APPENDIX. 127 



and one of Queen Anne. None of these Acts interfered 

 with the annual close -time of James I. * 



Very great care was shown by our ancestors in the 

 protection not only of the salmon but of the fry, for we 

 find in the Act of James VII. , c. 24, May 30th, 1685 

 u Item: That all millers that slay smoults or trouts with 

 creels or any other engine, or any who dams or laves, 

 shall be punishable as slayers of red fish, conform to the 

 (37) Act Parliament, 5, King James III.; and where 

 the transgressors has no means, they are appointed to be 

 put in prison, irons, or stocks, for the space of one 

 moneth, upon their own expenses; and if they have it 

 not of their own, to be fed on bread and water, conform 

 to the 89th Act of Parliament, 6, King James VI.," etc. 

 The steeping of lint in rivers, lochs, or burns, where 

 fishes are, is also forbidden by the same Act. 



EXTRACTS FEOM MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 



WM. JOSHUA FFENNELL, ESQ., ONE OF THE COMMIS- 

 SIONERS OF FISHERIES IN IRELAND, ON WHAT ARE 

 CALLED BARREN FISH. 



With regard to salmon that enter the river in Decem- 

 ber and January, Mr Ffennell (answer 2538) says 

 They are fish in which the ova is fully developed, 

 but not grown large. (2540) They would spawn in 

 twelve months. (2541) He also says that December 

 and January are the principal spawning months in 

 Scotland. 



2551 I apprehend that all the monster fish are old 

 fish. 



2555 LORD LOVAT: Do the early spawned fish 

 return to the sea and come again? Yes, sooner of 



