308 Hon. H. T. Liddell's Observations on the Young of Salmon, Sfc. 



of a very interesting subject shall be the means of exciting enquiry and 

 eliciting information, it will answer my object, and the time of the Society 

 will not have been unnecessarily occupied. 



In conclusion, I must just remark the coincidence of the ascent of young 

 -eels into rivers, at the period of the descent of the salmon smelts. The 

 rapid growth of the latter fish is well known, and I think it not improbable, 

 as it certainly is analogous with other provisions in the animal kingdom by 

 the Almighty ruler of the universe, that the descending shoals of the one 

 species of fish may derive sustenance and strength from the food supplied 

 by the ascending shoals of the other. 



The reader may be referred to the second series of " Gleanings of Natu- 

 ral History," by Edward Jesse, Esq., which has been published subsequent 

 to the period when this article was written. In the " Observations on 

 Eels" in this little volume, will be found much new and curious informa- 

 tion, and the fact of this fish being oviparous, and breeding for the most 

 part in the brackish water at the mouths of rivers, is here pretty clearly 

 established. A letter from Mr. Yarrell, the celebrated Icthyologist, con- 

 tained in the article referrred to, removes most of the doubts and difficul- 

 ties which have hitherto perplexed naturalists from the earliest ages on 

 this curious subject. H. T. L. 



