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found liable to injury or destruction, and it would mani- 

 festly be undesirable to cultivate such, if other species, 

 equally suitable, and which subsist upon food which is prac- 

 tically inexhaustible in amount are obtainable. And this 

 leads us to the conclusion that augmenting the number of 

 fish, unless their food is proportionally increased, or it was 

 originally in excess of demand, would be an error ; for 

 neither growth nor health could be present if the fish were 

 being practically starved. Unless we have ascertained what 

 nutriment is essential to the various forms of our sea-fishes, 

 it would seem that we are scarcely in a position to understand 

 their migrations or to legislate upon their requirements. 



When we examine into who there have been in Great 

 Britain and Ireland that have investigated the question 

 of the food of fishes, we find but few original observers. 

 Among these I would especially mention Knox, Goodsir, 

 W. Thompson, Mclntosh, Dunn of Mevagissey, and Sim of 

 Aberdeen. But however interesting and instructive isolated 

 facts may be, and of. these we have many, our fisheries 

 require exhaustive investigations, such as have been carried 

 out in the United States and some of the kingdoms of 

 Europe. Among the last words penned by my old friend 

 and fellow-student Frank Buckland I find the following : 

 " We know, moreover, as yet but very little of the food of 

 these " (sea) " fishes, of what it consists, how, when and 

 where grown, obtained," &c. 



For the purpose of efficiently carrying out this much- 

 needed inquiry the investigator ought, in the case of marine 

 fishes, to be, if possible, present when the fish is captured 

 noting the distance from the shore, the depth of the water, 

 the temperature, and the nature of the ground over which 

 he is sailing. And after the species has been secured, it 

 ought to be correctly determined, and the stomach with its 



