APPENDIX. 279 



in the waste waters of England. As it may be a matter of 

 interest to some persons to know what other fishes are 

 recommended, I give my letter as published in " The Field" 

 with some few corrections, as well as Mr. Francis's very 

 sensible remarks prefacing it. I also give some extracts 

 from Mr. Francis's letter in reply to mine, which I regret 

 to say, does not show that the acclimation of fresh water 

 species is making the progress we had hoped for. 



SIR, The accompanying letter from a gentleman in the 

 United States contains so much which cannot fail to be 

 exceedingly interesting to a large portion of the readers of 

 " The Field," that I have no hesitation in making it public, 

 merely suppressing the name of the writer. The question 

 of whether salmon can propagate when cut off from the sea 

 receives here a very valuable reply ; for although we can- 

 not of course be certain that the fish noted by T. N. really 

 were true salmon originally, there is 'a great air of proba- 

 bility in the surmise ; and it seems difficult to understand 

 what particular effect upon the constitution or organs of 

 generation of fishes the salt water can have, that any par- 

 ticular fish which breeds in fresh water should be inca- 

 pacitated from procreation by the want of a trip to the sea. 

 My own theory is, that it is simply the want of that profuse 

 nourishment which the sea affords which is felt by the fish ; 

 and until the experiment suggested by me some time since, 

 of confining some kelts* and feeding them abundantly, is 

 tried with a view to see how far the fish can be restored to 

 condition without a visit to the salt water, we can form but 

 a mere conjectural opinion on the subject, which is of little 

 value. No doubt the fish noted by T. N. here, are the 



* This term is applied to salmon which have recently spawned. 

 T. N. 



