[ 447 J 



XVIII. On the Breeding of Salmon from Parents which hare never descended to the Sen. 



By Ebancis Day, F.L.S. 



(Plates LIII. & LIT.) 

 Read March 5th, 1885. 



CONSIDERABLE attention has been paid in this country to the life-history of the 

 Salmon, bnt many so-called "facts" heretofore accepted and that std pass current 

 have no better foundation on which to rest than the dogmata, assertion of a self- 

 led ..practical" individual, the theory of an ichthyologist or the unsupported 

 tenement of a museum naturalist ; or, .as Itussel • observed, - the nonsense about he 

 Salmon that has been published under the name of natural history, and thrust down the 

 Lets of Parliamentary Committees, is, when looked back upon, appalling » amount, 



™tt~X«^ oi great moment that the various asserted facts upon 

 wUehany dXstuflingers 'should be accurately sifted, not by a partisan of one party or 

 "nether but an independent individual who would, regardless of expense tune and 

 trouble undertake suih a task in the sole interest of scientific truth and for he good of 

 he fi herfe Such tests have been for the last few years and are stdl being steadily ana 

 memitt nglv carried on at Howietoun, and in due time the results, whether m 

 "ec„Lnce\-ith or opposed to existing theories, will, it is to be hoped, be grven to the 



"trteminent among the questions of practical moment, as bearing upon the race of 

 so-called "land-locked Salmon," is whether the Salma salar can be permanently returned 

 and finally breed in fresh water without descending to the sea. 



I propose examining this principally from a fisb-eulturisfs point of view as, owing to 

 the Snl of the owner of Howietoun, I have had the "fT*^ ££Z f C 

 of the interesting .and instructive experiments which are being carried on n that large 



d Cnlcted establishment, and consequently am in a position to give a rep y o 



f QC 4f w there been solved. I have also thought that it would be 



SereaTwI I'to c e ^the Opinions which have been published in the British 



its on tnis subject, as well as a synopsis of a few of the various experiments which haie 



"«" p'Shedthe first edition of his - Compleat Angler,' wherein 

 theopinl oftbemost reliable authors of previous or contemporary times on Salmon- 

 toeelgare condensed. He remarks that the Salmon - is said to breed or cast its spawn 

 • I "mstVivers in the month of A,,„, t : some say they dig a hole or graven a safe place 



* ' The Salmon,' by A. llussel, 1 864, p. 32. 

 SECOND SEKIES.— ZOOLOGY, VOL. II. 



