SALMON FISHERY. 



129 



made a great number of experiments, which prove, 

 that the difference between falmon-trouts and 

 thofe of the other fort, proceeds in part from the 

 nature of the water in which they live, and prin- 

 cipally from their food.* We have in our neigh- 

 bourhood a pond, wherein all the trouts, that are 

 thrown into it young, become almoft falmon-trouts 

 in the courfe of a year. It receives a ftream, the 

 water of which is of the befl quality, very fit for 

 diflblving foap, and contains a great number of lit- 

 tle barbels. We generally find falmon-trout in all 

 the ftreams, that have water of this fort, and that 

 abound in barbels. 



26. Pikes fpawn in March ; and trouts, as we 

 have faid, in December and January. Some trouts 

 fpawn in February, but this happens very rarely. 

 If, then, trout's eggs could be kept until March, 

 we might try if pike's milt, poured upon trout's 

 eggs, would produce a third fpecies. 



27. It is proper to obferve, that mongrel ani- 

 mals have not the power of reproducing them- 

 felves*; whence it is evident, that God, in the 

 creation of nature, has determined the number of 

 fpecies, that were to exift. 



28. The eggs of falmon and trout rot infallibly, 

 if there remains any dirt upon them, or, if they 

 continue for a confiderable time to lie on earth, 



* M. Duhamel has elfewhere fome obfervations, which do 

 not accord with what is faid here, of the colour of trout's 

 ftefo, 



K even 



