INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 19 



state and made its first migration to sea the second or third 

 summer of its existence. To decide these points of dispute, 

 Mr. Shaw, of Drumlanrig, and Mr. Andrew Young, of 

 Invershin, Scotland, about the year 1884 bred salmon arti- 

 ficially in wooden boxes. It is likely they were aware of the 

 plan pursued by Jacobi and followed his example, as their 

 mode was not heralded as a discovery, and was not different 

 in any essential point from that of Jacobi. I will here say 

 that the result of their experiments proved the parr to be 

 the young of the salmon, and that the contestants were 

 both right as to the period of its first migration to sea, as 

 it has been clearly ascertained that a portion of them, even 

 of the same brood, will migrate the second summer, and 

 another portion defer their journey until the following year. 

 It is stated also, that pisciculture was practised in Norway 

 previous to the experiments made by Shaw and Young, and 

 that James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, was one of its dis- 

 coverers. 



It is useless to dwell on facts that the most obtuse have 

 not failed to notice. I allude to the gradual extinction and 

 banishment from our rivers of the more valuable species, 

 and the consequent enhanced value of such fish in our 

 markets, rendering them almost unattainable by persons of 

 moderate means. The old countries of Europe, though 

 more provident, have suffered, more or less, in the same 

 way, and fish as food has become a question of vast impor- 

 tance. The French government has fostered fish culture 

 chiefly for this reason, and to such purpose that in a few 

 years there will scarcely be an acre of barren water in the 



