51 



FUETHER NOTES ON THE SALMON EXPERIMENT. 



By Morton Allport, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Read IZth July, 1875.] 



The Fellows of the Society may remember that since the 

 capture of the female grilse at Bridgewater in December, 1878, 

 and which fish I shall in this paper refer to as " the first 

 grilse," a male specimen of nearly the same size and weight, 

 and which I shall refer to as " the second grilse," was caught 

 in the lower Dcrwent. The second grilse was, in January 

 last, forwarded to Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, for 

 examination, and in reference to it I received by last mail 

 from Dr. Giinther the following remarks : — 



"The most important specimen is that described in your letter 

 as a migratory sahnon, weighing three pounds, taken in the salt 

 water of the Derwent estuary. 



" This fish has a short, broad tail, with a perfectly truncated 

 caudal fin, fourteen scales in a transverse line between the adipose 

 fin and lateral fine ; nmnerous x shaped spots on the body ; 54 

 pyloric appendages, characters which leave no doubt whatever in 

 my muid that it is a salmo trutta, as which it has been recogmsed 

 by other men well versed in the distinctions of salmonoids. 



" It had in its stomach eight ancho%des, a diet which will account 

 for the rapid growth of sabnonoids in your waters, but wliich will 

 not improve the flavour of their flesh. 



" I have placed this specimen mto our public galleries, as evidence 

 of the remarkable success wliich has attended the eflbrts of the 

 colony to mtroduce sabnonoids." 



Before referring to the above remarks in detail, I desire to 

 express my sense of the obligation we are under to Dr. 

 Giinther for the prompt courtesy with which he has at all 

 times examined and reported upon the salmonoids sent from 

 the colony, and my conviction is that any light thrown uj^on 

 the obscure life history of migratory salmon by the experiment 

 in this colony will always be hailed by him as a scientific 

 gain, even though such light may change somewhat his own 

 preconceived opinions. 



In determining the species of any indivividual belonging to 

 the genus salmo in this colony, as we have not the advantage 

 of undoubted fresh specimens for comparison, we have to rely 

 on the written descriptions of recognised authorities on the 

 subject, aided by what we may gather of the life history of 

 the particular individual, so that when dealing with the first 

 grihse, its determination rested on a careful detailed com- 

 parison with the descriptions contained in Dr. Giinther's 

 admir.ible " Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum," 

 published in 1866, coupled with the knowledge that out of 

 nearly 10,000 fish turned into the Derwent, barely 300 were 



