In the article Salmon(which see) will be found an illustration of the California species (Sakno gainnat), said to be remarkable for hardi ness and freedom fmm disease. The late Mr. Klippart believed the following species as com monly found in Western waters, will be valuable. It must he remembered, however, that the perch family and the carp family, and the pike family, must not be in tbe same pond, unless they are expected to furnish food for the pike and pick erel. Perch family: Yellow perch, pickerel of the lakes, sunfish, rock bass, grass bass, black bass of the lake, and black bass of the Ohio river, (two distinct fish, though bearing the same name,) dwarf bass. Hog fish family : White perch of the Ohio river, sheep's head of the lake, hog fish, hlenny-like hog fish, variegated hog fish. Carp family; Carp of the Ohio, mullet of the lake, Missouri sucker, white sucker, red-horse sucker, Buffalo sucker, brook sucker, spotted sucker, mud sucker, black sucker, rough-nosed dace, stone roller, silver shiner, large shiner, red-bellied shiner, red-bellied shiner of the lake, white and yellow-winged shiner, horned chub, red-sided chub, gold shiner, flat shiner, chuh-nosed shiner, fiat-headed chub, mud minnow. Pike family: Muskallonge pike, black pike. Catfish family: Blue catfish, yellow catfish, channel catfish, mud catfish, bullhead, yellow backtail. Salmon fam ily: Mackinaw trout, speckled or brook trout, shad of the lake, white fish. Shad family: Gold shad, hickory shad, larger herring, lesser herring, moon-eyed herring. In addition to these we have several species of eels, sturgeon, and other fishes, which have not yet fallen under the notice of the naturalist, so as to be properly classified. Out of this list of nearly seventy-five species, according to Prof. Kirtland's catalogue, made nearly forty years ago, there certainly must be at least half a dozen species which are as much worthy our care and attention, and whose culture is certainly as profitable as some hranches of farming in which millions of capital are in vested. For the lake, the propagation of white fish, Mackinaw trout, and the lake perch, per haps would pay the best. In the reservoirs and rivers the perch family would, in all probability, be the most advisable and profitable. It is possi ble that some species now unknown in our waters, more desirable than any of those enu merated above maY successfully be introduced and cultivated with profit. Further on we give cuts of the black bass (lificropterans achigan), and the brassy bass (Marone interrupta), two well known game fish of Western waters. In stock ing ordinary shallow, or warm water ponds in the West, the carp family will be found best adapted to such places, although all the smaller catfish are equally well adapted. In fact, any fish usually found in ponds and sluggish streams may be used, but care must be taken not to introduce shovel-nose pike, or other predaceous fish of that character. In relation to the preser vation of fish and stocking of waters, the report of the United States Fish Commissioners, in 1873, through Prof. Baird, says, in conclusion, that the decrease of fishes on the coasts that have been long and beavily drained by human demands, is probably dependent on the habits of most if not all fishes to return to the same spawning places year after year. Of late years the decrease has heen more rapid on the coast here reported, because of the increased population to be sup plied; the greater facilities by railways, and in the nse of ice for packing, for extending sales into remote sections of the interior; the waste and even reckless destruction of spawn and of fish in endeavors to get the largest supply in the short est time ; the manufacture of oil and manure froni fish; and the diminished supply as food for other fishes, thus compelling the feeders to seek other places for feeding. As a thorough investigation of all these and other points was necessary to a correct result, the inquiries took a wide range. In addition to the above-named causes of decrease, the commission examined into the effects of changes in the temperature of the waters and of pollution of waters by the waste of manufactories and the sewage of cities; the amount and condi tion of fish food; the habits of the fishes, and the diversion likely to be caused in those habits by the changes above noted, and the interference of inventions for fishing. And the products of some of these investigations were also used to add to the collections for the National Museum at Wash ington, and for other important museums else where. The conclusions arrived at, as to the almost enforce itself. Should these States neglect or refuse to enact such a law, it is then urged that Congress pass a law absolutely prohibiting the erection of any fixed apparatus for taking