183 



NOTE A, PAGE 32. 



As we have mentioned the subject of the artificial propagation 

 of salmon, and as it is a topic interesting both to the rod-fisher and 

 the pnblic at large, we beg to observe that the enterprise or expe- 

 riment has been successfully carried out in Ireland, in the waters 

 of Lough Carrib, by the Messrs. Ashworth. It may not be unin- 

 teresting to inform the reader that the young salmon which were 

 artificially produced at Outerard last year (1853), and exhibited all 

 the summer months at the Dublin Great Industrial Exhibition, are 

 now (May 1854) still alive, and progressing most rapidly, some of 

 them having reached the length of jive inches. They are kept in 

 the Fishery-office Customhouse ; where, under the directions and 

 superintendence of the Commissioners of Fisheries, a series of 

 experiments are being made, the results of which must be, if no 

 other good or result "follows, to afford an amount of information 

 hitherto unknown in the natural history of the salmon. The Com- 

 missioners have also deposited about 15,000 salmon ova in boxes 

 in their office ; and they confidently look for a proportionate return. 

 They have carefully watched the progress of the ova with the aid 

 of a microscope, and have succeeded in obtaining an amount of 

 valuable information, which, if published hereafter, must prove 

 highly interesting and important to the great fishing commercial 

 interests of not only this country, but England and Scotland. The 

 vivarium in the office of the Commissioners is very well worthy of 

 a visit and, as it is their intention to keep it open all the next 

 year, for the benefit and information of those interested in the 

 salmon fisheries, it will amply repay the tourists, during the summer, 

 the trouble to visit this place, and learn how to breed fish. The 

 Commissioners are at all times most easy of access, and give every 

 information in their power to the inquirer ; indeed, they feel only 

 a pleasure in seeing an interest created in an object that is of such 

 vital importance to a country like Ireland, which has the most 

 invaluable resources in its fisheries, both inland and sea. 



In two of the models erected in the Fishery Office, may be seen 

 salmon in all their stages of progress to maturity. The annexed 

 figure will give the reader something like a correct idea of the 

 process. 



