SPECIES OF THE SALMON. 51 



ing, that if fish are to be pronounced of differ- 

 ent species, merely by slight marks, spots, and 

 bodily distinctions, though agreeing in all ma- 

 terial points, it seems to me to be fixing opinion 

 on a slender and treacherous foundation, when 

 there are other facts and circumstances of infinitely 

 more importance, and much better calculated to 

 lead us to truth. 



Whether salmon-peal are young salmon, or are 

 not, has been a long-agitated question, and, as far as 

 concerns merely public curiosity or natural history, 

 perhaps it is a matter of no great consequence ; but, 

 as it concerns the welfare of the salmon fisheries, it 

 is a matter of first rate magnitude ; for, as has been 

 frequently observed already, if they are so, (and that 

 they are, I should think there cannot be a doubt 

 in the mind of any unprejudiced and disinterested 

 person,) they are then unsizeable fish, and ought 

 not to be taken. It is evident to me that they 

 were so considered in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 when the mesh of the net was fixed at two inches 

 and a half broad to enable them to escape ; and 

 there is nothing in the case to induce a contrary 

 opinion. The capture of salmon-peal, then, is an 

 incalculable injury to the salmon fishery, and it 

 ought to be prohibited. 



I do not detail the many other comparisons 

 which I have made with a great number of sea- 

 trout and salmon. I shall only observe, that I 

 have made such, and that they all terminated in 

 the same result — an exact similitude. 



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