184 



CHAPTER X. 



ON THE BREEDING OF SALMON. 



IN my " Scottish Angler," published in 1831, before 

 the experiments of Mr. Shaw, of Drumlanrig, were 

 made known, or even under course of trial, I advo- 

 cated strenuously the theory, since established, of the 

 parr being the young of the salmon. To go over the 

 grounds of argument then employed were now a work 

 of supererogation. I have 110 reason to alter the con- 

 clusion come to, and I concur cordially with most 

 naturalists in the opinion that Mr. Shaw's experiments, 

 although conducted in one respect upon what I shall 

 prove to have been an improper basis, have established, 

 beyond all dispute, the point at issue. There is, how- 

 ever, another matter brought by him before the public, 

 and one too made the subject of several experiments 

 apparently conclusive, upon which I beg to express 

 considerable difference of opinion. I quote without 

 abbreviation, Mr. Shaw's own words*: 



' ' The circumstance of the male parrs with the milt 

 matured, and flowing in profusion from their bodies, 

 being at all times found in company with the adult 



* Experimental Observations on the Development and Growth of 

 Salmon-fry, from the Exclusion of the Ova to the Age of Two Years. 

 By John Shaw, Drumlanrig, from the Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh, vol. xiv. Edinburgh : published by Robert Grant and 

 Son, 82, Princes-street ; and J. Cadell, London. 



