TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 93 



Some Observations on an Apparatus for observing Fish (especially of 

 the family Salmonidoe) in confinement. By Prof. R. Jones. 



The points to which attention is required to be directed are the fol- 

 lowing : — 1st. The salmon, the grilse, and the sea-trout, leaving the 

 sea in the autumn, for the purpose of depositing their spawn in rivers, 

 it is desirable to determine whether these are so many distinct varieties, 

 or the same fish in different stages of its growth. 2nd. With regard to 

 the whiting (^Scortice, Herling), it is not positively known by fishei-men 

 whether it spawns at all, or is merely a young fish, which must undergo 

 a further change before it becomes capable of reproduction. 3rd. The 

 fry, or young fish, in their first descent from the rivers, exhibit certain 

 differences of appearance ; but those differences are not such as enable 

 the fishermen to determine the kind or variety (if any) to which the 

 young fish respectively belong. 4th. With regard to the par, or brand- 

 ling, the questions are, whether it is an adult fish sui generis, or the 

 young of some variety, or the ordinary fry, in an early stage of its de- 

 velopment. These questions are important, as the decrease of the 

 British fisheries is very great ; and, by settling them, such provisions 

 might be made by the legislature as would not only obviate further 

 diminution, but restore the fisheries to their former abundance. A 

 model of an apparatus was exhibited, in which it was proposed to con- 

 fine the fish, in order that obseivations might be made upon them in 

 their various stages of growth, provision being made for the admission 

 of sea- and fresh-water, according to the quantity supposed to be re- 

 quired by the fish in their natural state. Mr. Jones then read a letter 

 from Mr. Relph, who had been more than fifty years engaged in the 

 salmon fishery. "In May, 1819," he says, "there were 1700 fry 

 marked at Kings-gate Fishery, near Carlisle ; and in the July and 

 August following a quantity of whitings, or herling, were taken, com- 

 ing from the salt-water, bearing the same marks. These marks were 

 made by cutting away the fin called the dead fin, just above the tail. 

 In September, 1821, a grilse was caught bearing the mark, and weigh- 

 ing 7 pounds, 6 ounces ; so that from the time it was marked its average 

 growth had been one ounce per week. There were also several salmon 

 taken bearing the mark, and weighing from 10 to 16 pounds." 



Observations on Beroe pileus. By Robert Garner, Esq., F.L.S. 



The author has not been able to observe true luminosity in this 

 animal, even in a perfectly dark room ; but in an obscure room it ex- 

 hibits peculiar changeable colours. 



The vibrations of the external cilia continue after these parts are 

 separated from the body, with almost undiminished rapidity for several 

 hours. The circulation of aqueous fluid in the internal canals of the 

 animal is attributed by the author to the action of minute internal cilia, 

 situate on the parietes of the cavities. They may also well be seen on 

 the external sui'face of the stomach Avhere it is washed by the fluid of 

 the central canal. There is sometimes an appearance of one or more 