fish, after a period of one or two years, on the south side of New England and on the shores of Long island, which constitute the spawning-grounds of the shore-fishes referred to. The one or two years would allow the present owners to wear out or use up their apparatus; and the absolute pro hibition following, would restore the original abundance in much less time than the more grad ual measure proposed for State action, while it would leave all fishing open to taking by hook and line, seines, and gill-ncts exclusively. Thus the markets would he more regularly supplied, and the business and its profits be divided among a greater number of persons. Absolute prohibi tion by the United States is required, that it may be able easily to enforce the law. An occasional patrol along the coast by vessels of the revenue department, to confiscate all apparatus used in violating the law, would be all that is requisite. We uow come to artificial spawning and hatch proper mode of preventing further decrease, and insurin,g an increased supply of food-fishes, the commissioner has embodied in an act (which has been submitted to, and amended and approved by, the best authorities among all parties most interested) which is to be made a law and enforced by the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. This act is to pro vide for the prohibition of capturing fish in traps and pounds, from six p. m., on Friday until six u. m., on Monday—three nights and two days in each week—during the six weeks of the spawn ing season. This measure, all admit, will allow a gradual increase of the number, of all fishes, without material interference with the interests of any persons interested, except, perhaps, a few middle-men. Intelligent fishermen gave assur ances that they would gladly welcome a law to that effect. To secure its easy and certain enforce ment, all ponds and traps are to be licensed, and an infraction of the law is to work forfeiture to the State, and a transfer of the license to the informer. This will render official surveillance by the State nearly unnecessary—the law will ing. Upon this subject we find the following data, which, with the accompanying illustrations, will be made plain : In the cut showing indoor hatching boxes, 1, is a frame work of glass rods; 2, tank with eggs resting on gravel ; 3, catcher; 4, hand net. In the cut showing hatching-box, 1, is the reservoir; 2, short trough through which water is discharged; 3, trough in which the water falls before entering the box ; 4, per forated zinc; 5, shoot to discharge water. (See explanation, Mr. Francis' plan ) The next cut of hatching-boxes will illustrate a more extensive series of hatching-boxes. As explanatory of the illustrations still farther, in relation to artificial fecundation, and propagation, in an article pre pared by Theodore Gili, 1VI D., for the Depart ment of Agriculture, he says: The fish should be firmly seized by the hand, and that the other should be passed over the abdomen gently, but firmly, and the ova and milt, if mature, will readily pour out. Only those fishes which are mature should be treated thus. If the ova or milt comes out with difficulty, and only under hard pressure, it is a sufficient indication that they are not ripe, and it would not only injure the pregnant fish, but be useless as to results to anticipate the period of maturity. This uncer tainty as to the period when the fish may be most advantageously manipulated, is one of the diffi culties incidental to artificial fecundation. The fishes may be caught when they have apparently nearly reached their term, and be confined so as to be under the notice of the piseiculturist. When ripe they may be distinguished by their turgid sides, the pouting anus, and their uneasy move ments. (See cut.) Having secured the eggs of certain fishes and fecundated them, these may be transferred to receptacles for hatching them; various patterns have been recommended, but the principles followed are essentially the same in all. A fountain of clear running water—a spring is preferable—from which a small stream flows, or may be led, is seleeted; and if there is a gradual fall or descent, so much the better. A series of boxes, through which the water will flow, are placed in the position to be fed by the stream, and the floor of each box is covered with gravel or pebbles, which may furnish a bed for the deposit of the spawn. In the details of the form and construction of these boxes, and the manner of regulating the flow of the stream, the variations chiefly consist, and may be illustrated an eddy very favorable, as quiet resting places, to the young fry when first hatched. If the stream be at all strong, artificial eddies should be created by sticking small pieces of perforated zinc upright in the gravel at intervals along the sides