NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 261 



valuable starting points, and will be quickly and promptly taken 



up by such of our workers as can tiud time and opportunity to 

 follow them up. 



Amongst subjects almost too numerous to include or catalogue, 

 relating to the Natural History of Fish, and which still require 

 attention, the following are perhaps somewhat prominent: — 



a. Local Lists — care being taken to distinguish the species, and 

 to append the vernacular name or names. If more names than one 

 are known the reasons of the difference should be indicated, and 

 whether they are due to age, size, colour, sex, season, &c. Thus in 

 Sal mo salar — our common salmon — we find various names at 

 different ages and seasons, and these varying at different localities 

 and on different rivers ; and it is desirable to collect lists of 

 names in order to clear up much still-existing confusion. We find 

 varieties of trout also in certain localities bearing distinctive local 

 names, such as the " Fossae " of the west coast of Sutherland, a 

 trout which has betaken itself to the tidal waters and the mouths 

 of rivers. Much might be learned too, I believe, from the 

 Gaelic names of British fishes, if such could be collected by a Gaelic 

 scholar. The English Dialect Society are at present preparing a 

 glossary of fish names. Could we not have a Gaelic one '? 



b. The Breeding of Fish. — Where are the eggs of each species 

 deposited 1 ? Under gravel (ex. salmon), in strings (ex. perch), in 

 mud (?carp and roach), in nests (ex. stickleback), attached to the 

 valves of dead shells (ex. lepidogaster), floating on the sea (ex. 

 cod), &c, &c. 



c. The Number of Eggs deposited by each species, and whether 

 dependent on size, or age of fish ; at what season they are deposited. — 

 I may state here that in a certain inaccessible loch in Sutherland- 

 shire, I have killed trout in June and July full of highly-developed 

 ova, and these were far from uncommon. The loch is directly fed 

 from streams containing much melted snow in most seasons, and 

 after severe winters — such as 1879-80, and 1880-81 — large masses 

 of snow lie unmelted, or slowly melting through, or far into, the 

 summer. Have the ova been retarded in their development in 

 these trout by the temperature ? Hence arise the queries — How 

 long do eggs of various species remain prior to hatching 1 What 

 are the effects of temperature, and of accidents to the fish, on their 

 hatching powers'? What are the effects of changes of water, either 

 as to quality, depth, &cJ What are the results of rapid vicissi- 



