154 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE 



That salmon and sea-trout return to the rivers, 

 and stake-nets should not be allowed on the coast. 

 No cruives or weirs, to prevent the running up of 

 fish, should be allowed ; that is to say, no close- 



NOTES. 



idea but that they really were the eggs of this reptile, which it 

 is well known deposits them in dunghills ; but presently after, 

 the head of the salmon and the back bone made their ap- 

 pearance. These eggs 'were full as large as the top of a man's 

 JZnger ; they must, then, have grown there to that size, from 

 the bigness of swan shot ; from what causes it must be con- 

 jectured. It is to be lamented that here the fact ends, and 

 that an examination of some of the eggs had not taken 

 place ; but such was not the case. Still it must appear 

 very wonderful to every one, that the pea of the fish, under 

 such circumstances, should have retained life for such a 

 length of time, and have grown so very considerably As 

 to ultimate consequences, there can be little doubt, but that 

 if these eggs had been suffered to remain in the dung for 

 the space of time that they usually remain in the sand-beds 

 in the water, they must have been all addle. The only 

 inferences which I draw from this fact are, first, that the 

 eggs continue to grow after they are laid, and until they are 

 vivified by the heat of the sun ; and secondly, that they attain 

 a size equal to the production of a fish three inches in length. 

 I need not add, that they are very little larger than this 

 when we become first acquainted with them, in the charac- 

 ter and under the name of fry, and see them making the 

 best of their way down the rivers towards the sea. We 

 may truly say, " Ex fumo dare lucem ," who could have 

 thought that such a trivial incident would have thrown 

 light upon the works of nature, and have explained a phe- 



