dashes its clear cold water into the muddy Yukon-tide, offers an inviting nook, and into it we haul our bark, and, making fast to a projecting willow root, scatter in search of "specimens." A tough climb of ten minutes takes us to the top of the brown sandstone bluff, broken and weatherworn; yet showing, in its successive layers of clayey and sandy rock with thin laminæ of fossil vegetable matter, that, in ages gone by, the same forces were at work there, that we now observe on the recent river bank; each series of three layers shows how some flood came down and deposited first its sand, next its clay in the form of fine mud, and lastly any fragments of wood or vegetable matter which the receding waters left behind them. In the rocks above, however, a different state of things may be observed. Instead of the fragments of leaves of sycamores (Platanus), of carbonized wood, and of unrecognizable vegetable matter, we find remains of fuci, here and there a fragment which may have been of terrestrial origin; and, especially, remains of mollusca, mostly bivalves, such as oysters, mussels, and similar shell-fish, and very rarely a mass of remains which may once have been a fish. These fossils, though metamorphosed, broken, crushed, and frequently existing only as casts, are sufficient to indicate a mioccne age for the rocks in which they occur, and no fossils of the older rocks have yet been found on the lower Yukon.

By turning over some of these prostrate trunks we shall obtain rare prizes in the shape of Carabidae, beetles, frequently of brilliant colors and large size, of which some are so rare that an enthusiastic entomological friend once exclaimed to us, when parting: "Oh, if I thought I could discover the Carabus Vittinghovii, I think I should leave my business and go with you!" In the same locations are to be found minute land shells (Helix chersina, striatella, electrina and others, as well as minute species of Pupilla and Vertigo, all common to the northern zone of the world, from Sweden to Labrador, though known under various local names.

Diptera, in the shape of mosquitoes, are only too common, as we have discovered long since, and one does not wonder that the deer and moose, to escape their persecution, plunge into the Yukon under the very eye of the hunter, to meet a certain doom.

Birds of the season are vocal in every bush; and here again we meet familiar acquaintances, perhaps the very same which have built their nests and reared their young under the roses and lilacs of Massachusetts. The common robin (Turdus migratorius), the much more beautiful and musical varied thrush (T. nævius), the gray-cheeked thrush (T. alicia), the ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula), the yellow, black-capped, and yellow-rumped warblers (Dendroica æstiva, striata and coronata), the wax wing (Ampelis garrulus), the rusty blackbird (S. ferrugineus), and a host of others are everywhere about us, hardly noticing our presence, and intent on pleasing their newly found mates, by song, and twitter, and pretty, arch gymnastics, which, to the tender-hearted make the use of powder and shot, even for scientific purposes, little better than deliberate murder. Kurilla, at our side, says "the bushes are boiling over with birds!" And this reminds us that the sun is now high in the south, and we make our way toward the boat abandoning sentiment to boil the teakettle. On our way, a few low musical notes attract our attention just in time for us to see the author, a water ouzel (Hydrobata Mexicana), dive with a splash and patter into the little brook before us, and away, out of sight. Yonder is a beautiful rounded dome of moss, woven as closely as a Turkey carpet, and as smooth and even as the dome of St. Peter's, with a small round hole at one side, where our timid songster in due time will rear his family. Kurilla's gun is ever ready; he has reached the waterside before us and a magnificent mallard lies at his feet, which he has just shot, as it rose from yonder stump hidden in a bunch of alders. Parting the bushes we see him point triumphantly to an excavation in the decayed wood where

lie six eggs, just laid and left in an evil moment by the parent. While we are thinking of the bereaved mother Kurilla's thoughts tend toward omelets, and the frying pan and a piece of deer-fat are soon produced. Duck roasted on a stick before the fire, is quite another thing from the embalmed remains which the hotels offer us, by way of game, and to our mind it is far superior. Our meal of duck, omelet, tea and bread being finished, we seat ourselves in the boat, cast off the lashings, and shoot out into the rapid current, leaving the mosquitoes, for a time at least, behind us; when, an hour afterwards we haul up on the beach at Nuláto and survey our trophies, some of us may conclude that pleasure as well as profit may be found, even in the wilderness which borders on the Yukon.

