CONFI.irTINO OPINION?;. 70 



sec them with milt mid roc, in :ill the various stages, and wc sec 

 them perl'eetly empty ; all which circumstances clearly prove 

 that they ju-e a distinct species." 



Clearly, indeed ; if it appear that these eireumstunces can hi- 

 authenticated; but this I, for the present, doubt — First, because 

 if there had been visible facts, the theory never {oiiUl have been 

 started of their beinj,' uupri)(lucf ive mules. Second, because 

 Sir Wiiiiaui .lardine, after examination of the I'arr of the Tweed, 

 speaks of it as still uneertain whether it may not be the young 

 of the Common Trout {Sa/ino Far'w); and for this reason, that 

 though lie has found males full of milt, he never has seen 

 females with the roe in an advanced state ; and, fiu-thcrmorc, 

 distinctly avers, that " they have not been discovered spawning 

 in any of the shallow streams or lesser rivulets, like the Trout." 



Sir William, however, still leans to the opinion that there is 

 a distinct species, in which the transverse markings are perma- 

 nent, whieh reproduces its own kind, and never grows to a 

 greater size than eight or nine inches ; and this he would retain 

 under the title given to it by Uay, of Sal/no Salniu/u.'i. 



Mr. Yarrel is of the same opinion; and has certainly shown 

 decidedly that it is not a hybrid, or a species of which there are 

 no females, as had been surmised ; since of three hundred and 

 ninety-tive Parrs, or Samlets, examined by Dr. lleysham, one 

 hundred and ninety-nine were males, and one hundred and 

 ninety-six females. 



The great |)oint, however, is this, which is no\r, I think, j)er- 

 fcctly clear, and which at once dispels all the mystery of the 

 qucittioii, namely, that the young «)f all the Salmonidft — not 

 several only, aa Sir William Jardine and Mr. Yarrel state, but 



