brown, are of the greatest importance. I must again refer to the little book by Mr. Brown above men- tioned, merely stating that the number of ova placed down this year has been no less than two hundred and seventy-five thousand, and that not including the original cost of the boxes, &c. The working expenses have been under fifty pounds. I give in the Appendix the latest report of the proceedings at Perth. As regards the money value to the pro- prietors of the Tay from the products of this fish-hatching establishment, I quote from Mr. Brown’s book. 202 ' FISH HATCHING. “The question. that now remains to be considered is, ‘ Has the artificial propagation, even on the small scale that has been carried on at Stormontfield, been of advantage to the fishery proprietors on the Tay. We have no doubt on the matter, for, on referring to a statement of the rental of the Tay published by the proprietors themselves, we find that in the year 1828, the year of the passing of Home Drummond’s Act, the rental was fourteen thousand five hundred and seventy- four pounds. It gradually fell off every year afterwards till 1852, when it reached the minimum, amounting to seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-three pounds, five shillings. In 1853 the artificial rearing commenced ; and in 1858, when the statement was printed, the rental was eleven thousand four hundred THE TAY FISHERIES. 208 and eighty seven pounds, two shillings and five pence: it has now, 1862, reached what it was in 1828. We are aware that other reasons are given for jhe rise in the rental, such as the extra price of the fish in the London market, but we should like to know how it happens that all the other rivers in Scotland (with the exception, perhaps, of the Sutherland rivers) which have ‘the same market for their fish, have, since 1852, had a lower rental, instead of an increased one. “Mo take the money value of salmon fish- eries in the aggregate, and to show what an important question is before us, I now give the following facts, which I have on the best authority :— 204 FISH HATCHING. ENGLAND Produces annually about ten thousand pounds in money value. ScotLAND Is supposed to produce fish worth in money value nearly half a million of pounds. IRELAND. The aggregate money value of the salmon fisheries of Ireland at present, by the Report of the Commissioners, is stated to be three hundred thousands pounds annually.” * These are astounding figures. We Eng- lishmen in this matter are indeed a long way behind-hand. Mr. Ashworth gives the following important facts in a letter to myself. The extent of rivers in England is much greater than in Ireland: it is supposed that * See ‘* Report of Commissioners of Fisheries.” ENGLAND'S INTEREST THEREIN. 205 they do not produce more than about ten thousand pounds per annum, if so much. There is a district in Yorkshire above 600 miles of rivers—the river Ouse, the Derwent (72 miles), Swale (71 miles), Ure (61 miles), Wharfe (75 miles), Nidd (55 miles), &. These are all good, pure rivers, with fine mountain streams, and extending over thousands of square miles, and do not produce salmon worth one thousand pounds a year, and are as capable of being cultivated and rendered productive, as our own river was, when we purchased it, and commenced breeding and protecting the fish ; but from neglect and the erection of mill weirs, they have been reduced to their present deplorable and unproductive con- dition. If you will read the evidence taken by the Commissioners, 1861, you will see 206 FISH HATCHING. that these Yorkshire rivers only produced a rental of about one hundred and twenty- eight pounds. The river Trent and its tribu- taries, about 500 miles in length, is in a similar condition to the Yorkshire rivers, caused by obstructions from mill weirs, navi- gation weirs, and neglect. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE FOR THE THAMES AND OTHER WATERS. Thus much, then, for Huningue, Scotland, and Ireland. We at home have not in the meantime been idle. Our noble Thames has not been neglected, for there are now in full* work at Hampton, near Hampton Court, two sets of hatching boxes, both crowded with young fish and eggs. One of * I fear most of the fish are now (May) turned out into the river, but the boxes still remain, FISH TURNED INTO THE THAMES. 207 these has been entirely planned as to details and erected in his greenhouse solely at the private expense of Stephen Ponder, Esq., of Hampton, without whose persevering and painstaking energy pisciculture in the Thames would probably have come to nothing, and to whom therefore too much public praise cannot be accorded. The other apparatus consists of boxes placed out of doors, in a meadow near the Thames, the water being supplied from the “Christian spring.” The “ Thames Angling Preservation Society ” (who are doing their best to preserve our noble river from London-bridge to Staines’-bridge, to afford sport and recreation to the angler, and also to provide a delicacy for the table,) are endeavouring to stock their waters for the sake of their subscribers 208 FISH HATCHING, and the public in general,* for they have appointed a fish-culture committee of which I have the honour to be one of the members, and for the last three years we have been hatching and turning fish into the Thames, both from the out-door boxes and also Mr. Ponder’s apparatus. In order that the reader shall see the latest results, I give from official returns the results of the fish- hatching of the season ending May, 1863 :— NUMBER OF FISH TURNED OUT INTO THE THAMES. Rhine Salmon... , 6000 English Trout. ‘ - 22000 French Trout... ‘ 2000 Ombre Chevalier (Charr). 3000 Grayling. : ‘ . 2000 Tn all ‘ ‘i . 385,000 * Anglers in the Thames should recollect this, and by their subscriptions enable the Society to carry out fish hatching next year even, it is hoped, on a larger scale than this year. SALMON IN THAMES. 