190 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



species, and not even a natural variety. There 

 may be a considerable difference, not only in the 

 appearance, but in the quality of salmon, in differ- 

 ent rivers, as there is in cattle even in the same 

 county, arising from food and climate. How un- 

 like each other are the common trout caught even 

 in different branches of the same river, yet they 

 are all trout, and the same species. This point 

 has, however, been already treated at large. I 

 shall here only repeat, that in my judgment, the 

 salmon peal, the trough, and the salmon, are all 

 one fish, at different ages ; and that all such as are 

 under the size mentioned in the act of Elizabeth, 

 ought not to be taken. Still, by this " mowing 

 down" act, they are allowed to be caught and sold, 

 and therefore they cannot be seized after they are 

 caught. Nevertheless, they can only be taken 

 with the "fair and legal net." Yet it is incredible 

 the number which have been destroyed this summer 

 in the fish coop at Totnes weir, and at the fulling- 

 mill trap, by a small-mesh hand-net. The public 

 ought to look into these shameful instances of 

 violation and monopoly. They may take their 

 " pound" if they can, but they have no right to 

 draw even one drop of blood after it : that pound 

 or this fish, that is, the salmon peal, can only be 

 justly taken by the "fair and legal" mode. If, 

 therefore, this act is enforced, they cannot be 

 taken at all, because they will all escape through 

 a two inch and a half mesh, which is the dimension 

 specified by the act. 



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