itfo On the Meafis to he employed 



tmlcTs it lias been conveyed thither within thefe few years; 

 "lli ^ freft -water gourami in the Ifle of France, where it has 

 multiplied prodigiouflv, came originally from Bengal. It 

 was M. Poivre, that philofophic adminiftrator, who had the 

 honour of enriching the rivers of this ifland with a fifh 

 which in goodnefs and fhape may be compared to the fhad. 

 That (mall fifth, the brilliant gold and filver colours of which 

 all admire, the Chinefe dorado, was brought to Europe from 

 the northern part of China. If fo much was done for a ufe- 

 lefs li(h, valued merely on account, of its (hilling robe, by 

 making it traverfc the feas to embellifh, in compliance with 

 fafliion, our halls and our cabinets, why mould we not do 

 the fame to obtain fifh ufeful to man, which would recom- 

 pense our troubles and our facrifices? The Romans, fated 

 with victories and triumphs, received from tributary Afia the 

 rareft fpep^es of (ifh to make a figure on their tables at their 

 feails. What the Romans did for the luxury of the rich, let 

 us do for the general good, for the utility of the poor ; and 

 let us diftribute to every river in France the beneficent germs 

 of a new fecundity, which will double their productions and 

 their produce. 



Our rivers do not contain more than about twenty indi- 

 genous fpecies, and fome migratory fifhes, which at certain 

 periods of the year afeend to a certain diftance from their 

 mouths, or, like the falmon, fwim towards their fources a? 

 far as they can. The fmall rivers poflefs ftill fewer fpecies : 

 the greateft part even are confined to the tench, the trout, 

 eels, and fome fmaller fifti of little value. How advan- 

 tageous would it be to introduce into thefe rivers a multitude 

 of foreign fifli, which in thefe waters would find aliment 

 more agreeable to their tafte, and which would enjoy a tem- 

 perature as analogous to their wants as favourable to their 

 reproduction ? 



The Seine, which I (hall take as an example, nourifhes 

 many fpecies of falmon and cyprini ; but how many other 

 lifh of the fame kind might be propagated in it 1 If the 

 Seine poifefTes the falmon, it wants the thymallus, the 

 umber of Auvergne, the lavaret, the murena-ot" Germany, 

 the grilfe of Scotland, the pala of Swiiferland, the ferra of 

 the lake of Geneva, &c. Why (liould not the carpio of the 

 lake di Guarda, the jchwarz-ritter (charr) of the lakes of 

 Berchrtoldgade'n, an excellent kind of falmon, highly praifed 

 by baron de Moll, a naturaHft of Salzbourg, fucceed in 

 France, if that bottom, which they are moil: attached to r 

 were procured for them, at the foot of the Ardennes or the 

 Vofgues ? Why might they not be afterwards gradually in- 

 troduced 



