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which have been so elaborately brought before this Con- 

 ference, while that of salmonidae will doubtless be fully 

 discussed by Her Majesty's assistant inspector of salmon 

 fisheries, whose Paper immediately succeeds the one I have 

 the honour to read before you, that I have purposely 

 omitted reference to freshwater and anadromous species, 

 confining my remarks as much as possible to marine forms, 

 and those most suitable as food for man. 



If only by the knowledge of what is required, combined 

 with care and attention in carrying such out, can the 

 management of private ponds be made successful by the 

 fish culturist ; if leaving them to chance, and withdrawing 

 control, eventuates as completely in their ruin as it would 

 to leave arable lands to be self-sown, such only leads us 

 to consider whether, in time, the same want of judicious 

 management might not have equally disastrous results 

 upon the fisheries of lakes and rivers, although possibly at 

 a longer interval of time. Probably among the attractions 

 which entice inshore some of the more predaceous marine 

 forms, are fish which have descended rivers to the sea, 

 where they linger about the estuaries. 



Respecting feeding, many forms nearly or entirely 

 omit doing so at breeding periods, as the salmon, 

 trout, and anadromous shad, while the herring, more 

 or less, ceases at these times. On the other hand, pike 

 and barbel will take food at those times. During the 

 cold season a cessation of feeding occurs among many 

 forms of fish. In the East it is curious to observe some 

 of the sheat-fish, or siluroid family, wherein the male 

 carries about the eggs in his mouth until they are hatched 

 (examples of which are in the Indian collection in the 

 Exhibition). If he fed at these times, the eggs would 

 certainly be swallowed, but he does not do so, as I have 



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