HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 25 



ought to be the protectors of so valuable a source 

 of national wealth, this little river, like so many 

 others of higher pretensions, is now almost de- 

 populated of a once prolific breed of migratory 

 fish. The peal which it produced were of every 

 intermediate size, from ten ounces to as many 

 pounds ; but, as we have said, a true salmon is 

 not known to have been ever captured in it. We 

 obtain this information from an Axminster fisher- 

 man, who, with his father, fished this prolific 

 stream for more than fifty years, during which 

 period many thousands of fish must have been the 

 reward of their indefatigable pursuit. The opinion 

 of the local fishermen of the Axe is, that the parr, 

 the pug-peal, the harvest-peal, and the salmon, are 

 so many distinct species ; and one circumstance on 

 which they found that opinion, independently of 

 shape, habits, and markings, is that of fully 

 developed milt and roe being found in the smallest 

 individuals of the three former kinds, in parr as 

 small as two ounces we mean not the fish in 

 the graveling or smoult, but the parr state, or 

 rather what is called the parr in the West, perhaps 

 a different fish from Mr. Shaw's parr. Peal of less 

 than a pound, we have often seen full of mature 

 roe. Whatever may be the truth (and the subject 

 deserves the most attentive investigation), there 



