146 MALACOPTERYGII. 



Mr. Skelly has read the opinions of Shaw, and denies their truth. He 

 has the old notion about their amazingly rapid growth ; he can hardly, 

 however, be mistaken about the fry entering the sea when very small 

 in sackfulls ; he says they do so when of the length of the finger : the 

 short course of the river may account for this. He states that they 

 have not the dark side-marks of the paiT. The salmon cannot be said 

 to be decreasing of late years; but many years back (50) were much 

 more numerous. I saw a number taken likewise in the sea this morn- 

 ing, the largest thirteen pounds Aveight. June 18th, — " Fourteen and a 

 half score of salmon " were taken here to-day in the sea. June 20th. — 

 Seventeen and a half score were taken at Port Ballantrae in the sea. 

 Jime 2lst. — Thirteen and a half score were taken in the cuts at Bush foot. 

 More salmon have already been taken at the Bush fishery (river and sea) 

 this season than there has been from commencement of the season to the 

 21st of June any year since lcS14. I have been told that a fish weighing 

 fifty-five pounds was taken here last year ; and some years ago one of 

 seventy pounds weight. Large fish do not ascend the Bush until the 

 season is far advanced. Eightpence per lb. is the price chai'ged for 

 salmon here this season : it is sent to GlasgoAV on commission. 



Portrush, June 22nd. — I sav/ a salmon of twenty-seven pounds weight 

 taken in the sea here ; it was off'ered at sixpence per lb., the price charged 

 for the " poaching " captures (large and small) made in the river. 



BaUjishannon, Juh/ loth, 1840. — A gentleman whom I met at the 

 hotel here assured me that he had seen two salmon taken here, one of 

 which Aveighed forty-five pounds, and the other sixty-three pounds ; and 

 that a friend of his saw one which weighed upwards of eighty pounds. 

 Colburn, of the hotel, does not credit the weight of the last two. Two 

 days ago, eight hundred salmon * were taken here at the fishery. It is 

 said that three hundred and twenty-nine were taken at one draught, and 

 all large fish, from twenty-five to thirty-four pounds Aveight. From May 

 12th to this time five tons of salmon have been taken here ; the price in 

 the toAvn is eightpence per lb. The fish are rather increasing of late years ; 

 £3000 and £4000 a-year are said to be realized by the lessees. Col. Conolly, 

 the proprietor, derives £1 100 per annum of clear profit rent from the 

 fishery, and has it set for three lives. 



I extract the annexed paragraph, from Kidd's Companion to South- 

 ampton and the Isle of Wight, on account of the similarity betAveen 

 the Southampton river and the Lagan : — 



" Formerly the salmon fishery Avas carried on here [at Southampton] Avitli 

 much success, and a fcAv of them are still occasionally taken. So abundant Avas 

 the supply, that farm-servants and apprentices used to stipulate AA'ith their 

 masters that they should not have salmon for dinner more than tAvice a-Aveek." 



The parr has been mentioned by the following authors : — Rutty says, 

 " Salmulus-Samlet, or Branlin, frequent with us ; never above 6 inches 

 long." — Sampson speaks of it as the " Samlet, or Jenkin," least of the 

 genus." — Tighe notes the " <S'. salmulus, E,ay, here called guillioge ; " and 

 Harris, in his enumerations of the fish found in the Bann, says, " it is here 

 called a Ginkin." — See also Annals Nat. History, vol. xiv. p. 146. 



April 25, 1837. — I to-day received from Glenwherry river (County 

 Antrim), ten specimens of the parr, from 4 to 7 inches in length ; and at 

 the same time, three specimens of the common trout [Sahno Fario) of 

 corresponding size, for comparison. 



* Similar numbers Avere lately taken at one haul at Ballina. 



