BUBUN NATURAL HI8T0BT SOCIETY. 107 



to soWe any new features that presented, that a knowledge of the natural history of 

 the animal, and the aid of scionco might explain, and, consequently, enable them 

 to take advantage of. He (Mr. Ffenncll) did not understand the subject of the 

 fisheries scientifically, but ho had been practically engaged for many years. Ho 

 was a uractical man, but he was fully sensible of the importance of the study of 

 natural history ; and that science must promote practical knowledge. The aid 

 of those who made practical science their study would be of great value in car- 

 rying out the work of public or official bodies. Without such knowledge, in the 

 infancy of such undertakings, failures must be expected. The great interest 

 created in the progressive growth of the salmon fry, which were daily seen by 

 the public in the Exhibition, and of the explanation of their artificial develop- 

 ment from the ova, induced a Dr. Merron, Professor of Anatomy in one of the 

 London colleges, to come over to witness and to learn the system that had been 

 pursued throughout, as he was much interested in the proceedings of a company 

 that had been formed for the object of conveying the ova, and stocking the wa- 

 ters of New Zealand, where, although possessmg a climate almost similar to that 

 of England, salmon were not found in its rivers. The Messrs. Ashworth were 

 the first to introduce the artificial propagation of the ova of the salmon in this 

 country, and there were now several parties that had taken up the subject, and 

 were carrying on such operations — Mr. Doherty, at Bushmills ; Mr. Cooper, of 

 Markree, at Ballina, in Mayo; at Galway, by the Ashworths; and at Lismore, 

 in the Blackwater, by the Board of Conservators of the Fisheries. When the 

 results of all their experiments (of which he regularly received reports) were per- 

 fected, he would feel most happy in submitting them fully and in detail to tho 

 Society. The Messrs. Ashworth had not been so fortunate this year in obtain- 

 ing the quantity of impregnated ova as in the first year. The habits of the fish 

 must be more studied to insure certain success. On the grounds in the Cong 

 River, where the salmon were in the habit of spawning, the Messrs. Ashworth, at 

 the latter end of November last, at the time they considered the fish to be in a 

 fully-developed state for spawning, took a quantity of fish for the purpose of ob- 

 taining the ova for artificial impregnation, and they were surprised to find that 

 all the fish taken were male salmon. Mr. Foley, at Lismore, who has charge of 

 the salmon fishery in the Blackwater, experienced a similar result on the 1st of 

 February last. He was anxious to obtain the fish for a similar purpose, but not 

 a single male fish was captured — they were all females, and fiUl of ova. The 

 facts were — the male salmon always ascend the rivers at the approach of the 

 spawning season, before the females. They repaired to the spawning beds, 

 where they knew the females would come, waiting their arrival ; the desires of 

 the male fish being accomplished, they selfishly deserted the females, returning 

 to the sea, and leaving the females on the beds to complete the operations of 

 spawning — hence tho causes why the male fish were always to be found in the 

 commencement of the season on the spawning grounds, and in the latter part of 

 the season the meeting only the female fish. Mr. Ash worth's experiments had, 

 in some degree, failed this year. Much attention was also required in the trans- 

 port of the ova. Some had been sent to him from Galway, this year, in damp 

 moss, and, although the ova had been placed in a most favourable deposit-bee^ 

 had altogether failed. Mr. Ffennell was happy to say, that all the little fish 

 shown in the Exhibition were lively and well, and had wonderfully grown. The 

 ova he had obtained during the last spawning-season, and which he had been 

 watching the development of at the Custom-house, had very recently produced 

 the young fry, and they were to be seen in numbers sporting among the grave), 

 with the yolk still attached. The period of the ova coming to maturity to the 

 extrication of the young fry was eighty days. He wished that any of the mem- 

 bers and their friends would call, and he would* be most happy to show the whole 

 process of the experiments. He was glad to say that, under the aid of the Board 

 of Public Works, he had formed a salt-water enclosure at Kingstown, where 

 there was a regular flow of the tide, and of sufficient depth, and where he pro- 

 posed, at the proper season (this month), to transport the young fry ; and he 



