asionally, however, trout
hatch out head first, and in these cases the young fish generally dies
before it can set itself free from the coverings of the ovum. Buckland
observed that the alevins of the char very frequently hatch out head
first, and consequently that many of them die before they can work
themselves free from the eggs. If it were possible to have some one
constantly watching the ova at the time that they are hatching out, it
would be possible to save a very large proportion of them, as they may
be very effectually helped out of the egg with a feather or soft
camel's-hair brush; but this is, of course, quite impracticable, unless
there is some one constantly watching the ova, as the delay of even a
few minutes will mean the death of the fish. This peculiarity in the
hatching out of the char has also been observed by Mr. J. J. Armistead,
and I have been able to verify it personally.

The mortality which occurs in the actual hatching out of the alevins
does not, however, by any means end the trouble which the fish culturist
has to encounter in the rearing of char. They require much more
persuasion and care when they begin to feed and throughout the whole of
the summer. The percentage of deaths is always greater than in the case
of the trouts, not excluding the _fontinalis_, which is, as I have
already explained, not really a trout but a char.

Though there must be some doubt as to its success, I should like to see
a really serious attempt at introducing char into some deep and large
ponds in the south of England. Char have been very successfully reared
in shallow water, which was certainly not kept at a particularly low
temperature, so I see no reason why this fish should not do in some of
our more southern waters. One drawback to the chance of this attempt
being made, however, is that the char cannot be considered as being a
fish which gives very good sport, and I very much doubt whether any one
is likely to try the experiment simply to find out whether they would or
would not succeed in the south of England.

CHAPTER XII

SALMON AND SEA-TROUT

In many ways nature is apparently very wasteful, and in nothing is this
more marked than in the case of the salmon. Probably not more than one
egg in a thousand produces a fish which reaches the smolt stage, and a
still smaller proportion grows to the spawning stage. This great
mortality which occurs among the eggs and young fish when left to nature
may