Mr D. Ellis on the Natural Historic of the Salmon, 251 



rivers, estuaries, &c. or should vary in different i-ivers; and, 

 lastly, what regulations can best provide for the safety of the 

 parent fish during the breeding season ; protect the spawn after 

 its deposition ; and finally secure the descent of the young fry 

 down the rivers to the sea. 



The answers returned to these queries enabled the Committee 

 to summon before them persons from all parts of the kingdom, 

 the best qualified to give the desired information ; and the evi- 

 dence collected is contained in the above mentioned ReportsL 

 This evidence goes to prove, that the productiveness of the sal- 

 mon fisheries has decreased, and is decreasing, in almost all the 

 rivers in the United Kingdom ; but that this decrease arises^ not 

 so much from any changes in the habits of the fish, or in the 

 condition and circumstances of our rivers, as from the operation 

 of injudicious laws in relation both to the times and modes of 

 fishing ; from the prevalence of most destructive practices, and 

 incredible abuses in almost all our rivers ; and from the indul- 

 gence of a too greedy spirit of gain, which, instead of waiting 

 for the natural production of the golden egg, cuts up at once 

 the animal that can only daily produce it. The facts brought 

 out in these Reports, respecting the natural history of the sal- 

 mon, particularly as regards the propagation of the race, their 

 rate of growth, and their several migrations between the rivers 

 and the sea, are far more complete than any we before possessed ; 

 and, as they are not only curious in themselves, but of the ut- 

 most importance in any legislative measures that may be adopt- 

 ed for the future regulation of the salmon fisheries, I have 

 thought that the collection and arrangement of them would 

 form no unsuitable article for the Philosophical Journal, and per- 

 haps prove acceptable to many of your general readers 



Naturalists enumerate several species of the genus Salmo, of 

 which a distinguished zoologist, Dr Fleming, mentions seven as 

 met with in the estuary of the Tay *. These are, 



1. Salmo salar, or Common Salmon. 



2. Salmo hucho, or Bull Trout. 



3. Salmo eriox, the Gray or Shewn. 



4. Salmo trutta, or Sea Trout. 



5. Salmo albus, the Whiteling or Finnock. 



6. Salmo fario, or River Trout. 



7. Salmo eperlanus, the Spirlin or Smelts 



• Report II. p. 63. 



