232 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



memorable floods of the winter of 1849 were supposed to cause the scarcit/of 1850, 

 the parr "was equally abundant. An experienced salmon -fisher, employed in the 

 salmon -fisheries of the Laune, states that the barred gravellings are to be found 

 there all the year round of the same growth ; that he considers them to be distinct 

 from the true salmon -fry, which is not to be found at the end of May or the month 

 of June, of any size — all the full-grown fry having gone to the sea, while those of 

 the season are too small to be noticed. In order to illustrate that confusion might 

 naturally exist with regard to the gravelling, Mr. Andrews exhibited specimens of 

 a series of the following : — Salmon-fry, from the Caragh, Laune, and Bandon 

 rivers ; parr, from the Greece, the Bandon, and the Caragh ; young of the white 

 trout, from the Laune and the Bandon rivers ; young of the brown trout, from the 

 Caragh ; smolts, with migratory dress, from the Laune river. To all these species 

 the term "gravelling" was generally applied. A most intelligent friend of Mr. 

 Williams observes, that on the Bandon river he has marked numbers of gravelling, 

 and that afterwards he has taken them as peal. No doubt, among them he may have 

 marked the true salmon-fry, and, on their return from the sea, have taken them as peal ; 

 but no proof can be afforded that all marked underwent the same change. A charac- 

 teristic mark in the young state of the salmon-fry and the brown trout is the yel- 

 lowish-gray colour of the adipose fin of the former, while in the latter it is tinged 

 and tipped with orange. From these specimens exhibited, and from some of the 

 foregoing remarks, a question would arise as to the several states of growth and 

 age of the fry and smolts. To Mr. Shaw, of Drumlanrig, undoubtedly, belongs the 

 merit of determining the true stage of the fry from the ova ; but still his observations 

 have not all been satisfactorily conclusive. The trials and experiments of develop- 

 ment, carried on artificially in ponds and in tanks, may, to a certain extent, 

 illustrate extrication from the ova and changes of the fry state ; but in an 

 animal, peculiarly sensitive through those changes of growth, that growth must be 

 more or less retarded by the deprivation of its natural acts and resources. Mr. 

 Shaw successfully proved the experiment with regard to the character of the fry by 

 taking them direct from the spawning- beds of the salmon; and to him much is due 

 for so perseveringly pursuing such well-directed inquiries, and to the shame of pre- 

 ceding naturalists, who ought to have sifted what really was the young state and 

 habits of a fish of such importance in the economy of our industrial resources. His 

 experiments only so far prove what really are the young of the salmon, not that all 

 young states of the Salmonidae, named parr or gravelling, are the young of the 

 salmon. In this treatise — M Experimental observations on the growth of Salmon- 

 fry'' — Mr. Shaw mentions, at page 4, " that after the so-called smolts have descended 

 to the sea, none of the larger parr can be detected in the rivers. " The idea that the 

 male parr consorts with the female salmon is too delusive to be supported. What 

 attainable object is advanced by such a departure from all natural laws ? That the 

 ova and the milt, in a rudimentary state, may be detected in the young stages of the 

 true salmon-fry I do not deny ; but that the female salmon, which is said to be in- 

 capable of the fecundating development of the ova until after the third year of ex- 

 istence, and first return and enlarged growth from the sea, can be impregnated by the 

 male of the fry, which had not visited the sea nor undergone those changes necessary 

 for mature growth, appears contrary to all physiological principles. It is true that 

 parr, gravelling, and small trout, on the spawning- beds of the salmon, during the 

 periods of spawning, may constantly be noticed ; for such shoals of the river are their 

 proper locality. O'Gorman, who wrote " The Practice of Angling in Ireland," a 

 most experienced salmon-fisher, and who now enjoys a fine old age in the town of 

 Ennis, could never be persuaded of the parr state of the salmon, but that all the 

 young retreated to the sea the first season of their existence. My own observations 

 and inquiries would lead me to consider, that from the period of the extrication of 

 the fry from the ova to the change to its smolt or migratory state would be about 

 thirteen or fourteen months. In some rivers the fry are in a more advanced state 

 in the winter and spring months than in others — that is, undergoing earlier extrica- 

 tion from the ova, according to the temperature of localities, or to early or late 

 breeding fish. Hence, the varied growth throughout the summer and autumn ; and 

 I further consider, that the great bulk of these assume the migratory state in the 

 following spring, descending early in April and May to the sea. That they assume 



