452 REPORT — 1S5G. 



subject generall}'. This meeting was numerously attehded, and Mr. Thomas 

 Asiiworth of Po)'nton laid before it and explained the operations which had 

 been recently carried on by himself and his brother, Mr. Edmund Ashworth, 

 at their fisheries in Ireland, and recommended strongly that these should now 

 be attempted for the Tay. The recommendation was acceded to, and the 

 Earl of RIansfield, who was chairman of the meeting, at once gave permis- 

 sion to select from his estates any situation favourable for carrying on the 

 experiments. This was the origin of the Stormontfield breeding ponds, and 

 an excellent account of their construction, with a detail of the operations con- 

 ducted in them, was brought before the Natural History Section of the 

 British Association at their meeting in Glasgow, which led to the support of 

 the Association, and the appointment of the Committee which has reported 

 this year to the meeting at Cheltenham*. 



To bring the subject up to the period when the Committee appointed by 

 the British Association was prepai-ed to act, it will be necessary to mention 

 the principal points and results of the experiments detailed by Mr. Edmund 

 Ashworth at Glasgow. These are extremely interesting in themselves, and 

 are indispensable for the right understanding of the operations which were 

 afterwards conducted and are now in operationf. 



The situation for the ponds was selected at Stormontfield Mill I, not far from 

 the Palace of Scone. " A gentle slope from the lade which supplies the 

 mill off"ered every facility for the equable flow of water through the boxes 

 and pond. Three hundred boxes were laid down in twenty-five parallel 

 rows, each box partly filled with clean gravel and pebbles, and protected at 

 both ends with zinc grating to exclude trout and insects. Filtering beds 

 were formed at the head and foot of the rows, and a pond for the reception 

 of the fry was constructed immediately below the hatching ground. On the 

 23rd of November, 1853, operations were commenced, and by the 23rd of 

 December, 300,000 ova were deposited in the boxes. The fish were taken 

 from spawning beds in the Tay." 



The process of fecundation and of depositing the ova in the boxes was 

 conducted by Mr. Ramsbottom, who was engaged for the purpose, his prac- 

 tice and experience at Clitheroe and elsewhere giving confidence to his 

 manipulations. " The ova were placed in the boxes as nearly similar to 

 ■what they would be under the ordinary course of natural deposition as 

 possible, with, however, this important advantage — in the bed of the river 

 the ova are liable to injury and destruction in a variety of ways. The 

 alluvial matter deposited in times of flood will often cover the ova too deep 

 to admit of the extrication of the young fry, even if hatched. The impetuosity 

 of the streams, when flooded, will frequently sweep away whole spawning 

 beds and their contents §. Whilst deposited in boxes, the ova are shielded 

 from injury, and their vivification in large numbers is thus rendered a matter 

 of certainty, and the young fish reared in safety. On the 31st of March, 

 I85i, the first ovum was observed to be hatched, and in April and May the 



* The Committee named to watch over the expeiiments in progress, and those to be ccm- 

 menced in 1856, consisted of Sir W. Jardine, Bart. ; tlie Rev. Dr. Fleming, Prof. Nat. Hist, 

 Free College, Edinburgh ; and Mr. Edmund Ashworth, Egerton Hall, Lancashire. 



f Remarks on Artificial Propagation of Salmon, and some account of the Experiment at 

 Stormontfield, near Perth, by Edmund Ashworth. Bolton, 1855. Svo, pp. 8. 



i Mr. Spottiswoode, the tenant of Stormontfield, with much liberality, also agreed to give 

 the use of the ground and water from his mill lade, free of all remuneration ; and we may add, 

 that the interest taken by all who had any control over the locality chosen, either in the ma- 

 nagement and conducting of the experiments, or in communicating information, could not be 

 exceeded ; this of itself is a proof of the importance attached to these operations. 



§ " These causes, in addition to the great destruction of ova, as well as young fry, by wild 

 fowl, fish and insects, all tend to limit the natural increase of the salmon,'' 



