114 DtTBLIN NATTTEAL HISTOKY SOCLETY. 



shade. Subsequent observations on the subject led me to consider that they 

 •were the young of the ova of the previous year, and that they had only attained 

 their thirteenth or fourteenth month — their migration to the sea being between 

 the eleventh and fourteenth month from the period of extrication from the ova. 

 The River of Cooraclare — which assumes the name of Dunbeg where it falls into 

 the Atlantic Ocean, in the little estuary of that name— is famous for its salmon. 

 In August, 1835, I saw, in one haul, 104 salmon and 200 white trout, taken by 

 Michael Kennedy from the lake below the bridge and fall under Dunbeg Castle. 

 The Rivers Creegh, Annageeragh, and Annagh, which 1 have fished, are all 

 excellent in their seasons for salmon and white trout. In the little River of 

 Monmore, which runs through the great bog of that name, salmon and white 

 trout run up the stream in the autumn floods ; but I never recollect meeting the 

 gravelling there with the markings and bright hue of the parr. It is not my in- 

 tention now to enter into a statement of the salmon-fisheries, but merely to refer 

 to some of the observations made by Mr. Ffennell in this Society. At the meet- 

 ing in April, Mr. Ffennell mentioned that, at the approach of the spawning- 

 season, the male salmon invariably first ascend the rivers from the sea. It is 

 singular that authors have given the precedence to the females, both to the sal- 

 mon and to the trout. Allowing either the priority, experience has shown that 

 the parent fish are on the spawning-beds together, each occasionally engaged, 

 but more especially the female, in the excavation of the furrow or channel where 

 the ova are to be deposited ; and in this labour their principal exertions are 

 ** snouting" the gravel. The clear and shoaler beds of a river, where it is ne- 

 cessary for the salmon to select the deposit-beds for the due maturating of the 

 ova, can be quietly watched, and all their operations noticed. In the Wandle, 

 Mr. Gurney has seen the large trout raise ridges of gravel, and has remarked 

 their noses or snouts to be lacerated by the work. Some have observed that the 

 hook of the male salmon serves some purpose in the spawning operations. This 

 curvature of the under jaw is peculiar both to the male salmon and to the trout, 

 and is more or less developed, according to the age or state of health of the 

 fish. On the ascent from the sea the hook is merely observable, but after the 

 exhaustion of spawning the reduced condition of the fish renders it more conspi- 

 cuous ; and, should obstacles prevent the proper period of return to the sea, a 

 cartilaginous extension takes place (whence the fish is called Carraughabaugh), 

 but which disappears on the renewed health of the fish, in its visit to the sea. 

 In aged fish, particularly in large trout, this curvature becomes permanent in 

 its enlargement, forming a deep fossette in the upper jaw. Without a good foun- 

 dation of scientific and practical knowledge combined in the pursuit of such sub- 

 jects, it is a task of great difficulty to comment on, with judgment, the plau- 

 sible opinions that are frequently advanced by writers of known character, but 

 who, at the time, perhaps, only possess general views of the matter of which 

 they treat. Thus, Mr. Keiller, in "Lloyd's Scandinavian Adventures," states 

 that the habits of the salmon of the Save, in Norway, are altogether difi'erent 

 from those of the British Isles ; forming no channel for the deposit of the ova, 

 but allowing them to float down the stream, impregnated by the milt, similarly 

 floating, and, finally, whatever escapes the rapacity of the river fish settles in 

 some crevice or rock until the fry is excluded. This is so contrary to the natu- 

 ral principles of the family of the true salmon as scarcely to be worthy of de- 

 pendence ; for it is more probable the floating ova that escaped the maws of 

 hungry trout would settle in some quiet pool beyond the medium of maturation, 

 and finally perish. In fact, it is more characteristic of the Clupeidje or herring 

 family, which, in the spawning seasons, seek the inlets and shallows of our 

 shores, where the excluded ova, in myriads, float away at the mercy of the tides ; 

 besides, a great distinction exists in the specific gravity of the ova of the sal- 

 mon, the trout, and the herring — of the former, the greater portion sink at once 

 to the bed or furrow, where they are impregnated by the male, and remain with- 

 out removal. In the Clupeida?, the ova expelled in masses spread far, and float 

 a considerable time, even where no force of tide or waves would drive. We 



