BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STxiTES FISH COMMISSION. 429 



lu the Wash, about fifty years ago, were enormous oyster beds; one 

 oxteiulinj;- nearly the whole length of the Wash and continuing outside 

 about 50 miles. One bed in i)articalar, which was discovered about 

 forty years ago, being (as the fishermen state) a fathom and a half deep, 

 with nothing but oysters. Kow everything is changed ; the oysters on 

 these beds are nearly exhausted, there not having been a fall of spat for 

 a great number of years, owing, I believ^e, to the low temperature of the 

 summers, the tem])erature of the last twelve years not having exceeded 

 G2° Fahr., generally under 59°, of the waters of the Wash. 



The Wash is, or should be, the natural nursery for shrimps, soles, 

 flounders, and other tlat fish, bat owing to the incessant practice of 

 catching shrimps all the year round with small-meshed trawls, the mesh 

 being barely capable (when strained) of letting a wire through, this 

 fishery is at a very low ebb. 



King's Lynn, England, 



April 21, 1882. 



DISEAj^E: AITSOIVC the SAI,M0!V of rriANV KIV£RS in E:VGliAIVI> AND 



WALES.* 



By S. ^VALPOILE AW© PKOF. T. H. IIUXI^EY. 



We desire to draw attention to the remarkable outbreak of a disease 

 among the salmon of many rivers. The disease was noticed originally 

 in the autumn and spring of 1877 in two rivers, the Esk and the Nith, 

 which flow into the Solway Firth. It soon spread to the Eden and other 

 adjoining rivers. ItL the spring of 1879 it was observed in the Tweed, 

 when it rapidly became very serious, and in 1880, when a commission 

 was appointed to investigate it, it had extended to the Nith, the Annan 

 the Esk, the Eden, the Cree, and the Dee, all flowing into the Solway 

 Firth; to the Doon and the Ayr in Ayrshire; to the Derwent in Cum- 

 berland, the Luue in Lancashire, and to the Tweed. Since then the 

 disease has broken out in the Seiont, the Ogwen, iiud the Conway in 

 North Wales, and in the Tay and North Esk in Scotland. 



We have very little doubt that the disease, which first excited atten- 

 tion in 1877, had existed, at any rate in a sporadic form, for many years. 

 It was stated in evidence before the late commission that Dr. Crosbie, 

 formerly surgeon to the Challenger expedition, carefully investigated a 

 case of the disease so long ago as in 1852. His observations will be 

 found in the Commissioners' Ueport, p. 44. Other witnesses similarly 



* Reprinted fiora a. pampTilet entitled: Tvventy-tirst Aunnal Eeport | of the | Inspec- 

 tors of Fisheries (England | and Wales.) t (For the year IBtil.) | Presented to both 

 Honses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. | Ijoudon: | Printed by George 

 E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, | Printers to the Qneeu's Most Excellent Majesty. | 

 For Her Majesty's Stationery Office. | 1882. | 



