THE SALMON FAMILY. 239 



gill-rays varying in number, generally from 10 to 12, but 

 sometimes unequal upon opposite sides; a great part of 

 the margin of the upper jaw formed of the maxillary* 

 bones. 



Until within the last thirty years very little was known 

 of the natural history of the Salmon, the united lore of 

 those most interested in the fisheries amounting to little 

 beyond the fact that the fish ascended the rivers to spawn 

 during the spring and summer spawned and descended 

 again to the sea within the following two or three months. 



Since the period referred to, however, and especially 

 during the last few years, the researches of ichthyologists 

 and the experiments which have been conducted on a large 

 scale by enterprising and scientific men have thrown a 

 flood of light upon the subject, converting doubts into cer- 

 tainties, theories into practice, and generally advancing 

 our knowledge of the subject to a point which promises to 

 be productive of most important reforms in the manage- 

 ment of our exhausted Salmon-fisheries, and in the esta- 

 blishment of new ones. 



Amongst those who have been most active in prosecuting 

 these experiments, and in bringing their results promi- 

 nently before the public, might be mentioned Mr. Hogg, 

 Mr. Shaw, of Drumlanrig, Mr. Young, Mr. Ash worth (pro- 

 prietor of the Galway fisheries), Mr. Yarrell, Sir William 

 Jardine, Mr. Buist (who superintended the Stormontfield 

 experiments on the Tay), Sir John Richardson, Mr. C. F. 

 * See p. 28. 



