STOKMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 35 



they say "that one year we deposited 70,000 

 salmon ova in a small, pure stream, adjoining to 

 a plantation of fir-trees, and these ova we found 

 to be entirely destroyed by the larvae of the May- 

 fly, which, in their matured state, become the 

 favourite food of smoults or young salmon. It 

 is evident that insects, .fish, and fowls destroy 

 by far the largest quantity of the salmon species, 

 and they cannot be removed as you would destroy 

 vermin in a game preserve; it is therefore reason- 

 able to suppose that the parent salmon is induced 

 instinctively to surmount the greatest difficulties, 

 and to incur the risk of its own life by ascending 

 to the smallest streams, where alone its offspring 

 can be most securely deposited and reared beyond 

 the reach of its numerous natural enemies. We 

 know that the natural enemies of the salmon 

 cannot &e destroyed, as they exist both in rivers 

 and in the sea, consequently there is left but one 

 certain mode of increasing the quantity of salmon, 

 and that is by artificial means by collecting the 

 spawn, and placing it beyond the reach of its enemies 

 for hatching and protection for the first year of 

 its existence ; and this may be done, in vast quan- 

 tities, at a small cost, and without injury to the 

 parent fish/' 



