51 



The belief, that the existence of the species may be af- 

 fected by the increased produce of the fishery, has been 

 more readily believed, in consequence of the fact, that in 

 many rivers, as, for example, in the Thames, where, in 

 former times, the Salmon-fishery was prosecutedwith great 

 success, almost no fish are now taken. 



But the falling off, of the fishery in such rivers, has its 

 origin in causes different altogether, from the success of the 

 fisheries below. The Salmon is a fish peculiarly fastidious 

 and delicate in its habits. It delights in the pure cool 

 waters, and avoids those which have become, even in a 



" he has caught hundreds of salmon which had been bit by per - 

 "poises : That there are a great number of seals on the banks 

 " below the bar, which are also destructive to salmon : That he 

 " has seen a seal opened, and a salmon taken out of its belly" 

 He might have added, that that salmon was afterwards sent to 

 market, a fact not without precedent. Alexander Boyter, ano- 

 ther fisher, " depones, That for the last twenty years the der 

 * ; ponent has annually killed a number of seals 5 that he has n - 

 *' ceived a premium from Messrs John Richardson & Co." (the 

 then principal tacksmen of the Tay fisheries,) " for his success 

 " in killing them, for about a dozen of years j but this premium 

 4 ' has been discontinued for the five last years, but he still coi - 

 '* tinues to kill them on his own account : That he knows that 

 " seals are very destructive to salmon, and he has seen them 

 *' caught and eat by them : That porpoises are still more destruc- 

 ** tive than seals to salmon ; and there are great numbers of 

 " them in the Tay : That upon one occasion, about a year agc t 

 " he opened a porpoise, and found as much SALMON WITHIN IT 



" AS T[IE DEPONENT COULD HAVE CARRIED." And the testi- 

 mony o f these witnesses was confirmed by that of several others. 



