65 



outward ff)rms may approximate, there is no instance, so far as I am aware, of a 

 coincidence of formation in the osteology of different species of the same genus ; 

 and I may venture to affirm that organic structure is incontrovertible evidence. 

 Determine the anatomy of the salmon, and when a small fish of the migratory 

 salmonidae is found, having corresponding anatomy, that fish may fearlessly claim 

 heirship to the salmon. The parr has sixty vertebrae, and the salmon is the only 

 one of the salmonidae having the same number. He must be a daring naturalist, 

 therefore, who, in classifying these, should assign them the parentage of others 

 of their genus. If a race of men were found having thirty-three vertebrse^which 

 is one more than we have— what would it be ? of the genus homo, certainly, 

 but another species. In such rivers as the Teivi, where several migratory species 

 of the salmon are found, those who know little of Ichthyology may easily be 

 deceived in attempting to identify the different kinds. Let them visit your 

 Herefordshire Wye, or the upper part of Bandon river, in the county of Cork, 

 and they will have less to distract their attention ; for the salmon is the only one 

 of the migratory salmonidae that regularly visits those waters. Whence then the 

 multitudes of lastsprings in the Wye, and gravelings in the Bandon, if they be 

 not young salmon ? How comes the assertion that they are a distinct and separate 

 species ? 



Since the laws stamped on nature, by the Creator, are inflexible, unswerving, 

 and unerring, it results that a discovery in natural history, must, if true, be 

 equally invariable and inflexible, and in harmony wth the Creator'3 works, in 

 that particular division of the great laboratory ; else it is necessarily a misinter- 

 pretation of nature. If the fish of which we are speaking be a distinct species of 

 of the salmonidae, we are presented with that Ichthyological anomaly, "that 

 monster which the world ne'er saw " — two species of the same genus, with pre- 

 cisely the same anatomical structure. Scientifically, therefore, it is at once 

 pronounced not to be a separate species, or there would be some structural dis- 

 tinction. Besides, at nearly two years old, they liave only attained a few inches 

 in length ; and, with rare exceptions, not three ounces in weight. In the whole 

 range of nature, we meet with no instance in which this tardy growth is exhibited, 

 where smallness is maturity. It is contrary to the law of nature. All creatures 

 that have arrived at their full size and are yet small, have grown rapidly— a wise 

 provision ; for such are destined to a very brief existence ; witli which a pro- 

 tracted advance towards the perfect stage is inconsistent. The converse is equally 

 true. The slow-growing races, whether of animate or inanimate nature, are com- 

 paratively large and of long life. The slowly matured oak, and the aloe, endure 

 for centuries — the quickly-formed mushroom, for hours. The elephant continues 

 to grow for nearly a quarter of a century — and lives long. The ephemera leaps 

 perfect from his grub state— and dies in an hour, or at most, in a few days. Why 

 then argue against nature's decree ? Why stamp this little fish as an aberration 

 of the Creative Power ? Again, every fish in our waters can be detected breeding, 

 if they do breed there. But though the parr has been watched and examined, 

 with the most scrupulous care and industry, it is universally admitted " that its 

 breeding is unknown." It has been noticed by all who have studied this part of 



