Miscellaneous. 147 



dred and forty days, according to the greater or less warmth of the 

 weather. Mr. Young considers that the fish passes through the 

 condition of parr, whose characteristics are the transverse bands, and 

 assumes the silvery appearance of the smolt in about twelve months 

 from the time of being hatched ; and he is disposed to think, that 

 some of the young fish which have been deposited as ova, and there- 

 fore hatched late in the season, do not assume the smolt appearance, 

 nor go down to the sea at the end of the first year. Prof. Twiss 

 called attention to the importance of these observations in connexion 

 with the preservation of the young fish, which have hitherto not 

 unfrequently been taken and destroyed, as if a distinct species of 

 trout ; to the increased facility of propagating peculiar breeds or 

 races of fish, by transporting the ova, when impregnated, in water 

 from one river to another ; and to the great value of careful notices 

 as to the spawning-seasons of the fish of different rivers, in con- 

 nexion with a more discriminating system of legal regulations as to 

 the fence months. Dr. Buckland gave some account of his visit to 

 the experimental ponds at Drumlanrig,in company with Prof. Agassiz, 

 who was himself conducting a series of analogous experiments on 

 the trout of the lake of Neufchatel. He alluded to the great proba- 

 ble advantages of hatching the ova in artificial ponds, with a view to 

 the preservation of the young fry. In the experiments of Agassiz, 

 and Sir F. Mackenzie, Bart., it was found necessary to feed the 

 young fry with the paunches of sheep. 



Prof. Twiss afterwards read a letter from Mr. Young, of Invershin 

 Bonar Bridge, N.B., respecting the propagation of Eels. The fol- 

 lowing are the more important conclusions : — The adults spawn in 

 the summer months, in sand and gravel banks in the rivers, and do 

 not descend to brackish water to deposit their spawn. The spawn 

 becomes vivid in the following September and October, but remains 

 under the gravel, in the spawning-beds, until the following April or 

 May, depending entirely upon the heat and cold of the weather ; 

 and the adult eels, in place of emigrating, get into holes in the 

 banks of the rivers, and underneath large stones, as soon as the water 

 turns cold, and remain stationary until the warmth of summer again 

 heats the water of the rivers. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF CUSCTJTA. 



The following description of a new Cuscuta by Dr. L. Pfeiffer of 

 Cassel, occurs in the ' Botanische Zeitung' of Oct. 13, 1843. As 

 some of the plants on which it is found are common with us, it is 

 not improbable it may be met with in this county. 



Cuscuta hassiaca, Pfr. Caule ramoso, floribus irregulariter/ascsctt- 

 latis, pedunculatis , fasciculis et floribus singulis bractea fultis, ca- 

 lyce campanulato 5-fido, tubo corolla? campanulato, limbum 

 sequante, squamis convergentibus clauso, 5-fido, laciniis expansis, 

 apice subcorniculato inflexis ; stamin. 5 anthera brevioribus ; sty lis 

 2 filiformibus, stigmatibus capitatis. 



L2 