THE IMPREGNATION OF EGGS IN TROUT

BREEDING.

BY A. S. COLLINS.

FOUR or five years ago the subject of this article would have been considered of little practical importance. Now, however, fish-breeding establishments in our country can be counted by the hundred; and every detail of the business is receiving close attention. I propose briefly to describe the method in which trout naturally impregnate their eggs, and then the various methods or modifications adopted by fishbreeders.

Natural Method of Spawning. Some time about the month of October (the time varying with the temperature of the water), the trout which have hitherto been scattered through the stream, begin to run up toward its sources. The place which they choose for a nest has always certain characteristics. It is chosen as near a spring head as possible,

having a gravelly bottom and being in comparatively swift water. But as these conditions are necessary only to the hatching of the eggs they need not be dwelt upon here. The females spawn but once in a season; the males, on the other hand, milt several times. So that there is always an excess of males. The females do not choose their partners. As soon as the female begins to make her nest some one of the males around swims to her side. If a stouter or pluckier male chances to come that way, a battle royal ensues, and the victor takes the place of the vanquished. This operation is often repeated, and it seems to make little difference to the female which one lies by her side. It is to be noted that by this order of nature, the healthiest and strongest trout pair together. When the female is ready to emit her eggs the male glides to her side, and his milt is emitted simultaneously with, and over her eggs. The male swims off, the female covers the eggs with gravel, and the operation is complete. This description of the action of spawning is very incomplete; but is sufficient for our present purpose, which is to compare with it the methods in use among trout breeders.

Stripping the Fish. This was the earliest method and is still in more extensive use than any other. At certain times the ripe males and females are taken from the races. By a very slight pressure of the hand, the milt is forced from a male into a pan partly filled with water; by a similar pressure the eggs of a female are forced as quickly as possible into the pan, and the operation is continued in the same order until all the fish are handled; the water being gently agitated from time to time with the hand or the tail of a fish. The eggs are then supposed to be impregnated and after standing some twenty or twenty-five minutes, are placed in the hatching troughs. This plan has its advantages; among which, the first and foremost is that more eggs can be impregnated in this way than in any other. If the eggs of a trout be taken from their bed in the natural stream and ex

amined, it will be found in the majority of cases that a very small percentage are impregnated (in one case standing as low as six per cent). While by the stripping process anywhere from eighty-five to one hundred per cent. can be impregnated. If we consider that in natural spawning, the milt is ejected into comparatively swift water, which sweeps it almost immediately away from the eggs, we shall cease to wonder at the difference. Another advantage is that the eggs in the stripping process are exposed to the milt of several males; and as the milt of one male will impregnate thousands of eggs, if only one male out of a dozen used be good, we may fairly expect that all the eggs in the pan will be impregnated. It is also an incidental advantage of this process, that as the fish are all handled the stripped fish may be put into a spare pond, so that they may not again run up into the raceway and hinder those about to spawn. For this reason and also because it is not intended that the fish should lay any eggs, a race for stripping purposes takes up comparatively little room. On the other hand the disadvantages of the process are manifold; the principal one being that it is very difficult to take the eggs and milt at the precise time when the fish would naturally yield them. With much experience, however, a trout breeder will succeed very well in doing this, and at our own place we would even now about as soon have stripped eggs of our own taking as any others. But a novice would not probably succeed very well. Another disadvantage is that the handling of a struggling fish is a thing to be avoided if possible. Even the most experienced can hardly help killing a few, and the least experienced will kill many. The bruised fish do not show the hurt at once, and will often live some weeks after receiving the injury. This difficulty increases with the size of the fish. The large fish which give the most eggs are the hardest to handle safely. Then the operation itself is not the most pleasant in the world. A ten or fifteen minutes immersion

*

*Trout Ponds of Seth Green & Collins, Caledonia, N. Y.