1884.] AMONG THE SALMONID-E. 379 



1882, upwards of 20 were found to be dead, so the next day they 

 were removed to the upper pond at Howietoun, into which 21 1 were 

 placed ; some, however, seemed to be very weakly. In three of these 

 fish a remarkable change had occurred as to the colour of their fins, 

 the ventral, anal, and caudal having become of a carmine-red. One, 

 which was 2^ inches long, happening to die, I found that its left 

 eye had never been developed, while there were adhesions between 

 the iris and subjacent structures in the left eye. The longest fish 

 was a little over 05 inches in length. 



On November 29, 1883, 3000 ova were taken from a Lochleveu 

 Trout of the season of 18/5, and milted from a Salmo fontinalis. 

 The number of dead eggs removed were as follows: — 80 in Decem- 

 ber, 56 in January, 25 in February, or a total loss of 161 ; while 296 

 were found not to have been impregnated, or a proportion of 1 death 

 in 17 ova. These young fishes were far more advanced than the 

 dropsical forms previously alluded to. 



On November 15, 18^2,8000 o\a. oi S.fontiri'dis were fecundated 

 with milt from a Lochleven Trout, and on November 29, 1883, only 

 16 were alive. They were kept under the same conditions as the 

 last, and on March 13, 1884, only 8 were remaining, and these in an 

 unsatisfactory condition. They were removed to Howietoun planked 

 pond on that day. 



On November 12, 1883, some eggs from S. fontinalis were milted 

 from a Scotch trout ; and in November 28, in December 193, and 

 in January 1028, or a total of 1449 dead ova were removed.' On 

 March 13, 1884, there appeared to be about 500 young fish doin- 

 well. ^ * ° 



On November 15, 1882, 9000 ova of S'. fontinalis were milted 

 from a Scotch Charr, 5'. alpinus var. struanensis, and no tnon- 

 strosities as observed among the other crosses resulted. On March 

 13, 1884, 91 lively young fish were transferred to No. 1 upper 

 planked pond at Howietoun. 



On December 1, 1883, some American Charr-eggs were milted 

 from a Scotch Charr, and the following is the monthly record of the 

 mortality :— January 138, February 787, March 194, or a total of 

 1119. On Ma^ch 13, 1884, upwards of 100 young were present. 



I shall defer making any remarks on the foregoing simple state- 

 ment of results until the experiments have been further developed 

 by time ; but I cannot resist calling attention to the following point, 

 as it seems desirable that information on such should be obtained 

 from the widest sources. 



If hybrid Salmonidae are to be worth rearing, of coarse the fish- 

 culturist would desire to obtain the finest breed ; and the first subject 

 that deserves inquiry is whether the species among vertebrate 

 annuals which forms the male or the female parent exercises any 

 peculiar modifying influence on the size of the offspring. Dr. Gray 

 remarked that among hybrids the offsi)ring attained to the size of 

 the largest parent ; but be does not appear to have considered that 

 It was of any consequence whether this larger parent should have 

 been the male or the female, and if it is, such a point is most desirable 