and across the stream; behind these the helpless fry can be in safety.) The top cut, which first received the water, being secured from foes with out by being eovered with perforated zinc through which the water flowed, and the further end one having a zinc shoot to deliver the water, and also a perforated zinc face, not only to keep foes out, but the fish in. Fastened over the cut, in the lower end of the first box, was a short zinc shoot (5) to convey the water into the next box over the corresponding cut, so that no water should run to waste between the boxes. Thus, when No 1 was fairly placed on a brick founda tion so as to receive the water in the zinc trough, all that was required was to insert the shoot at the other end of the box into the corresponding cut of No. 2 box, and slide No. 2 safely and closely up into its place, and so on with Nos. 3, 4, and 5, etc. These boxes were then partially filled with coarse gravel of the size of goose berries, and some larger, even to the size of plums, for the more irregular their shape the better, as there will be more interstices between by reference to two methods. One of these plans has been adopted by the Thames Angling Preservation Society, and was elaborated and introduced by Mr. Francis Francis. The chief object in view was to increase the stock of trout, and to introduce the grayling in the river Thames. A spring, from which a rill flowed, was first obtained ; to use Mr. Francis' own words, there was a considerable fall in the run of the water, which was very advantageous; nevertheless, the plan here adopted can be applied more or less to any stream. We first bricked up the little rill so as to form a reservoir (1) and raise the water to a higher level; we covered the reservoir in with a large stone to keep out dirt and vermin, and placed at the lower end of it a zinc shoot, (2) over which the stream flowed. Immediately under this we placed our first box, a fac-simile of which is given. It was made of elm, four feet long, and fifteen inches wide in the clear, and ten inches deep. At the upper end of the box a projecting zinc trough (3) was fixed to catch the water, this trough being about three-quarters of the width of the box itself. At each end of every box a piece was cut out six or seven inches in width, and through these the water flowed into each box. (These openings were not earried all across the boxes, as the shoulders left made them in which the ova can be hidden, and the little fish when hatched can ereep for safety.
The gravel was at a level of about an inch below the cut which admitted the water, an inch depth of water being quite sufficient to cover them. Each box was furnished with a lid, comprising a 4vooden frame-work, and a perforated zinc center. This lid was made to fit closely by means of list being nailed on all around. It was padlocked down to keep out inquisitive eyes and fingers. Boxes in exposed places should always be covered in, if not with coarsely perforated zinc, yet with fine wire netting, or water mice will get in, and various birds, as moor-hens and dab-chicks, will piek out the spawn while a king fisher, should he discover them; will carry off the fry by wholesale. The stream was then turned on, and flowed steadily from box to box through out the boxes, and finally discharged itself hy the end shoot into the bed of the rill. It need not be imagined that a full stream is necessary, for a small amount of water is sufficient. In deed, a flow of water, say through a half-inch pipe, would be enough, perhaps, though it is advisable while the ova are unhatched, to have more, so that there shall be more stream and movement in the water, and consequently less time for deposit to settle ; so tbat we had on, perhaps, as much as a stream of three-quarters of an inch in diameter. When the fish are hatched half that quantity would be preferable, as they- are not well able to struggle against a stream, and would be carried down, perhaps, to the end box, and so against the perforated zinc face, where they would stop up the holes, and finally be smothered. The boxes were then properly steeped in water and seasoned, and being of elm, the joints drew closely together after a -vvhile, and the boxes held the water without filtered through gravel, charcoal, etc. It is not necessary that the boxes should be placed on the side of a hill, as represented in the drawing, but still they should be placed one above the other in such a manner that there may be a fall from one to the other. Nor is it absolutely necessary that the end of the upper hox should rest on that immediately below it. The water may be conducted from one to the other by means of a trough or plate (with the margins turned up) of common zinc. The pond at the end of the boxes will reeeive a fish, but they should not be