Y4 FISHES AND FISHING. 



1854, by Routledge, p. 80, to which I must refer any 

 person curious on this subject. He admits that, if 

 the course of the salmon be interrupted in any river, 

 the parr disappears, and cites the Clyde : below the 

 falls of Stone Byres there are plenty of parr, but 

 above the falls not one is taken 



I remember, when I was a boy, the Thames fisher- 

 men condemning the practice of persons taking sceg- 

 gers, as tending to depreciate the salmon fishery in 

 that river, as they all were of opinion at^that time 

 that these little fish were the young salmon which 

 were not yet strong enough to bear the salt-water. 



There is little doubt that the crucian carp is a 

 hybrid, probably the spawn of the carp vivified by 

 the milt of the bream, or vice versa ; and the swarms 

 of little fish apparently between the crucian carp and 

 the bream, or some other mixed breed, which fill the 

 Serpentine and many other large pieces of water, 

 serve to prove, that although the hybrids of beasts 

 do not produce any like themselves, yet the hybrids 

 of fish do multiply most rapidly. Now this circum* 

 stance, I consider, might be turned to very good 

 account, both as increasing the quantity of excellent 

 and nourishing food, and affording amusement to the 

 angler. And this opinion is confirmed by one of the 

 most experienced fish breeders we have. 



At the meeting of the Kewcastle-upon-Tyue 



