THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



JULY, 1829. 



Art. L Farther Observations on the Influence of Fresh Water on 

 Marine Animals. By Lieutenant J. H. Da vies, R. M. Com- 

 municated by James L. Drummond, M.D., President of the 

 Belfast Natural History Society. 



Sir, 

 The following statement, which I have received through 

 the kindness of your able correspondent, Lieut. J. H. Davies, 

 R. M., being very illustrative of the fatal power often exerted 

 by fresh water on animal life, and of the observations in my 

 communication on that subject in your last Number, and being 

 also highly curious in itself^ I request, with Lieutenant Davies*s 

 permission, that you will give it a place in your next. 

 I am, Sir, yours, &c. 



Jas. L. Drummond. 

 Belfast, May 9. 1829. 



In the summer of 1817, being at that time a resident in St. 

 John's, the capital of Newfoundland, I frequently amused my- 

 self, in company with my brother-in-law, the comptroller of 

 the customs, in hauling a small seine in that harbour. We 

 were accustomed to shoot the net across where the water was 

 perfectly salt, and drawing it up the harbour, haul it on shore 

 at the upper end, where a small river discharges itself, so that 

 the fish were drawn out of the salt water into the fresh. The 

 species included were, eels, flat fish, codling, and a common fish, 

 known as the sculpen, bull-head, &c. (Cottus ^Scorpio?), which 

 in Newfoundland grows to a considerable size, and is finely 

 marked with blotches of brown, red, and white. On those 

 occasions all the other species of fish were lively, but the 

 whole of these were dead and stiff. My attention was, of 

 course, attracted by this singular circumstance, which was at- 

 tributed to their being drawn into the fresh water. I witnessed 



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