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once pretty generally received as correct that the migrations 
of the salmon were attributable to these parasites—that it 
leaves the sea to get rid of one of them in the fresh water, and 
becoming there infested with the other, seeks to free itself 
from its river enemy by returning once more to the salt water. 
I scarcely need say that the noble fish acts upon a far higher 
and more important motive than fleeing in this battledore-and- 
shuttlecock fashion from two little insignificant foes. The 
salmon ascends to the head waters of the rivers not to avoid 
the presence of the ‘sea-louse,’ but in obedience to the 
instinct implanted in it, to find a fitting place for the deposit 
of its eggs, and for the reproduction of its species. The 
males of these parasitic crustacea are so minute, and so totally 
unlike the females, that few of them have been satisfactorily 
recognised, and of their embryology and development hardly 
anything is known. I, therefore, direct your attention to this, 
as another department of microscopical zoology in which much 
work remains to be done. An examination of the stomachs of 
fishes will well repay the naturalist for the trouble of making 
it, not only on account of the parasitic entozoa which are 
generally found there, but because some fishes, especially the 
cod tribe, are good collectors of waifs and strays which some- 
times prove valuable. They are exceedingly fond of the 
crustacea, and as they do not masticate their food, amongst 
the remains of it may often be discovered specimens of those 
which frequent deep water, and are consequently rare and 
difficult to obtain by any other means. It is impossible to 
name anything which a cod will not gorge. I have, myself, 
amongst other odds and ends, taken from the stomach of one 
a large lump of coal, the sleeve of a fisherman's red guernsey, 
and the heel of an old boot ; and, from another, a rib-bone of 
a loin of mutton, and two under-cooked potatoes, which I had 
thrown overboard not many minutes before he was hooked. 
Captain Charles Hill, master of the North Sea fishing smack 
‘Hurricane,’ mentioned to my friend Mr. Buckland and 
myself his having found in a cod’s stomach a bunch of keys 
which he had dropped overboard off Cape Wrath, miles away 
from where the cod was caught. But, perhaps, the strangest 
thing ever found in a fish’s stomach is the metal spirit flask 
which I hold in my hand, and for the loan of which I am 
indebted to my friend Mr. Henry Ffennell, son of the late 
respected Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, to. whom it was 
given. It bears the following inscription :—‘ Royal Irish 
Fisheries Company. ‘This flask, containing two glasses of an 
ardent spirit, was found in the stomach of a ling taken off 
Berry Head, February, 1849.—Presented by James EK. Stop- 
ford, Esq., L.L.D., Director, and Wm. Andrews, Esq., 
