PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 139 



mens of the Siskin (Carduelis spinus), which were shot in the county Wicklow. Mr. 

 Andrews said that there were several other donations which he hoped to record on 

 the next night of meeting. 



Mr. Ffennell, Inspecting Commissioner of Fisheries, was then called on for his 

 paper 



ON THE ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF THE OVA OF THE SALMON, AND THE 

 PROGRESS OF THE EXPERIMENTS NOW CARRYING ON. 



Mr. Ffennell said that he had received the notice of his paper being on the list 

 for this evening. At the last monthly meeting of the Society he was unavoidably 

 absent on public duty, and he had now but very recently returned from London, 

 where he had been hastily summoned. He was, therefore, not so fully prepared 

 as he could have desired on the subject, and he regretted much that he had not 

 been able to collect, so far, sufficient material, to render any paper of the kind of 

 importance ; in fact, the experiments were not yet forward enough to give the full 

 statistics he had from time to time been collecting, from the parties who were 

 in different parts of the country, employed in such operations, and he would, as the 

 season advanced, submit to the Society the progress made by them in those experi- 

 ments. In whatever light this subject may be considered, it was one of vast im- 

 portance, in a national point of view, and in the great value of its commercial 

 tendency, and, therefore, valuable as to its economy, and its practical utility to 

 man. In Ireland, these experiments were new and novel, and no knowledge had 

 yet been obtained as to the results of their practical usefulness. He felt the neces- 

 sity of bringing those inquiries before the Society, as those who were engaged in 

 the experiments were practical men, without scientific knowledge, and who, there- 

 fore, laboured under the difficulty of not being able to solve any new features that 

 presented, that a knowledge of the natural history of the animal, and the aid of 

 science might explain, and, consequently, enable them to take advantage of. He 

 (Mr. Ffennell) did not understand the subject of the fisheries scientifically, but he 

 had been practically engaged for many years. He was a practical man, but he 

 was fully sensible of the importance of the study of natural history ; and that 

 science must promote practical knowledge. The aid of those who made practical 

 science their study would be of great value in carrying out the work of public or 

 official bodies. Without such knowledge, in the infancy of such undertakings, 

 failures must be expected. The great interest created in the progressive growth of 

 the salmon fry, which were daily seen by the public in the Exhibition, and of the 

 explanation of their artificial development from the ova, induced a Doctor Merron, 

 Professor of Anatomy in one of the London colleges, to come over to witness, and 

 to learn the system that had been pursued throughout, as he was much interested 

 in the proceedings of a company that had been formed for the object of conveying 

 the ova, and stocking the waters of New Zealand, where, although a climate almost 

 similar to that of England, salmon were not found in its rivers. The Messrs. 

 Ashworth were the first to introduce the artificial propagation of the ova of the 

 salmon in this country, and there were now several parties that had taken 

 up the subject, and were carrying on such operations — Mr. Doherty, at Bush- 

 mills ; Mr. Cooper, of Markree, at Ballina, in Mayo ; at Galway, by the Ash- 

 worths ; and at Lismore, in the Blackwater, by the Board of Conservators of the 

 Fisheries. When the results of all their experiments (of which he regularly 

 received reports) were perfected, he would feel most happy in submitting them fully, 

 and in detail to the Society. The Messrs. Ashworth had not been so fortunate 

 this year in obtaining the quantity of impregnated ova as in the first year. The 

 habits of the fish must be more studied to insure certain success. On the grounds 

 in the Cong river, where the salmon were in the habit of spawning, the Messrs. 

 Ashworth, at the latter end of November last, at the time they considered the fish 

 to be in a fully-developed state for spawning, took a quantity of fish for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining the ova for artificial impregnation, and they were surprised to 

 find that all the fish taken were male salmon. Mr. Foley, at Lismore, who has 

 charge of the salmon fishery in the Blackwater, experienced a similar result, on 

 the 1st of February last. He was anxious to obtain the fish for a similar purpose, 

 but not a single male fish was captured — they were all females, and full of ova. 



