OCR Text |
Show 1884.] AMONG THE SALMONID/E. 379 1882, upwards of 20 were found to be dead, so the next day they were removed to the upper pond at Howietoun, into which 211 were placed ; some, however, seemed to be very weakly. In three of these fish a remarkable change had occurred as to tbe colour of their fins, the ventral, anal, and caudal having become of a carmine-red. One, which was 2\ inches long, happening to die, I found that its left eye had never been developed, while there were adhesions between the iris and subjacent structures in the left eye. The longest fish was a little over 3\ inches in length. On November 29, 1883, 3000 ova were taken from a Lochleven Trout of the season of 1875, and milted from a Salmo fontinalis. The number of dead eggs removed were as follows:-80 in December, 56 in January, 25 in February, or a total loss of 161 ; while 296 were found not to have been impregnated, or a proportion of I death in 17 ova. These young fishes were far more advanced than the dropsical forms previously alluded to. On November 15, 1882, 8000 ova of S. fontinalis were fecundated with milt from a Lochleven Trout, and on November 29, 1883, only 16 were alive. They were kept under the same conditions as the last, and on March 13, 1884, only 8 were remaining, and these in an unsatisfactory condition. They were removed to Howietoun planked pond on that day. On November 12, 1883, some eggs from S. fontinalis were milted from a Scotch trout ; and in November 28, in December 193, and in January 1028, or a total of 1449 dead ova were removed. On March 13, 1884, there appeared to be about 500 young fish doing well. On November 15, 1882, 9000 ova of S. fontinalis were milted from a Scotch Charr, S. alpinus var. struanensis, and no monstrosities as observed among the other crosses resulted. On March 13, 1884, 91 lively young fish were transferred to No. 1 upper planked pond at Howietoun. On December 1, 1883, some American Charr-eggs were milted from a Scotch Charr, and the following is the monthly record of the mortality :-January 138, February 787, March 194, or a total of 1119. On March 13, 1884, upwards of 100 young were present. I shall defer making any remarks on the foregoing simple statement of results until the experiments have been further developed by time; but I cannot resist calling attention to the following point, as it seems desirable that information on such should be obtained from the widest sources. If hybrid Salmonidae are to be worth rearing, of course the fish-culturist would desire to obtain the finest breed ; and the first subject that deserves inquiry is whether the species among vertebrate animals which forms the male or the female parent exercises any peculiar modifying influence on the size of the offspring. Dr. Gray remarked that among hybrids the offspring attained to the size of the largest parent; but he does not appear to have considered that it was of any consequence whether this larger parent should have been the male or the female, and if it is, such a point is most desirable |