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iorts of fi(h, which probably equal or out-number either of 

 thefe, as the mackarel, fprat, and fome others. It is necef- 

 fary that fi(h ihould be as little as poflible difturbed at the 

 time of their depofiting their fpawn in the rivers, and on 

 the banks of the fea-fhores, or other places, as it may not 

 only be prejudicial to them, but injurious in preventing the 

 male fifh from impregnating it in a proper manner. 



SPAWNING of Fiflj, the ad of depofiting the raw, 

 fpawning, or oviparous matter of the female, and of its 

 being impregnated by that of the male, for the purpofe of 

 breeding or producing their young. Moll forts of river- 

 tifh, and many of thofe of the fca kind, produce their young 

 progeny in this way. This operation or work of impreg- 

 nation is accomplifhed in different manners as to the mode 

 of its depofition, according to the nature and habits of the 

 fifh, and the feafons at which the fpawning takes place. 

 In thofe fifties which fpawn in the more ftill and fhallow 

 waters during the fpring and fummer feafons, fuch, for in- 

 Itance, as thofe of the pike, bream, carp, perch, and fome 

 other kinds, it would feem to be moll commonly the habit 

 to depofit their fpawny material on the leaves and vege- 

 tables which lie jufl below the furface of the water, which 

 13 in all probability the moft favourable fituation for it in 

 different refpefts. While in thofe fifhes which call their 

 fpawn in the winter feafon, fuch as the falmon, trout, her- 

 ring, and many other forts, fpots and places very near the 

 fources or beginnings of rivers and ftreams, or the more 

 rapid frefh-water currents, are moftly fought for and fixed 

 upon in this intention, where there is a conftarit flow of 

 frefh water, where all ftagnation is prevented, and where 

 the water is the moft fully aerated, either in its natural fitua- 

 tion or during its fall in rain, as being probably the moft 

 fuitable and favourable for the purpofe. A proper and fuit- 

 able degree of warmth may alfo be necelFary in this bufi- 

 nefs. 



In all other cafes the fifhes probably depofit their fpawny 

 oviparous matters in fuch fituations as are the moll fuitable 

 to their particular economies, and where there is the necef- 

 fary heat, as well as where the water is the moft fully fatu- 

 rated and impregnated with air, as it is now well afcertained, 

 that their impregnated fpawny oviparous matters do not 

 produce young ones, any more than feeds vegetate, except 

 where they are freely fnpplied with air. The fifh in the 

 egg or fpawn, derives its oxygen from the air which is dif- 

 folved in the water that furrounds or flows over it, which, 

 in the firft of the above cafes, is much fupplied to the water 

 by the leaves of the plants on which it is depofited, in jK-r- 

 forming their healthy funftions ; which alfo probably afford 

 a better and more fuitable fituation for the male fiflics im- 

 pregnating it upon than any others : and in the latter cafe, 

 it 15 gained from the perpetual flowings of fuch frefh and 

 fully aerated waters over it, after it has been the moil con- 

 veniently and effcdtually impregnated in fuch fhallow parts, 

 currents, and ftreamlets. It has indeed been fuggeflcd, 

 that in this latter cafe, it is the inltinft leading the fifhes 

 to provide a proper fupply of air for their fpawny ovi- 

 parous material, which is to be depofited, that carries or 

 forces them from the feas, lakes, and other fimilar fitua- 

 tions, into mountainous countries ; and which impels and 

 induces them to move againfl the ftreams, as well as to en- 

 deavour and make efforts for overleaping weirs, catarafts, 

 mill-dams, and other fimilar ere^ions and works. See 

 Sked. 



The fpawning and generation of fifh was however for- 

 merly confidered as of a very different nature, and as being 

 performed in a very different manner. It is ftatcd, in fpeak- 

 iog of the Itcrringi by the writer of a paper Id the third 



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volume of tlie " Tianfaaions of the Highland Society of 

 Scotland," that a very fingular and feemingly unphilofophi- 

 cal notion had been held with regard to the impregnation of 

 tlie ova or eggs of fifh, and which is not by any means the 

 doftrine or hypothefis of yefterday, but which has pre- 

 vailed, in a greater or lefs degree, for upwards of two thou- 

 fand years ; that is, from the days of Herodotus, who in 

 treating and fpeaking of the fifh in the Nile, makes the 

 following obfervation. " At the feafon of fpawning they 

 move in vail multitudes towards the fea, the males lead the 

 way, and emit the engendering principle in their paflage ; 

 this the females abforb as they follow, and in conlequcnce 

 conceive, and when their ova are depofited, they are con- 

 fequently matured into fry." Beloe'e Herod. 



And Itrange and abfnrd as this fuppofition and procefs 

 feem to be, it is afierted, it is faid, to be the cafe by Lin- 

 naeus, the moft learned of all others in the fcience of animal 

 hiflory : he tenacioufly affirms, it is maintained, that there 

 can be no impregnation of the eggs of any animal out of the 

 body, and that as fifh have no organs of generation, that 

 deficiency is made up for by adopting the ^-flem or notion 

 of Herodotus. This abfurd and unfounded notion has 

 likewife, it is added, been attempted to be fupported by 

 Kalm, the friend and countryman of the ab.ive celebr.ited 

 naturalifl, on a llory fuppofed to have been told by Franklin 

 about two rivers in his province (New England in North 

 America,) which fell into the fea nearly together; in one 

 of which no herrings were ever taken, while in the other 

 they were abundantly caught ; the fifh, when they come to 

 depofit their fpawn, always pafTing up that river without 

 ever entering the other. In order to try to make the fifh 

 take to the other river, this perfon is faid to have put out 

 his nets and taken fome of them, as they were coming up 

 for fpawning in the produftive river. He is faid to have 

 taken " ihe^awn out of them, and to have carefully car- 

 ried it acrol's the land into the other river, where it ixias 

 hatched, and tlie confcquence was, that every year after- 

 wards tiiey caught more herrings in that river ; and this is, 

 it is faid, flill the cafe." But on inquiry in that country, 

 the writer of the above paper remarks, both the river and 

 the ftory were unknown to all who were inquired of about 

 the matter. 



The fame ftory is fince fuppofed to have been trumped 

 up by a French writer of the name of Nouel, with this 

 Itrong fhade of difference; that the former cuts the ova out 

 of the belly of tlie herring, while the latter fays, that the 

 fpawn was colleftcd from off plants, where it had been de- 

 pofited. At one of the fittings of the National Inftitute in 

 France, in the year 1799, a memoir was read by this member 

 of inltruftion at Rouen, on the means and advantages of 

 n-ituralizing the herring, a falt-wator fifli, in the water of 

 the Seine, near its mouth, &c. ; in which, after noticing 

 the various means by which this may be accomplilhcd, it is 

 obferved, that " herrings having been found afcending 

 from the fea into one river of the American province, 

 (noticed above,) while a fingle individual was never fcen m 

 another, feparated from the other by a narrow tongue of 

 land, and which alfo communicated with the fea, this phi- 

 lofopher (Dr. Frankhn) took the kavts off fome plants on 

 ■which the herrings had depofited their ovj, already fecundated, 

 and conveyed them to the river which was deprived of the 

 annual vifit of thefe filh. The fucccfs of the experiment 

 furpaffed his cxpeit.ition, the ova was completely produc- 

 tive, and the following year the river was peopled with a 

 numerous Ihoal of herringi, which, fiiicc that time, con- 

 tinued to frequent it." Phil. Mag. vol. x. p. 163. 



This account the writer of the above p.ipcr confiders as 



evidently 



