538 SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 



" Expressio unius est exclusio alterius" should be included 

 in that district. With reference to this, however, it is 

 worthy of serious consideration whether the prohibition 

 should not be directed against catching fish under 6 or 

 7 inches in length, instead of against catching parr or 

 salmon fry. Many rod-fishers are ignorant of the difference 

 between parr and trout, and others contend that the parr 

 is not the young of the salmon, notwithstanding the 

 apparently ample proof to the contrary. 



" Fixed engines " should be defined, as is done both in 

 the English and Tweed Acts, and the provision of those 

 Acts which prohibits using draught or wear shot nets 

 within a certain distance of each other, until the one 

 adjoining is fully landed, should be adopted. The distance 

 in the Tweed Act is only thirty yards, but in the English 

 Act it is one hundred yards, which is preferable. Over 

 fishing by net and coble has become a serious evil in some 

 rivers, and there is good ground for believing that, were it 

 not for the weekly close time, not a single fish would ever 

 reach the upper waters. 



The question of land drainage and storage of water 

 seems, at present at least, not within the province of 

 legislation ; nor is the important subject, of artificial pro- 

 pagation, though power might be given to district boards 

 to apply certain portions of the income received from 

 licences, if introduced, towards the establishment of breed- 

 ing-ponds. It seems also worthy the consideration of 

 proprietors of fishings, whether arrangements could not be 

 made to work the fishings jointly, so as to save much of 

 the expense at present incurred, on a plan on the lines of 

 that suggested by the late Mr. Alexander Russel in the 

 Edinburgh Review for 1851, and subsequently enlarged 

 upon in his book on the salmon. Joint arrangements have 



