FECUNDATING THE OVA OF THE SALMONID.E, ETC. 75 



appeared, from tlie observations made by some of the Fellows 

 present, tliat it was possible that some ova might be conveyed 

 by sticking to the feathers, as well as to the downy portions of 

 the legs, of water-fowl. And Mr. John Curtis, the distinguished 

 Entomologist, also mentioned that some of the larger aquatic 

 insects, and water-beetles — especially the Dyticidoe — might, with- 

 out doubt, be the means of conveying the impregnated spawn of 

 fishes from one piece of water to another. 



The short abstract of the above portion of the foregoing paper, 

 which appears in the "Proceedings of the Linna^an Society," 

 No. 49, page 179, and which was published two or three months 

 afterwards, is this: — " On the subject of the distribution of the 

 species of fresh-water fishes, Mr. Hogg refers to the presence of 

 Trout^ and other fishes, in mountain streams and alpine lakes, for 

 which it seems difficult to account ; but he suggests, that as the 

 presence of unusual plants in similar circumstances is only to be 

 accounted for by the seeds having been dropped by birds, the 

 problem with regard to fishes might be naturally solved in an 

 analogous manner, their fry having been conveyed to those dis- 

 tant localities by means of water-birds." And the same abstract 

 was published in the "Annals and ]\Iagazine of Natural His- 

 tory." (2 Ser., X. 462— December No., 1852.) 



Now the other author, to whom I have before alluded, is Dr. 

 John Davy, F.R.S., London and Edinburgh, who, it will appear 

 from the extracts that I here give^ has subsequently made some 

 of the like observations. In his recent little work, called " The 

 Angler and his Friend," published in the year 1855, the follow- 

 ing dialogue states from it (at page 258) the same thing — "May 

 not the impregnated ova be conveyed by birds (such as the Water- 

 ouzel, or Heron), adhering to their feet or feathers, or lodged in 

 their bills ? The manner in which so many mountain tarns and 

 lakes are found to abound in fish seems to denote as much ; and 

 the results of some experiments I have made are favourable to 

 the notion." 



And again (at page 2G1, ibid.), "Amicus" says, "You 

 mentioned salmon ova having been taken from the stomach of a 

 trout, and, notwithstanding, proving productive. Just now you 



