173 



I think Mr. Wheatley is correct ia saying that the two former are rare visi- 

 tants in the only salmon river of this county— the Wye ; indeed, I am not well 

 aware of a well authenticated instance of the kind. I have noticed, wherever a 

 river contains a fish of either species, that they are tolerably abundant, and I 

 very much doubt the existence of either in any of the rivers that debouches into 

 the estuary of the Severn, or mouth of the Bristol Channel. Yet in the rivers of 

 Carmarthenshire, and north of Glamorgan, the sewin much abounds. I was 

 some years ago led to believe from the fishmongers there that these fish were 

 found in the Wye, but this assertion must be taken mm grano salts, for they are 

 apt to attribute to the fish of the Wye not only superior freshness, but quality, 

 as an inducement to purchase by their customers. Some twenty years ago I 

 hooked what appeared to me a fish of this kind, between 2 and 3 lbs., at Mon- 

 nington rocks on the Wye, in this county, having an ocular inspection of his 

 outline by holding him in the water for half an hour and bringing him near shore 

 more than once, and from his leaping upwards when hooked— a fact peculiar to 

 the sewin when in season ; but at last, I presume, not liking his proximity to dry 

 land, he made a last effort and plunged upwards out of his element, seeming to 

 say '" I give you notice to quit," and away he went, with a portion of the line 

 and two other flies attached, thus cheating me of the opportunity of examining 

 his osteology. 



In reference to the very mteresting experiments near Perth. Sir W. J . observes 

 " will prove in May next whether any portion of the brood of young salmon will 

 assume the migratory dress within the twelve or thirteen months." According to 

 what I have observed from the experiments of Shaw, Young, and those at Stor- 

 montfield, it appeared to me that though that assumption of dress occurred 

 usually in two years, there were some, more forwardly developed than the rest, 

 that did assume this particular costume at a little more than twelve months old. 

 However it is gratifying to one like your humble servant, who fifteen or sixteen 

 years ago endeavoured to prove by papers read before the Natural History 

 Institution of this city (and which was then considered to be an ichthyological 

 heresy), that the small fish called variously par, lastspring, samlet, &c., a supposed 

 hitherto distinct species, was the real offspring of the salmon-but denied by 

 Sir W. J. and others, " distinguished naturalist " though he be— that is not now 

 a question, but at what particular age do they arrive at the natural instinct 

 which directs them seaward. 



Although this subject has been before discussed in your extensively cir- 

 culated periodical, you may be of opinion that correct notions of natural history, 

 and that regarding one of our most valuable fishes, cannot be too often laid before 

 the public. Even so late as four years ago, a certain Archdeacon of Wales, in a 

 correspondence with me and the author of the " Rod and Line " in your paper, 

 maintained the old theory ; but I presume that venerable and learned gentleman, 

 with that candour evidencing an inquiring mind, has recanted his error. 



T. JENKINS. 

 Hereford, 5th Nov., 1856. 



