34 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



ling a nature, that it was not thought prudent to 

 give it publicity till the trial was repeated. It was 

 so, early in the following January, 1838, when two 

 lots of eggs of a Salmon, weighing eighteen pounds, 

 were impregnated with the milt of two male Parrs, 

 and there ensued precisely the same result as before. 

 Again, in December, 1838, four lots of ova from an 

 adult Salmon were impregnated with the milt of four 

 Parrs with similar success ; and the same Parrs, 

 being afterwards placed in a private pond, assumed 

 the migratory dress in the following May, not in the 

 most minute degree differing from what in the 

 Tweed are universally called Smolts, and are acknow- 

 ledged by all to be the young of the Salmon." 



All these experiments appear to me to be quite 

 conclusive, and of a nature to satisfy any one who 

 has not pledged himself to an opposite theory. But 

 if any thing were still wanting, it has been com- 

 pletely supplied by an additional experiment, which 

 clenches the proof. 



On the 4th of January, 1837, a male Parr, itself 

 the produce of a male Parr and female adult Salmon, 

 was made by expression of the milt to impregnate 

 the eggs of a Salmon weighing twelve pounds ; and 

 for the better security of the lot the whole was 

 placed in a wooden trough, over which a sheet of 

 fine copper wire-gauze was fixed. The trough was 

 then placed in a stream of water previously prepared 

 for its reception, and the results were precisely of a 

 corresponding nature to those already detailed. 



Now, if the Parr and the Salmon were distinct 

 species, their produce would be hybrids, and would 



