FECUNDATING THE OVA OF THE SALMONID^, ETC. 77 



vitality of the ova is capable of being long sustained, they may, 

 during rain or fog, be conveyed from one river or lake to another, 

 adhering to some i^art of an animal, such as a Heron or Otter, and 

 also during a time of snow or frost; and further, that other of 

 the results may be useful towards determining the fittest age of 

 ova for transport for the purpose of stocking rivers, and likewise 

 as a help to explain the habitats, and some of the habits of the 

 migratory species." 



Here, however, I must remark that the statements made in 

 sections 3, and 5, were previously known ; for, as respects sec- 

 tion 3, Dr. Eansom, of Nottingham, about the middle of January, 

 in the year 1855, communicating to me by means of Dr. Sharpey, 

 the Secretary of the Royal Society, the best method of having 

 some ova of the Salmon put up for examination, and which were 

 to be sent to Nottingham, through the kindness of Sir William 

 Jardine, from Scotland, recommended their being j)acked in ice, 

 as the most certain means of keeping them fresh and of longer 

 preserving their vitality ; and I understood they were accordingly 

 so transmitted by railway. 



And as to section 5, the young fry of the Salmon had before 

 been proved incapable of existing in pure sea-water — an element 

 so favourable to the growth of the parent fishes. 



Next, regarding the probability " of the ova swallowed by a 

 Water-ouzel, or Heron, being disgorged, or discharged by the 

 vent, without losing their vitality." Having had occasion, within 

 the last few weeks, to consult the "Amsenitates Academicte," of 

 Linn^us, I found the following interesting passage in the Essay 

 " Migrationes Avium," which was proposed by C. D. Ekmarck, 

 in 1757 (No. 75, page 599, vol. iv.) — " Quomodo Anseres, dum 

 sub hac sua fuga piscium vere vescuntur ovis, eorum multa diglu- 

 tiunt integra, eademque post diem, vel ultra, in aliis emittunt 

 aquis aeque indemnia ac ea devoraverant, Piscium ita sementim 

 facientes, temporibus recentioribus pulcherrime demonstravit 

 Gmelinus." And this last author, in his preface (page xxv.) to 

 the Flora Sibirica (tom. i., 1747), mentioning the Tschumljak 

 river, in the district which is called Aibat, in the Baschcirick 

 tongue, writes, " Hfec passim lacus continet, non magnos quidem, 



