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Yet early as we find the taste for fish, and for their natural history, pervading 

 the European world, and much as it has been cultivated of late, the history of one 

 of the finest fish that swims— the salmon — is to this hour a matter of dispute. 



In our British rivers we have, at least, fifty-four species of fish ; of which 

 number thirty-one, if not more, are found in this county. 



Of the salmonidse, we have three species— the salmon, the common trout, and 

 the grayling ; with, I believe, an occasional visit from two others — the sewin and 

 the salmon trout. Of these, pre-eminence being universally accorded to the 

 salmon, and in consequence of its commercial importance, and its hitherto disputed 

 descent, a larger portion of this paper will be appropriated to that part of our 

 present subject, than to any other. 



A very remarkable feature disclosed by comparative anatomy, may here be 

 mentioned ; not only as in its connection with the gradual rise in the types of 

 organized life, but as illustrated by Ichthyology ; most, if not all creatures, in 

 their embryo or early condition, pass through the gradations — perhaps they must 

 be considered degradations— of inferior life. The whole of the fossil fish of the 

 Devonian era (for previous to that geologists acknowledge but limited and obscure 

 traces of this section of animate nature), are distinguished by the tail, formed of 

 two branches of greatly unequal length. This one-sided sort of tail, is the 

 characteristic of higher orders, at a certain point of their embryonic history. 

 Such is the case with the salmon ; which, as an embryo, possesses the tail, and 

 also the mouth and vertebral column, of an inferior class. 



By investigating the paternity of the fish, known by a great variety of local 

 names, such as fingeiling, graveling, parr, pink, and lastspring— we may be able 

 to elucidate the perplexed history of the salmon. 



One or two facts are puzzling enough to the unobserving and unscientific. It 

 is known that the salmon fry go down to the sea every spring ; yet, at all seasons 

 this fish is in the river. Hence it has been denied, as it is found all the year in the 

 river, that it can be same species as that which abandons the freshwater in the 

 spring. Nor could it be, if the salmon fry really left the river soon after it was 

 hatched — a belief which formerly prevailed— because in that case, all would dis- 

 appear together. But since they are now proved to remain nearly two years in 

 the fresh water before they seek the sea, it is obvious there must be these fish in 

 the river the whole of every year. Those which have arrived at the age destined 

 by nature for migration, accordingly migrate ; the rest remain in their native 

 stream, awaiting the appointed time ; and so on, in successional years. 



The external appearance of others of the salmonidse, when young, has suf- 

 ficient resemblance to deceive many. The same dusky, transverse bais, mark their 

 sides. But this is no perplexity to the naturalist. A family likeness in early 

 youth is the common stamp of nature. The lion's whelp, and the young of the 

 domestic cat, have alike the tiger's marks. Fawns, in their youthful days, are 

 spotted ; though, when adult, many kinds are perfectly plain. However closely 