allowed to escape there until the umbilical bag is gone. The pond must not be above three or four feet deep, or if it be naturally deep, the margins must be made to slope, as the young fish like shallow water to bask, feed, and play upon. They must be fed for a time when in this pond. The in-door is considered better than the out door apparatus. principally because it rnay be better protected. As illustrating out-door apparatus, see cut of out-door hatching boxes. It is not absolutely necessary that there should be a distinct perpendicular fall from one box to the other, yet where this is practicable it will be found the better plan. We cannot better close this important subject than by giving an extraet from a praetical article by the Eon. George H. Jerome, Superint•endent of the Michigan Fish Commission, in relation to fish farming. After stating the claims made by various authorities in relation to the importance of the subject, and also what is claimed for it in theory, our authority says: In scientific praetice, it requires a study of waters to know at what point a material leakage. In each of the boxes thus eonstructed and arranged, about four or five thousand ova, or even more, are deposited; the gravelly bed in whieh they are spread is about one and a half or two inches below the cuts referred to in the preeeding description. The ova are, by means. of a spoon, regularly dis .tributed, but from their numbers are quite close together ; care is taken to have them among inter :stices of the gravel, such as are too prominent being carefully swept into some crevice by means of a fine brush. When thus cared for, a layer of -gravel, composed of rather large flat stones en inch and a half or two inches square, is spread -over the ova, heed being taken not to squeeze them. It may be remarked that the ova of the -common yellow perch were hatched in these boxes. Another apparatus for the same purpose has been described by Mr. Frank Buckland as being employed by the Messrs. Ashworth, the proprietors of the Galway salmon fisheries, and by means of which many thousands of salmon have been hatched. The boxes in this case are six feet long, one foot wide, and seven inches deep. They have board covers with perforated zinc fitting their tops and attached by hinges; each box overlaps above the succeeding, so all are fed by the same stream of water, which falls from the outflow of the one into tbe inflow of the next. The inflow from the main stream must, of course, be regulated by a hatchway, (where the man is working with the fish kettle and net,) and be guarded by perforated zinc, -etc. It may be also, if naturally not very clear, reformation may begin, and to what just limit it may be canied; a study of the fishes to know their worth, spawning seasons, peculiar habtis and necessities; an investigation of the cause of their decrease or increase, as the case may, be ; a complete knowledge of one and all of those essentials that antedate birth, development, aud the reproduction of valuable animal life. Then follows the manual work—the preparation of ponds, races, hatching-houses, supply troughs, hatching-boxes, egg trays, partition screens, egg nippers, pans, dippers, brushes, feathers, etc. The master workman, whatever his trade or occupation, will see to it that his chest of tools is full and in order. Next comes the procurement of the breeding-fish, male and female; to be obtained if possible without injury—healthy, vigorous parents always preferred. The fish obtained, the fish culturist, guided by observa tion and experience, will quite readily detect in the gravid fish those signs which precede and denote the mature spawner. Carefully noticing the premonitory indications, the porcelain or tin pan is brought to the place of operation, contain ing but very little water, the viscid fluid that accompanies the flow of the ova affording suffi cient moisture. Formerly water was used, but is now generally discarded, it being thought to have the effect of drowning the spermatozoa or life principle of the milt. The spawner is then caught, gently seized and held (if small, one person is sufficient; if large, two or more persons are required) in an oblique-perpendieular posi tion, the vent being directly over the pan. If ripe, which means a mature condition of the ova, the egg will often flow into the vessel by the mere force of gravity or muscular contraction, without any hand pressure or manipulation whatever; but if not so yielding up her spawn, a slight pressure with the thumb and fingers along the abdomen will cause the ova to be extruded. This process, once or twice repeated, in a majority of cases will secure the entire yield. The fish is now returned to the water in almost as good a condition as when taken from it, for the whole process has not occupied more than from