NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 9 



in pieces, and yet the separated part shall produce 

 a perfect animal ; that superfcetation shall exist 

 in some animals and not in others ; and that a cer- 

 tain insect of the gnat genus shall repeatedly 

 produce without any connection with the male \ 

 and a thousand other instances of exception ope- 

 rating against the general law of Nature ? All 

 prove to us, that we are to look for certainty 

 to each animal individually, and that we shall 

 seek in vain to elicit it from the similitude that 

 one animal may bear to another. Nature seems 

 upon all occasions as though she disdained shac- 

 kles of rule, preferring to exhibit, in whatever 

 view we contemplate her works, the unlimited 

 and uncontrollable power of the Creator. 



As to the growth of salmon, my opinion is that 

 they would grow much larger than they are ever 

 seen in Devonshire, if the spent fish could return 

 to the sea ; but from such information as I can 

 gather upon this head, all the spent fish are either 

 killed in mill-traps, or pine to death from ina- 

 bility to regain it. I have, in fact, the concurrent 

 opinions of others who have paid much attention 

 to this particular part of the subject, that almost 

 all, if not all, the salmon taken are the first 

 year's fish, being from twelve to eighteen months 

 old, varying a little in size from eight to ten and 

 twelve pounds ; whereas formerly, when there 

 was a free passage over Totness weir up and down, 

 with an escape in the centre, very large fish were 

 constantly met with. The largest I ever saw was 



