330 REPORT—1845. 
Fishes.—1. To point out, at stations situated on rivers— _ 
The period of spring at which the species of the genus Clupea, denominated 
allis, Clupea alosa, L., the sardine, and shad, C. finta (in Flemish meyvisch) 
ascend. 
The same with salmon and salmon-trout, Salmo salar, and S. trutia, L. 
The same for the sturgeon, Acipenser, L. 
2. As regards the fish which never leave the sea, to observe in the sea-ports 
or on the coasts, the periods at which the following arrive :— 
The earliest herrings, Clupea harengus, L. 
The earliest mackerel, Scomber scombrus, L., and some other quite common 
migrating fish. 
Birds.—As regards birds, we think we cannot do better than republish an 
extract of the notice of M. de Selys-Longchamps, presented to the Zoological 
Section of the British Association at its last meeting in Plymouth :— 
“ Zoology and botany should be first interrogated, to enable us to ascertain 
each year to what degree the variations in the meteorological constitution is 
capable of advancing or retarding the appearance of certain animals or the 
foliation and flowering of plants. 
“The Belgian naturalists have seen in how great.a degree these observa- 
tions, with the precise dates, and repeated during several years, will render 
more exact the means sought to be established in local faunas and floras, nay, 
even in the general fauna of Europe..... aye 
“It is with the view of insuring the possibility of these comparisons which 
I consider useful for ornithology, that I would earnestly invite naturalists to 
concentrate their observations upon a certain number of species which are 
diffused throughout Europe, or nearly so. I have thought it best, for this 
purpose, to select terrestrial in preference to aquatic species, because their 
migrations are extended more regularly over all regions, and the determina- 
tion of them is easier, insomuch that whilst living in a town we can make ob- 
servations by means of common sportsmen, all these birds having a vernacular 
name in the different European dialects. I am far from denying the utility of 
similar observations made upon the migrations of aquatic birds ; but, I repeat, 
that I believe, during the first years, for want of a sufficient number of stations, 
we should have difficulty in collecting data for the deduction of general results 
upon these species, which are only found ordinarily in large marshes or on 
the sea-coast. 
“T propose then, setting out from 1842, to study the precise date of the 
migrations of about forty species, which may be divided into four sections :— 
1. Those birds (as the swallow and nightingale) which come and-pass the 
summer and breed with us; 
2. Such (like the crane) as are regular in their passage, but which merely 
pass, without remaining ; 
3. Those birds (as the gray crow and the siskin) which sojourn in our 
country throughout the winter and disappear in the fine season ; 
4. Such birds (as the waxwing and the stormy petrel) the passage of which 
is accidental at indeterminate periods. I have departed from the principles 
mentioned in selecting this latter class, but I thought it would be important 
to direct attention to two or three species the causes of whose appearance 
are unknown, as the waxwing, or are closely connected with the occurrence 
of sea tempests, as the Procellaria pelagica. 
“The first division will, I believe, consist of the same species for all Europe ; 
but it will be different with the other three: in one country, for instance Hol- 
land, the stork will be in the first division, whilst elsewhere it will belong to 
the second, as in Belgium. The same will hold good with the third and 
fourth, according to the more or less northern latitude at which the observa- 
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