50 THOUGHTS ON HYBKIDS. 



well-conducted experiments on this subject would cer- 

 tainly be of the utmost interest ; as a fish partaking 

 both of the qualities of the salmon and the common 

 trout, blended together, would indeed be a valuable ac- 

 quisition to our wa.ters, provided it were capable of per- 

 petuating the race. But it seems to me highly probable, 

 that nature may have fixed an insurmountable barrier 

 to such anomalous modes of propagation amongst the 

 finny tribes, by rendering the spermatic fluid of one 

 species incapable of fecundating the ova of another. 

 Were it otherwise, from the indiscriminate manner in 

 which that fluid is shed abroad in the water during the 

 breeding season, by several different species, at the same 

 time in the same river, and its consequent liability 

 to be brought into contact with the newly-excluded ova 

 of other species and varieties similarly occupied ; if it 

 was capable of impregnating them, it would give rise to 

 endless cross varieties of fish, and speedily involve the 

 whole genus in inconceivable anarchy and confusion : 

 a proceeding so totally at variance with the usual per- 

 fect order and harmony of nature's plan, as to render 

 such anomalous impregnations of doubtful result. 



The majority of trouts spawn in the months of No- 



* Since writing the above, the experiment has been tried by Mr. 

 Frank Buckland, and a numerous progeny of hybrids between the sal- 

 mon and common trout have been artificially produced, by impregnat- 

 ing the ova of the former with the spermatic fluid of the latter. But 

 that those mules Avill ever be capable of again propagating and per- 

 petuating the species, is highly improbable. However, that talented 

 and distinguished naturalist is at present engaged in endeavouring to 

 solve the problem. 



