172 APPENDIX. 



taining some live fishes, which, afc a cursory glance, 

 might not appear to merit any particular attention, 

 resembhng at first sight, merely those collections of 

 little gold and silver fishes which we sometimes see 

 displayed for ornament, in parlours or drawing- 

 rooms ; but, upon inquiry and closer inspection, we 

 found, that we were approaching, nay, were in the 

 very presence and perception of, one of the most re- 

 markable discoveries in Natural History of the pre- 

 sent day ; we found, in short, that the little fishes 

 before us, were not placed there for mere ornament, 

 but were specimens of the salmon species — being the 

 young brood, the veritable offspring of the salmon 

 — and that, the fact of their being so, is as clear, and 

 as capable of demonstration, as any fact in natural 

 science can be. 



Strange as it may appear, not only the habits and 

 the growth, but even the identity of the young of 

 the salmon was involved in great obscurity until 

 quite recently. A very minute fish had always been 

 observed in our salmon rivers, designated, in differ- 

 ent localities, by different names ; but it had never 

 been conjectured, either by naturaUsts or practical 

 fishermen, that the little fish so observed was the 

 young of the salmon, until about the year 1835, 

 when the manager of one of the Scotch Fisheries, 

 Mr. John Shaw, suspected that such was the fact, 

 and he immediately proceeded to test his opinion in 

 various ways — amongst others, by pressing the ovum 

 and milt from an adult pair of salmon at the proper 



