BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 129 



think they spawn early in the season, but only in 

 the autumn months ; fish don't breed in the open 

 sea ; they spawn principally in November, Decent- 

 her, and January ; male and female meet, furrow 

 in the sand, deposit their spawn, and cover it up 

 with gravel ; male fish has a large beak upon his 

 mouth then ; after spawning they return to the sea, 

 if not obstructed ; fry principally animated about 

 March, some before ; they reach the sea about 

 May; ova from 13 to 26,000, average about 

 20,000 ; thinks that every pea may come to a fish, 

 but cannot state any circumstances on which to 

 found his opinion ; does not consider the whiting 

 or laspring to be a young salmon ; assigns as a 

 reason that they have milt and roe ; does not know 

 of any experiments by marking the tails whether 

 they are the same fish or not ; considers sea-trout 



NOTES. 



stand the description that is given by the witnesses of these 

 fish ; a grampus is twenty feet long ; they speak of their 

 being half the size ; our porpoises generally run from eight 

 to ten feet. Perhaps they might have been more plentiful 

 upon this coast when salmon were so ; but they generally 

 appear when the herrings do, and are thence called Her- 

 ring-hogs. We have no seals, though a wandering indivi- 

 dual, I have been told, is sometimes seen on the coast of 

 Cornwall. Of otters we have abundance, which do incre- 

 dible mischief to the breeding fish, when assembled high 

 up the rivers for the purpose of spawning. This animal 

 is a wanton slaughterer ; he will kill twenty without eating 

 one : they often leave the salmon on the banks of rivers, 



K 



