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TKLti CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



the migratory Salmonidae. I have only just 

 commenced the construction of a botanical 

 pond to enable me to study water plants as 

 herbage for molluscre, shelter for grammari, 

 and the natural production of myriads, of 

 ontromostrica. On the sea-shore of the West- 

 ern Highlands if the kelp be not regularly 

 cut, or in other words rudely cultivated, for 

 cutting is most assuredly a process in cultiva- 

 tion, the whelks and bukies decrease on 

 account of the want of the young tender shoots 

 of seaweed, and the fishing in the neighbour- 

 hood is sensibly diminished. From this it is 

 easy to understand what a great future maybe 

 opened out by the systematic culture of water 

 plants in our inland waters. Food limits the 

 culture of non-migratory Salmonidae, there- 

 fore our study must be where to grow it, how 

 to grow it, when to grow it, and what to grow. 

 In lakes some shoal swimming fish is essen- 

 tial to the growth of the large species of non- 

 migrating Salmonidae. Since the Char have 

 disappeared from Lochleven in the first quarter 

 of the present century, the ten pound Trout in 

 that loch have passed into the realms of 

 romance. Acclimatization here steps in ; 

 either the freshwater Smelt of America or our 

 own Cameras eperlanus, which I have suc- 

 cessfully hatched and am now rearing in fresh 

 water, if introduced into a Highland loch, for 

 instance, Loch Tay, would enable it to carry a 

 very heavy crop of some of the larger inland 

 species, for instance, the landlocked Salmon 

 of Loch Werner in Sweden, or the S. sebago of 

 America ; but we must not conclude that the 

 acclimatization of every species is in all cases 

 desirable, for if the Black Bass were intro- 

 duced into the Tay, and the Pike Perch 

 allowed to sport wherever he listed, even were 

 the sport with the new comers at all commen- 

 surate with the highly-coloured descriptions 

 which we have read, it will hardly compen- 

 sate for a troutless river, and a salmon less 

 estuary. There may be parts of the country 

 where the Pike Perch would form a desirable 

 addition to the local fauna, but I cannot con- 

 ceive the Black Bass, who is only at his best 

 in waters essentially fitted for Salmonidae, to 

 be other than a most dangerous intruder. The 

 Colorado beetle boasts, I believe, of a special 

 Act of Parliament, and I do think the intro- 

 duction of strange and dangerous species of 

 fish should only be attempted under Slate 

 control. The S. sebago, should he retain in 

 this country his non-migratory instincts. 

 would probably be a splendid fish for the 



Thames, and if used in the upper parts of the 

 Severn would introduce a new and important 

 element in the question of the respective 

 rights of upper and lower proprietors. It is 

 not for the public good that this should be 

 done, for this fish would probably be able to 

 hold the spawning grounds from all comers, 

 and a rapid decrease of the migratory species 

 would be the result, and if it. be urged that a 

 lake species would not localize itself to the 

 upper portions of our larger rivers, still if 

 crossed with a British variety, such as S. 

 levenenses, it in all probability would do so. 

 The acclimatization of the Corregoni, of which 

 there are many species, all of which can be 

 easily transported as alevins in my opinion, 

 only to be considered as a factor in the pro- 

 duction of food for more valuable Salmonidae. 

 If we had the great American lakes, no doubt 

 the large white fish of Canada would, if intro- 

 duced, form a valuable article of popular 

 food, but our space in this island is too con- 

 fined to enable us to deal with other than the 

 best we can have, and I doubt, except in a few 

 solitary cases, if any of the Corregoni fall 

 under this head." 



Mr. Wilmot (Commissioner for Canada) 

 said he rose with great pleasure to move a vote 

 of thanks to Sir James Maitland for the very 

 lucid and instructive paper he had read, for 

 he felt satisfied that much benefit would be 

 derived from it. He was a deep lover of the 

 science of fish culture, believing it to be one 

 of the means, by which the population of the 

 earth hereafter would derive much benefit in 

 the way of food and wealth. It was well 

 known that the waters of almost every country 

 which had been largely inhabited had become 

 very scarce of fish, but this result was brought 

 by the greed and avarice of mankind almost 

 entirely, not in consequence of the predatory 

 habits of other fish which frequented the same 

 waters. In any new country an abundance 

 of fish was to be found in the rivers and 

 waters, showing that the balanee of nature 

 was evidently correct; that though fish fed on 

 fish, they did not exterminate one another ; 

 but the moment man stepped in with his en- 

 gines of destruction, the fish were reduced to 

 such an extent that this great International 

 Exhibition had been established for the pur- 

 pose of devising means whereby this descrip- 

 tion of food could be increased. He regretted 

 to find that, to some extent, there was a dif- 

 ference of opinion with regard to the means to 

 be adopted to this end, but, for his part, he 