twenty to forty seconds. The male fish or milter, as he is termed by piseiculturists, is now taken from the tub or trough near at hand, held in a similar position, and the manipulator, by a gentle pressure along the lower portion of the abdomen, will discover, provided the fish is ripe, an extension into the vessel containing the ova, a few drops of a creamy, whitish substance termed milt, spermatozoa, or fertilizing fluid. The fish is returned to the water, no pain or injury having resulted, a very little water is poured into the pan or porcelain vessel, and the contents stirred with a feather or tremulously shaken in a manner to give the ova a rotary rnotion, and very soon all or nearly all the eggs will have become impregnated, vitalized. The pan is now allowed to stand a few minutes. The eggs meanwhile are undergoing great changes; prior to the introduction of the milt or zo-osperins, they were in a manner agglutinated; and in a flaccid condition ; now they have become enlarged, are now translucent; each leg, no, longer coherent, is an individuality, and by one of those mysterious processes by which Nature works, are become hard to the touch, so that they will roll about like shot on a smooth surface. Here now we have the vivified germ, tbe embryo, fish. In this state they are taken, cleansed in one or two waters, and carefully placed upon a bed of gravel or upon wire cloth trays, and with a feather evenly distributed over the surface, the object of such spreading being to allow the clear, living water to come continually in contact with all the eggs—well-oxygenized water being as essential to a normal, healthy development of the embiyo, as it is material to the life and growth of the fish in its subsequent stages. Now, with pure and perpetually running water, filtered if" necessary by one or more flannel screens, with clean tools, clean surrotndings and with clean_ hands, we enter upon the, work of incubation, a labor lasting fiVe, ten, twenty, forty, eighty, one. hundred and twenty days, or even longer, depending upon species and upon quality and temperature of water. Dead eggs, easily distinguished, ever discovered are to be at once removed, as they produce a sus that sends out its clammy, fibrous arms, like Hugo's fish, to destroy every living egg within their reach, and all ment and substances of every sort, foreign to the before-named_ conditions of their health and growth, are to be sedulously guarded against. The eyes first appear, then a faint structure and soon after a dim. outline of the corning fish may be seen, growing more and more visible each day, until some morning you see the wreck of a habitation ing down the current, and a tiny creation, most unmistakably alive, settled down amid the interstices of the gravelly bed, or meshes of the. wire tray, a third, or a half, or perhaps foorths of an inch in length. About the most perceivable thing of this new birth, is a bag or sack attached to the belly of the fish. This sack,. with the salmo quinnat, is of a rich, pinkish color, resembling one or two drops of, blood incased in a semi transparent membranous bag. At birth it is larger than the fish itself, rendering all movements of the new comer exceedingly awkward and clumsy. This is the umbilical vesicle, or yolk sac—Nature's store-house for supply and sustenance of the fish during its tender infancy." Until this sae is absorbed, the fish will eat nothing, seems to desire nothing but to be let alone, content with the pabulum stored in its little knapsack, from which it daily, hourly. draws that nourishment, the provision and pottage of birthright. Day by day the sae becomes smaller, till it can scarcely be perceived with the naked eye; then the fish begins to move about, as if in quest of something to satisfy its hunger. This yolk sac, with the salmon and trout and some other species, lasts from thirty to.
forty days; with other varieties, not so long. During the existence of the umbilical vesicle the fish are known as alevins: afterward, up to eertain periods of growth, minnows or fry. The sac being absorbed, the fry should be fed two or three times a day, or oftener, in limited quanti ties, will do no hurt. Various kinds of food are given—bonny-clabber, the yolk of an egg, boiled •calfs or beef's heart, boiled hard and grated; Jiver of all kinds, (except hog's liver,) chopped or grated so fine as to become the consistence of -thick blood, mixed with a little sweet cream, is -used as food, while the fry is very young. Under proper care and feeding, the tish will -come on rapidly, so that in n few days or weeks they will do to be removed from their hatching troughs and planted in the lakes and rivers, there to grow- and to bear testimony that fish culture is neither a myth nor a phantasm, but an ocular, tangible and gustible reality.