106 Mr Shaw's Experiments and Observatioms on the Parr, 



summer comparatively unobserved. It seldom takes the fly of 

 the angler the iirst season, and when it does, it forms so con- 

 temptible a prize that it is generally returned to the river; its 

 size not exceeding that of the common minnow. But by the 

 time it arrives at the age of twelve or thirteen months, the larger 

 parrs have disappeared as salmon-fry, which circumstance brings 

 this fisli more exclusively under the notice of the angler, and 

 thence originates the provincial name of May or summer parr. 

 All this considered, it must appear very extraordinary that it 

 should never have occurred to the intelligent angler to inquire, 

 what had become of the older generation of the parr, which was 

 to be taken in such abundance in the beginning of April, while 

 now (the end of May) there is no parr to be found in the river 

 exceeding tliree and a half inches in length, and these compa- 

 ratively scarce. 



I have yet to communicate the result of another experiment 

 made on the ova of tlie salmon, interesting as well from its no- 

 velty, as from its tendency to corroborate in part the results of 

 the former. The experiment to which I allude was recom- 

 mended by Sir Humphrey Davy, as having been tried by him- 

 self, as well as Mr Jacobi, with perfect success. On the 8tli 

 January 1836, I had an opportunity of practising this experi- 

 ment, by taking a male and female adult salmon, whose appa- 

 rent weight was from sixteen lb. to twenty Jb. each, while in 

 the act of spawning. Preparative to my experiment, I dug a 

 trench in the gravel, through which I caused a current of water 

 to flow two inches deep. I then had the two living fish held in 

 this trench side by side, while with the hand I pressed the ova 

 and seminal liquor out of their bodies, which mixed freely to- 

 gether in the stream. A ^evf minutes after this process, I re- 

 moved the ova to a stream of water to which no other fish had 

 access, and on the 11th April, ninety-four days after the process 

 of artificial impregnation, the young fish was excluded from the 

 egg. They had precisely the same appearance in every respect 

 as those in the former experiment, with the exception of being 

 somewhat lighter in colour. Being, however, afraid of losing 

 them in this open stream, I removed them into a pond, where I 

 hope to be able to trace their progress still farther. It will ap- 

 pear from these experiments, that the ova artificially impreg- 



