]90 ON THE BREEDING OF SALMON. 



a generative power among all these animals is depend- 

 ant, in every instance, upon the completion of a certain 

 process, implicating direct intercourse between the sexes. 

 But are fishes really unprovided with the copulative 

 organs necessary for such intercourse ? Are salmon, 

 in particular, both male and female, defective as to these 

 developments ? I deny it. Examine a kipper or he- 

 fish in his rank or ripe state, and you will find him 

 distinctly set off with the adjuncts in question. The 

 female also is as plainly provided with her receptive 

 sheath, and this is particularly noticeable in her after 

 spawning, at the period when copulation takes place. 



Before, however, I add further argument in opposition 

 to Mr Shaw's theory respecting the impregnation of the 

 ova, I think it expedient, as clearly as possible, to state 

 my own views on the subject. It is a fact very well 

 known to Tweedside fishermen, and indeed to those of 

 every Scottish river, that at least three-fourths of the 

 salmon and grilses which ascend during the open season 

 are female fish. In all these the roe is invariably found; 

 sometimes, as in clean or spring salmon, and also in the 

 June and July grilses, in an incipient or early stage, not 

 longer than one's finger, sometimes the pellets are large 

 and the leaf heavy, but, in whatever stage the ova them- 

 selves are, I have never heard of an instance where a 

 female fish on its ascent into the fresh water was with- 

 out this natural provision or growth. Nay more, after 

 having spawned, and while still in the kelt state, before 

 their return to the sea, many, I say not all, have the new 

 roe distinctly developed. I have taken, over and over 

 again, this formation from the body of a salmon, grilse, 

 and sea-trout kelt ; the layers and ovicles being perfectly 

 discernible to the naked eye, while, at the very same 

 moment, close to and in contact with them, remained 



