DUBUN NATUKAL HISTORY 80CIETT. 109 



mon ; and he certainly was ofomnion that a difference existed in some lakes and 

 rivers with regard to the periods of the condition of the fish. 



Mr. Ffennell said he did not a^ree with Mr. Andrews ; he, howerer, wm 

 aware that prime fish had been obtained in the Caragh in the month of January, 

 and at periods when they were not in condition in other rivers ; but he supported 

 the view that there should be the same periods of the close season throughout 

 the country; that in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the periods of spawning 

 were uniform ; and that no ditferences as to the season occurred. 



Mr. Andrews asked Mr. Ffennell when he supposed the clean fish, known to 

 occur in the Caragh, in the month of January, spawned. 



Mr. Ffennell said that the fish remained in the lake throughout the summer, 

 and spawned the following November. 



Mr. R. P. Williams asked did those fish remain in the fresh water throughout 

 the year? 



Mr. Ffennell said they did. 



Mr. Andrews could not believe that salmon could be in a healthy condition 

 for spawning in November, remaining in the fresh water throughout the sum- 

 mer. 



Mr. Ffennell said he was responsible for the opinions he put forward, as thej 

 were all grounded upon his own actual observations. 



MAY 12, 1854. 



Mr. R. P. Williams said, with reference to the proceedings of the last meet- 

 ing, and the discussion which took place relative to the observations made by 

 Mr. Ffennell on the habits of the salmon, he (Mr, Williams) had received two 

 communications from parties who had noticed the report of those proceedings, 

 and who did not agree with the views that Mr. Ffennell had put forward. One 

 was from a gentleman who had devoted much attention to the subject of the 

 fisheries, and who possessed sound practical knowledge and experience of the 

 habits of the salmon, especially with reference to the Bandon River, and that 

 part of Ireland, — Richard Quin, Esq., of Innishannon. He would, with the per- 

 mission of the chairman, read the remarks that had been communicated to him. 



Mr. Williams then read the following : — 



" 1 consider Mr. Ffennell is mistaken in his theory, that the male salmon first 

 ascend the rivers on the approach of the spawning time, as, from close observa- 

 tion of the habitB of the fish for eight or nine years at least, I am convinced that 

 on the approach of the spawning season both male and female salmon arrive at 

 the pitting ground together, or nearly so. In the ' Bandon' the greater number 

 of the large breeding fish do not make their appearance until the middle or lat- 

 ter end of November, and we never see a spawning bed on that river much be- 

 fore the 25th December. I have seen male fish killed in January and February 

 in company with pea fish, and both were full of sea lice, had not spawned, and 

 had all the appearance of having only just come up from the sea. With respect 

 to another part of Mr. Ffennell's theory, * that the male salmon, after having 

 their desires accomplished, desert the females on the beds, to complete the ope- 

 ration of spawning,' it seems to me that he means the fish actually copulate, and 

 that the male fish impregnates the immense body of ova contained in the female 

 (and reaching in a compact mass from the vent to the gills), in the ordinary way 

 adopted by land animals, viz. by copulation. This I take to be an impossibility; 

 besides, if it was sO, why should so much care be taken by artificial breeders of 

 salmon to use the milt of the male fish with which to impregnate the ova of the 

 female, after havinc^ pressed it from her. I have hundreds of times seen the 

 pea-fish for a considerable time on the pit, upon which she remained quite mo- 

 tionless ; at intervals she would rise twelve or sixteen inches from the bottom, 

 throw herself on her side, and • rig* in a curious wav, which I consider to be the 

 means to facilitate the expulsion of the ova. After being for some time occupied 



