50 SIR WILLIAM JAEDINE^S NOTICE OF THE 



Club, what fierce and great storms have raged for some time back, 

 and what lamentable disasters at sea have filled the columns of our 

 journals. Being chiefly from the westward that these fierce storms 

 have blown, this coast has suffered but little, but the coasts of the 

 west of Scotland, England, and Ireland, have teemed with shipwrecks, 

 death, and desolation ; hundreds of lives have been lost, and property 

 to an immense amount irrecoverably lost and destroyed. Ninety 

 thousand tons of shipping have been calculated to have been lost this 

 year, and a large part of this immense loss has happened within the 

 last three months. The observations of one individual, and the infer- 

 ences to be deduced therefrom, are of little value by themselves, and I 

 only offer these few remarks as a contribution towards a subject of 

 great interest, and well entitled to further inquiry, and as they may be 

 useful by way of comparing with the observations of other individuals 

 upon the same subject. 



Notice of the Serling of the Solway being found in the Tweed, with some 

 Observations on its Habits and Distribution. By Sir William 

 Jardine, Bart. 



Among the many species of fish which inhabit or occasionally resort 

 to the rivers of this country, the family of the Salmonidse contain by 

 far the most important part, and the rents arising from their capture 

 form a considerable amount in the value of the fisheries of Great 

 Britain. The species whose habits I shall now attempt in part to 

 describe, is not of itself sufficiently important to form a large article of 

 commerce, or to rank for much value in the accounts of the taxmen of 

 the fisheries, though I believe that in many districts, and particularly 

 in the western coast of Scotland, much more might be made from it ; 

 but at the first appearance of decrease in the salmon fisheries, it was 

 conjectured by many of the proprietors that this fish was the fiy or 

 young of the salmon ; while it was advanced by others, as an argument 

 against this, that it was not found in either the Tay or the Tweed, two 

 of the most important salmon streams in Scotland. In some rivers 

 nets of less than a certain width of mesh were not allowed ; but on the 

 part of the taxmen it was of consequence to make it out distinct, and 

 to supply the markets as far as they could. In this way a point of 

 much importance was involved, for had the herling been proved to be 

 the young salmon, some additional means must have been necessary to 

 preserve them from a destruction which in some rivers is immense. It 

 is now generally known to be a species entirely distinct, though proper 

 characters have not been affixed to it, and I regret that I cannot now 

 give them with satisfaction to myself, less from the want of materials, 

 as from being unable to compare and contrast them with some of their 



