Miscellanies, 379 



all that I have seen from this pond for the last year, are smaller than 

 those commonly met with. From the quantities yearly taken, how- 

 ever, they must have increased considerably in number ; and their 

 flesh has lost nothing of its sweetness or flavor, as I have repeatedly 

 had opportunities of testing. 



This is the only experiment, so far as I am able to learn, which has 

 been made to transport marine fishes lo fresh water, in our country. 

 It has proved that this species can bear the change, and that it will 

 increase in numbers in its new locality. In many ponds in our state 

 more favorably circumstanced, better supplied with food, this fish 

 would undoubtedly retain its usual size. In a highly interesting pa- 

 per, entitled "Hints on the possibility of changing the residence of 

 certain Fishes from salt water to fresh — by J. MacCulloch, M. D. 

 F. R. S.," we learn that this same species, the smelt, has been kept 

 by Mr. Meyneil, of Yarm, YorkshiVe, in a fresh water pond for four 

 years, having no communication with the sea, and ihey g-rew well, 

 and bred as freely as under other circumstances.* In the valuable 

 communication of Dr. MacCulloch, just alluded to, several other spe- 

 cies of fishes are mentioned as having been transported in a similar 

 manner, and he observes that the flavor of every fish has been impro- 

 ved by the change. "The sole becomes twice as thick as a fish of 

 the same size from the sea. The plaice also increases materially in 

 thickness : in some cases, it appeared three times as thick as in the 

 sea. The barse also turns much thicker, and improves in delicacy. 

 The mullet almost ceases to grow in length, but enlarges in breadth, 

 and presents a much deeper layer of fat."t No one can give this 

 elaborate paper, which I have merely referred to, a careful perusal, 

 without being satisfied that our own ponds, many of them now utterly 

 useless, may be made rich repositories of numerous marine fishes. 



Several instances might be referred to of fresh water fishes being 

 transported successfully, not merely to neighboring ponds, separated 

 from each other by a few miles, but also from countries even in very 

 different degrees of latitude. The Cyprinus carpio, common carp, 

 originally from the central part of Europe, is now distributed through 

 almost all its ponds, rivers and lakes — and I have previously stated 

 to this Society, that a pond in Newburgh, N. Y. was stocked with 

 English carp. J The Osphromenus olfax, a native of China, has 

 been introduced into the Isle of France, where it increases rapidly, 

 and has been taken thence to Cayenne. § The Cyprinus auratus, so 



* Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts, Vol. 17, London, 1824. 

 Also, Yarrell's British Fishes, Vol. 11, p. 77. 



t Q,uarterly Journ. Science, Lit. and Arts, Vol. 19. 



X Silliman's Journal, Vol. 36, p. 342. § Griffith's Cuvier, Vol. 10, p. 220. 



