398 



Donations to Museum- 

 Specimens illustrative of Mr Stark's paper on the Food of the Her- 

 ring and Salmon. — Presented hy John Stark, Esq. 

 Specimens of the Woods of Ceylon (fifty different kinds,)^Pre- 



sented by J. Anstruther, Esq. 

 Specimens of Minerals and Fossil Organic Remains from Malta, the 



Ionian Islands, and Ceylon. — Presented by Dr John Davy. 

 Geological Specimens from the Velay and Vivarais (Haute Loire 

 and Ai'deche.) — Presented hy Professor Forbes. 



Monday, 9(h January 1843. 

 Dr ABERCROMBIE, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. On the Growth of the Salmon. By Mr Andrew Young, In- 

 vershin, Sutherlandshire. Communicated by JamesWilson, 

 Esq. 



Mr Young has here taken up the subject of the salmon's growth 

 where it was necessarily left off by Mr Shaw, So far as the 

 earliest or fresh-water state of the fish is concerned, he entirely 

 agrees with the observer just named. He then states the various 

 opinions which prevail regarding the more or less rapid growth of 

 smolts and g'rilse, and shews by tabular lists (the result of frequently 

 repeated experiments), that the increase in their dimensions is ex- 

 traordinary so soon as they descend into the salt water. So far back 

 as the months of April and May 1837, he marked a number of de- 

 scending smolts, by making a peculiar perforation in the caudal fin, 

 by means of small nipping irons constructed for the purpose. He 

 re-captured a considerable number of them ascending the rivers as 

 grilse, in the course of the ensuing months of June and July, and 

 weighing several pounds each, more or less according to the differ- 

 ence in the length of their sojourn in the sea. Again, in April and 

 May of 1842, he marked a number of descending smolts, by clipping 

 off the little adipose fin upon the back. In June and July he caught 

 several of them returning up the river, and bearing his peculiar 

 mark, — the adipose fin being- absent. Two of these specimens were 

 exhibited to the Society. One marked in April, and re-captured on 

 the 25th of July, weighed 7 lbs. ; the other, marked in May and re- 

 captured on the 30th July, weighed 3^ lbs. As the season advances 