209 A few observations on this list. The salmon were presented in the form of ova by the ever-liberal M. Coumes on the part of the French government. This gentleman visited the Hampton fish-hatching works with me, and he was pleased to express his high approval of what he saw and heard. He has further shown his approval practically by the salmon ova he has sent, as he is most anxious that the attempt to restore salmon to the Thames should be persevered with. Both Mr. Ponder and myself have often been laughed at for our experiments, and many a friendly chat we have had over the matter. The argument used by objectors has been, “ Why, your salmon will never come back again.” My answer invariably has been, “ No, they P- 210 FISH HATCHING. will certainly never come back again, if they are never put in.” * It is far from impossible» nay it is even probable, that they will come back when the new sewers are in operation, and the Thames water is made considerably purer than it is now. Besides this, it must be recollected, that salmon remain several months in the river before they go down to the sea, and if we continue to turn them down every year, some of them will be in a fit state to run down to the sea and come back again when this new drainage is in operation. _ Anyhow, they will be caught as young fish, and this week (May 8th) I hear that “ skeg- gers” (the name applied, in former days, to young salmon) in the Thames have been * We can turn young salmon into the Thames at the rate of about four a penny. SKEGGERS AND STRIKES. 211 caught by the fly at Sunbury. I hope all Thames anglers will immediately return any fish they catch that may be a young salmon or trout. Anyhow, it is very delightful to one’s ears to hear even the long extinct word “skeggers” again passing from mouth to mouth on the banks of our noble river. When shall we hear of “ strikes,” 7.e. salmon after they have spawned, being found in the Thames? * The time was, and this no more * The following is a record of the last salmon caught at ‘Windsor. He was caught by one Finmore, an ancient fisher- man of the place. I quote from my ‘‘Curiosities of Natural History.” ‘‘ Nearly fifty years have passed since the last salmon at Windsor became a victim to the cupidity of man. This poor fish had a favourite hole near Surley Hall, about two miles above Windsor, which was at last found out and his destruction determined upon. Accordingly, one day the hole was sur- rounded with nets on every side, and the fishermen made sure of their prey ; but they were mistaken. The salmon discovered suddenly that there was treachery, and, like a brave and wise fish, he made a jump, not into the net—he was too knowing for P 2 212 FISH HATCHING. than sixty years ago, when the salmon-fishers: drew their nets at the village of Barnes ; where they covered the shingle with shining fish, and sent them off in a tax-cart to mar- ket, caught not eight miles from London- bridge. Shall we ever live to see this again ? As regards trout in the Thames. The ova from which these fish were hatched has been obtained, by the kindness of owners of that—but right over it, escaping triumphant, for a time at least. ‘‘Some days afterwards he returned home to his hole: the nets were again put round him: but this time, on to the cork-lines of the nets which were in the water was fastened a net which remained suspended in the air by a string. Again the salmon made a run and a jump; he got well over the net in the water, but fell, of course, into the net suspended in the air. He died an inglorious death, but his remains were honoured by becom- ing ‘adainty dish to set before a king,’ for he was taken to the king, then residing at Virginia Water, who gave the lucky netter a guinea a pound for his fish : twenty guineas for the last Thames salmon.” THAMES TROUT. 218 fisheries, from Whitchurch and Overton in Hants, also from Godalming and Wycombe. The young fish, both French and English, have been turned into the Thames at Sutton, Hampton, Sunbury, Walton, Halliford, and Staines ; we hope that as they grow older they will prove to have “ biting” powers. Anglers will know what a difficult matter it is to catch a Thames trout. They are generally heavy fish,* and the few fish that remain in the river require masters of the art of angling to entice them to “a run.” The haunt of a big trout in the Thames is immediately marked like the haunt of the finest stag in a deer forest, and there is as * I now show a life-size water-colour drawing of « huge trout in magnificent condition, the property of that most successful trout-fisherman, my friend J. Gould, Esq., F.R.S. A trout of 15 1b. has been caught this week at Sunbury. 214 FISH HATCHING. much rivalry to catch him with the spinning as there is to bring down the stag with the rifle. The fish being so often “tried for,” becomes amazingly cunning. If we listen to a lecture from a learned professor, upon the brains of animals, he will point out the human brain as being at the highest end of the scale, the brain of the fish at the lowest. Holding up the brain of a trout beautifully prepared in spirits of wine, he will say, “There, gentlemen, is an example of a badly developed brain. The creature to which it belonged is of a low order of intellect.” Yet the next day, if we look over a Thames weir, we may behold the same learned but sportless professor puzzling his well-developed brain to catch the creature which but yesterday he was asserting had so A LEARNED TROUT. 215 little brains. The brain of the fish is quite sufficient to keep him off the professor’s hook, angle he never so wisely. There is a story told of a trout at Hampton, which is of a fabulous weight. This fish has been so often angled for, that he is said not only to recognise a spinning bait the instant it passes over his house, but that from long experience he even knows who made the tackle. As regards the ombre chevalier, or charr, living in the Thames, it has been stated, upon good authority, that the ombre cheva- lier resides only in lakes and very deep calm waters ; but we were assured by M. Coumes, at his visit to Hampton, that this fish has been introduced with success in the rivers of France, and that he considered that the Thames would prove equally suitable to it. 216 FISH HATCHING. Desirous that the important process of fish-hatching should be made known to country gentlemen and owners of salmon and trout fisheries, I obtained the permission of the editor of “The Field” to place my apparatus in the window of his office in the Strand, where it has remained since January last. My labours in this respect have been amply repaid, not only by the general public interest excited in watching the operation, but also by the visits and anxious inquiries of many influential gentle- men and proprietors of fisheries; nay, what is still better, six or seven of my visitors have even fish-hatching boxes actually at work on their own premises, constructed after the models which I have given them.* * I here give a list of those who have constructed fish- PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCE. 217 I also brought the matter under the notice of Dr. P. L. Sclater and the authorities of the Zoological Society, who devoted the entire end of their aquarium-house at the gardens to the demonstration of the science of fish- hatching. The apparatus was ably designed and arranged by A. D. Bartlett, Hsq., Resi- dent Superintendent of the gardens.