116 DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



On proper sounding-grounds off the coast, the finest ling and cod were taken 

 long after the usual season was over, thus fully bearing out the statements that 

 had been made to the late Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher and to the Earl of Cla- 

 rendon. In these inquiries it is difficult to overcome the prejudices and habits 

 of the coast fishermen : educated only in the knowledge of their fathers, they 

 are hostile to any innovation on that knowledge, and, therefore, cannot compre- 

 hend the views of the practical naturalist, in seeking to learn accurately the 

 nature of the soundings, the marine animals, the characteristics of and distribu- 

 tion offish, which all tend to arrive at the correct information so necessary with 

 regard to the feeding, the spawning-grounds, and the habits of animals con- 

 nected with so important a branch of resource. In concluding, these observa- 

 tions must oaly be considered general, as it is my intention hereafter to enter 

 more minutely into the distinctive details which characterize the Salmonidae. 



JUNE 15, 1855. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE PARR(sALMO SALMULUS). BY WILLI AM ANDREWS, M.R.LA. 



Mr. Andrews said that it maybe in the recollection of several of the Mem- 

 bers that a statement was made, more than five years since, in this Society, by 

 Mr. Williams, on the distinctive habits of the little fish known as the Parr(Salmo 

 salmulus) from that of the true salmon fry, and with regard to the rivers and 

 localities where that little fish existed. Discussions upon this subject were, at 

 several subsequent sessions of the Society, continued. These led to the paper 

 that I gave upon the subject at the meeting of the 16th of June of last year 

 (1854). I should premise by stating that the majority of opinions were in oppo- 

 sition to the views given on that paper, those opinions being in affirmation of 

 the presumed successful experiments made by Mr. John Shaw, of Drumlanrig, 

 and published in 1840, as the results of his several communications read before 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Mr. Shaw and his numerous supporters main- 

 tained, until very recently, that the fry, the produce of the ova of the salmon, re- 

 mained two years in the fresh water, in the state called the parr, before it 

 assumed the smolt transition and descended to the sea. There were other 

 points advanced by him, such as the early breeding development of the male parr. 

 Having formerly been resident for several years in the western parts of Ireland, 

 and in all seasons practically fishing some of the best salmon and trout rivers 

 in that country, and in companionship with some of the most experienced salmon 

 fishers, and latterly having turned my observations to the science of the subject, 

 I felt that I might, with some confidence, detail the views that I had formed. 

 The principal points were, that the salmon-fry assumed the smolt or migratory 

 state, and descended to the sea from eleven to fourteen months after extrication 

 from the ova, that is, the young fish hatched and liberated from the ova in the 

 month of April, 1854, would assume the smolt state at the same period, or a 

 month later, and descend to the sea in 1855. That the fish known as the parr, 

 would be found in rivers throughout the seasons, of good size, and after the 

 salmon-fry, as smelts, had descended to the sea. The parr was similar in its 

 markings to the salmon-fry, but distinct in its habits. At the time I ad- 

 vanced these views I was not aware of the extent to which Mr. Andrew Young, 

 of Invershin, manager of the Duke of Sutherland's salmon fisheries, had carried 

 his experiments, nor of the writings of ♦' Ephemera," of " Bell's Life." I have 

 read their works, in which sound practical observations and masterly judgment 

 of the subject appear throughout. Fortunately for practical knowledge, and for 

 science, a well-organized series of experiments were arranged, and the grounds 

 adopted for the operations were the Stormontfield ponds on the banks of the 

 Tay, and these were skilfully managed by Mr. Buist, and others, of Perth. A 

 rather early investigation into the subject this year led Mr. Wilson, a naturalist, 

 of Edinburgh, backed by numerous savans and learned professors, to at once 



