330 BibliograpJdcal Notices. 



immense but undigested mass of information, and which might have 

 elicited much more had the members of them given some attention 

 to the obscure points in the history of the family before examining 

 the vi^itnesses. The difficulty of investigating the subject is we ac- 

 knowledge great, and when we know that it has been undergoing 

 strict research by persons well qualified for the task for several years 

 without complete information being obtained, we feel even more 

 anxious to understand the mystery which involves the *' lives and 

 loves" of these very valuable inhabitants of our rivers and oceans. 

 Mr. Yarrell, Sir W. Jardine, Dr. Parnell, and Mr. Shaw of Drum- 

 lanrig are all either now, or have been very lately working on this 

 subject, and the fruits of their researches will eventually leave little 

 to be accomplished. Sir Francis Mackenzie of Garloch is about to 

 form extensive stews for the breeding of salmon, and to re-perform 

 some of Mr. Shaw's experiments. The experiments of the latter ob- 

 server detailed to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and published in 

 Professor Jameson's Journal, are of the greatest importance ; they 

 have been conducted with great care, and so far as they have been 

 prosecuted have been accompanied by results as satisfactory perhaps 

 as we could expect from the whole difficulty of the subject. The sum 

 of our knowledge at the present time, so far as regards the common 

 Salmon, is, that we have hitherto been in error in considering its 

 growth to be rapid during the first stages of its existence, and that it 

 does not migrate until at least one year's residence in the fresh waters. 

 On reaching the sea however the increase in size becomes very great, 

 exceeding one pound in weight monthly. It has been further proved 

 incontestably we think by Mr. Shaw, that the great proportion of 

 the small fish called Parrs, or in the English rivers Pinks*, are the 

 first state of the young Salmon previous to its assuming the migratory 

 dress ; but the additional proposition that the Parr does not exist 

 at all as a distinct fish, is extremely questionable, and still requires 

 investigation. At present the opinions of all our best ichthyologists 

 are in favour of its distinctness, and the minute and careful differences 

 detailed by Dr. Parnell in his *' Fishes of the Frith of Forth," go 

 very far to prove everything that is wanting. The history of the other 

 migratory fish remains nearly in the same state in which it has been 

 for the last thirty years, though the works before us have commenced 

 their elucidation, and some experiments are now in progress. The 

 geographical distribution of the species has not been at all at- 



• See Mr. Yarrell's figures in the work we have placed at the head of this 

 notice. 



