84 SALMON AND PISCICULTURE. 



of the artificial rearing of young salmon do not lead to 

 a great extension of their operations, we shall take the 

 liberty of saying to the Tay proprietors that their 

 wisdom is akin to that of the man who killed the goose 

 that laid the golden eggs. 



But as few are proprietors of a salmon river, we 

 desire to impress upon all living near canal, lake, or 

 stream, that, by transporting to it the ova of fish, any 

 body of water may be stocked with valuable kinds of 

 fish. This has been done on a most extensive scale in 

 many parts of France, where fish are annually reared 

 by millions. In addition to its commercial importance 

 as a new branch of industry, and its social value as 

 supplying a vast addition to the food of the people, 

 this system opens a boundless field to scientific curio- 

 sity. In the Danube and the Rhine, the Elbe and the 

 Spree, and almost every other river in Germany in 

 the rivers and lakes of Russia and Northern Europe 

 in the lakes of Switzerland in the rivers of France 

 there exist either species of fish which we do not 

 possess, or varieties of species which we are not ac- 

 quainted with. There is every reason for believing 

 that very many, if not all, of them may be naturalised 

 in our waters. We do not think there is exaggeration 

 in the opinion of M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, the 

 learned Professor of Zoology to the Faculty of Sciences 

 at Paris : " Pisciculture is to our waters what agricul- 

 ture is to our soil, and is also called upon to add largely 

 to our alimentary resources." 



For the information of those interested in the rearing 

 of salmon, and perhaps anxious to have a sketch of 

 the salmon-rearing arrangements at Stormontfield, we 

 remark that such a cumbrous apparatus is unneces- 

 sary. That patented by Mr Boccius, and containing 

 25,000 salmon ova, is only 2 feet long by 1 broad, and 

 requires 4 inches depth of water. To obviate the incon- 

 veniences of breeding-boxes, which are not only expen- 

 sive, but apt to collect insects which devour and mud 



