146 Mr Stark on the Discovery of Live Cockles, fyc. 



The pond in which the fish are kept is about four acres in 

 extent, and close by the sea, from which it is separated by an 

 embankment ; but it must not be concealed, that, " receiving 

 an insufficient supply of fresh water in summer, it varies, so that 

 while it is perfectly fresh in winter, it is nearly salt in very 

 dry weather, and brackish in various degrees at intermediate 

 periods. 1 ' The result of Dr MacCulloclVs experiment, there- 

 fore, though flattering as to the ultimate success of the plan, 

 is not so decisive as if it had been made in a pond at a 

 distance from the sea, and whose waters were invariably fresh. 

 Perhaps a series of ponds in which the water was less and 

 less salt, may be found necessary to assimilate the inhabitants 

 of the deep gradually to living and propagating in inland 

 ponds ; and though it may require time, and numerous trials, 

 before the experiment fully succeed, yet it is an object too 

 important, even in an economical point of view, to be lightly 

 given up. How many exotics now flourish in the open 

 borders of our gardens, and in our shrubberies, which, not 

 very many years ago, could only be reared under the pro- 

 tection of the green-house or stove ! and how many animals, 

 from regions much more genial, are now permanently domes- 

 ticated in our variable climate ! If it be not carrying the ana- 

 logy too far, it may therefore be presumed, that the ova or 

 fry of sea-fish, reared in the series of ponds we have suppos- 

 ed, may at last be brought to live and propagate in lakes and 

 waters at a distance from the sea. The spawn of fresh water 

 fish is an article of trade in China; and their methods of 

 hatching the ova of fishes might be adopted with promise of 

 success in the assimilation of the inhabitants of the deep to a 

 change of element. It would be a new triumph to science, if 

 an additional and inexhaustible supply of wholesome and nu- 

 tritious food were thus provided in places at a distance from 

 the sea, and at present precluded from its use. 



" Quarterly Journal. No. 38, p. 242. 



