THE SALMON. 259 



but as it affords abundance of food, their marked absence 

 is a negative corroboration of the truth of the propensity 

 or habit attributed to them of always revisiting the place 

 of their birth. 



I am intimately acquainted with every part of the 

 Niagara, from the bar up to the foot of the Falls, and 

 have fished it, and been on it at all seasons of the year, 

 but never saw or heard of a single parr, smolt, grilse, or 

 salmon being taken, or even seen in its waters. 



With regard to their evident preference for the colder 

 rivers, it is perhaps hardly necessary to mention the fact 

 that a high temperature is fatal to the salmon, which 

 has no power of resisting heat, and is indeed limited to 

 countries lying north of the forty-first parallel of latitude. 

 Dr. Davy's experiments proved that a continued tempera- 

 ture of eighty degrees is sufiicient entirely to destroy the 

 vitality of its ova. Injurious, however, as is the effect of 

 heat, the most extreme cold seems to have no such effect, 

 for the eggs may be packed in ice without danger. 



It has been proposed, with a view to restoring the 

 sahnon to the rivers of Lake Ontario, which the spear of 

 the savage, and the saw-mills and lumber establishments 

 of civilized man, have almost destroyed, that two of the 

 most suitable streams should be set apart as nurseries, 

 in which netting should not be allowed : the rivers Credit 

 and Moira being those recommended for the purpose. 



s 2 



