Mr Shaw's Experiments on the Fry of the Salmon. 175 



turity. The female parr may be found in the river in autumn, in nearly 

 equal numbers to the male, but the roe found in it has not the most distant 

 appearance of approaching to maturity. I have also taken it at times during 

 the whole winter, when the weather was mild, and still the roe had no ap- 

 pearance of advancing ; and even up to the period of their migration, it is to 

 be found with the roe in the same immature state." 



The apparent maturity of the male is a circumstance which 

 cannot be reconciled with any of the existing theories regard- 

 ing the parr ; and it is also, I confess, a difficulty not easily 

 reconciled with the opinion I entertain as to its being the young 

 of the salmon. I trust that I shall not invalidate my statement 

 of observed facts, if I venture to suggest a hypothesis upon 

 which a speculative solution of the difficulty may be attempted. 

 In the case of the hive-bee, we see a vast preponderance of males 

 in the economy of the hive. The queen is productive to an 

 extraordinary extent. She receives the conjugal embraces of 

 all the males in the community, to enable her to perpetuate 

 the race, and send forth infant colonies to compensate for 

 the annual destruction of the species. The roe of the fe- 

 male salmon is prodigiously abundant ; and when it is con- 

 sidered that she spawns in streams where the milt of the male 

 may be often carried down without properly performing the 

 function of impregnation ; when it is considered, besides, that 

 the male parr is found upon these streams with the milt flow- 

 ing from him in abundance, have we not some ground for sus- 

 pecting that the female salmon, like the queen-bee, has the 

 aid of a plurality of males in propagating her species .'' I know 

 it may be said, that these parr attend the female for a more ex- 

 ceptionable purpose, viz. that of devouring the ova which de- 

 scend with the stream, and there is no doubt they do so to a 

 very considerable extent ; still, it is not beyond the bounds of 

 possibility, that the gratification of two appetites may be sub- 

 served at the same time, and tliat they may be as instrumental 

 in perpetuating their species as they obviously are in destroy- 

 ing it. 



To conclude, I feel that my paper will be liable to many ob- 

 jections in a scientific point of view ; but, as 1 make no pre- 

 tension to scientific attainment, I am entitled to the indulgence 

 of scientific men. I claim only to be considered a careful prac- 

 tical observer, and an honest inquirer after truth, possessing 



