SALMONID^!. 73 



be propagated, ad infinitum, through the whole regi >n of the lesser 

 lakes. ^ 



The next point of great value to be attained by the use of experi- 

 ments of this nature, is the ascertaining how far fish are capable of 

 hybridization ; and possibly the creation of new and interesting varieties, 

 besides the elucidation of sundry, now mooted, questions concerning 

 the manner in which various species, now distinct, have arisen, and 

 whether in truth they are distinct or no. 



Now, it is of course just as easy to commingle, in the manner here- 

 tofore described, the melt and roe of two distinct varieties, as of the 

 same species ; and the consequences of such an admixture would excite 

 the attention of the whole scientific world. 



Anywhere in the northern and north-eastern part of the State of 

 New York, anywhere in the northern parts of New Hampshire, Ver- 

 mont, or Maine, it would be the easiest thing in the world to procure 

 the common Lake Trout, Salmo Confinis, if not alive, at least within 

 a few hours after his capture, and the common Brook Trout, dead or 

 alive, in any desirable quantities. 



There is little if any difference in the spawning period of these two 

 Salmonidce, so that it would require very little pains or attention to 

 procure the males and females under the circumstances proper for the 

 making of such an experiment, which might be performed precisely as 

 I have described it above ; trying, in different instances, the males 

 and females of the two species alternately. 



There are thousands and tens of thousands of little tumbling trans- 

 parent rills, throughout that country — scarcely a farm without a dozen 

 such — which have numerous natural basins in their courses, each of 

 which, with the aid of a few hours' work employed in raising a timber 

 dam, and applying a grate at the entrance and egress of the stream, 

 would constitute as perfect a store-pond for the making of such expe- 

 riments as could be erected by the wealth of Croesus ; with the advan- 

 tage, too, of having the fish requisite for the tests existing, in a state 

 of nature, within a few miles, perhaps within a few hundred yards, of 

 the scene of action. 



One place already made to hand, requiring no improvement or alte- 

 ration, strikes me on the instant ; and one familiar, 1 doubt not, to 

 'fery many of my readers. I mean Barhydt's Trout-ponds, near 



