u the Jfish of 

 Iheir JJabite, Jftobe of flaptnre. &c. 



By FRANK J. B. BECKFORD. 



(Read Nov. 20th, 1856.} 



AUK Treasurer having one day asked me if I could not 

 write you a paper on the fish of Dorset, I thought 

 the matter over and came to the conclusion that, as 

 the fish of our County were included in the fish of 

 Great Britain, and as they had been done so well 

 by Yarrell, Couch, Day, &c , the best thing I 

 could do was first of all to make a list of all the 

 species that I had either taken myself, or could find 

 out from authentic sources had been taken in our 

 waters, giving with each the name of my authority, a reference to 

 the works of Drs. Day and Couch, and a few remarks I thought 

 might be of interest. And I find there are about 135, of which 12 

 are freshwater and three migratory. Of these three two the 

 salmon and sea trout migrate from the sea to the fresh waters to 

 shed their spawn, while the eel, on the contrary, comes down from 

 the rivers to the deep sea for the same purpose, and does not even, 

 show signs of reproduction till it reaches the salt water. This has 

 been the great puzzle to naturalists which has now (November, 



