i peoceedixgs of the 



Oedinaey Meetixg, IIth Janitary, 1877. 

 John Evans, Esq., F.R.S., etc.. President, in the Cliair. 



Dr. John Attfield, F.C.S., Professor of Practical Chemistry to 

 the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Ashlands, Watford, 

 and Mr. Sydney Humbert, Little Nascot, "Watford, were elected 

 Members of the Society. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. " Fish- hatching and Fish-culture in Hertfordshire." By 

 Alfred T. Brett, M.D. With "Notes on Pisciculture" by Peter 

 Hood, M.D. {Vide^. 179). 



2. "Notes and Queries on the River Colne, Watford." By A. 

 T. Brett, M.D. {Vide^. 175). 



Mr. John E. Littleboy gave an account of an attempt he made to rear trout, 

 and stated that only a few out of 300 young fish grew to be of any considerable 

 size. Crayfish, he said, abounded in the stream at Hunton Bridge, and he had 

 often eaten them at tea. 



Mr. Humbert remarked with regard to the scarcity of fish that men came from 

 London and caught with a net perhaps a bushel of 'fish in a day. He thought 

 they supplied the shops where live bait was sold. The scarcit)' of fish at Mr. 

 King's might be owing to Wiggenhall being below the W^atford Gas Works. 



The President spoke at some length upon the origin of the word " Colne," 

 which he thought was most probably derived from the Breton word cole», 

 signifying " small," as so many small rivers in this country were called "Colne." 

 The elevation of the banks of the Colne, alluded to by Mr. Clutterbuck in his 

 letter, seemed to show that the mill at Watford was a very ancient one, like 

 many others in the neighbourhood, which date back seven or eight hundred years. 

 The disease among the fish at Cassiobury he considered to be parasitical, and he 

 thought that the absence of trout in the river could be best accounted for by the 

 accumulation of mud at the bottom of the river, trout requiring a gravelly 

 bottom upon which to deposit their ova. Jack he said were very destructive to 

 trout. 



The following objects were exhibited: — A fish-hatching ap- 

 paratus, and fish-ova, by Mr. Jonathan King ; sketches of trout 

 caught in the Colne, by Mr. King and Mr. H. Howard ; a pike, stuffed, 

 weighing 18 lbs., caught by Mr. W. Rogers, and another weighing 

 HrV lbs., caught at Aldenham Abbey, by Mr. Durham; and salmon, 

 hybrids of salmon and trout, the soy or golden trout from Germany, 

 Swiss trout, pike, roach, dace, bream, and minnows, living, from the 

 Fish Museum, South Kensington, by Mr. Frank Buckland. Dr. 

 Brett, Mr. Jonathan Chater, and the Honorary Secretary, also ex- 

 hibited fish scales under their microscopes. 



Mr. James U. Harford and !Mr. C. F. HoUingsworth were 

 appointed Auditors of the Accounts for 1876. 



ANNTJAL MEETING, 9th February, 1877. 



John Evans, Esq., F.R.S., etc., President in the Chair. 



Mr. F. J. Marnham, The Hollies, Boxmoor, and Miss Wilson, 

 Nutfield, Watford, were elected Members of the Society. 



