132 FISH CULTUfiE. 



ignorance of fish culture. Indeed, it may with some 

 reason he said that the ahsence of proper understand- 

 ing and cultivation of our waters may make just the 

 difference hetween wealth and poverty. Having said 

 so much, it is needless for me to pursue this fruitful 

 and important theme further. It is to be hoped that 

 public attention will be awakened, and that we shall 

 speedily begin to make up for the time we have so 

 lamentably lost. The subject of hybrids is one which, 

 in the present state of knowledge we have upon it, 

 possesses an interest in a scientific point of view 

 rather than a practical An experiment as regards 

 the rearing of hybrids was tried in the season of 1864, 

 by Mr. Buckland, who, as I gathered from the FidA, 

 crossed the eggs of salmon and trout ; but 1 believe 

 the experiment did not succeed, and the eggs never 

 hatched. It would have been interesting, to have had 

 the particulars as a guide fgr future experiments, but 

 they were not published. I incline to think that 

 hybrids between salmon and trout are much more 

 rare than is sometimes supposed ; as, if they were 

 by any means common, the races could hardly fail 

 to become in time strongly intermixed, owing tp 

 their occupying almost the same spawning grounds, 

 and at about the same time. 



