188 The History of the Salmon. 



THE HISTORY OF THE SALMON.* 



The artificial breeding of fish affords an opportunity of resolv- 

 ing many interesting questions in the history of certain mem- 

 bers of the finny tribes, as well as the means of augmenting 

 the supply of food. It is nov, m'uiy years since Mr. Boccius 

 introduced the system of pisciculture into this country, and 

 although we are not able to affirm that salmon has become any 

 cheaper in consequence of his exertions, there appears no reason 

 why our most favourably situated rivers should not, once more, 

 be well stocked with this much admired article of diet, or why 

 ponds should not abound, in which humbler species of edible 

 fish might be reared as a profitable article of trade. As neigh- 

 bourhoods become populous, and a host of manufacturers settle 

 down on the banks of romantic streams, it will become impos- 

 sible to enforce any system of preservation, or to prevent the 

 pollution of the water with some material inimical to piscine 

 life. There will, however, remain for many years compara- 

 tively secluded streams in which a very moderate expenditure 

 of capital would ensure a large and remunerative stock of fish. 



The Stormontfield experiment is only a small one, but it 

 has nevertheless led to important results. The scene of its 

 operations is on the Tay, about five miles from Perth. Three 

 hunou-ed hatching boxes are arranged in parallel rows, with a 

 walk or path between each. ' c The boxes are filled to within 

 an inch or two of the top, first with a layer of fine gravel, next 

 with one of coarser gravel, and lastly with stones as large as 

 road metal." Before being put into the boxes, the deposits 

 are freely exposed to sun and air to kill the larvae of water in- 

 sects that are very destructive to the fish, and currents of clean 

 water from a filtering pond are allowed to flow freely through 

 the apparatus when it is arranged. All being ready, a pair of 

 salmon are captured to supply the spawn and the milt. The 

 ova of the female are discharged in a tub by a suitable pressure 

 and stroking motion of the hand. The milt is added in a 

 Bimilar way, and the water agitated to bring the two into con- 

 tact. The impregnated spawn is then removed to the propa- 

 gating boxes, and Mr. Brown tells us that the salmon colour of 

 the ova is noticeably brightened when the milt comes into con- 

 tact with them. This process goes on pretty quickly, so that 

 in an experiment which began on the 23rd November, 1853, 

 300,000 ova were deposited in the 300 boxes in the course of 



* The Natural History of the Salmon, as ascertained by the Recent Experi- 

 ments in the Artificial Spawning and Hatching of the Ova for Rearing of the Fry 

 at Stormontfield, on the Tay. By William Brown, Secretary to the Literary and 

 Antiquarian Society of Perth. Murray and Son, Glasgow ; Paton and Bitchie, 

 Edinburgh ; Hall, Virtue, and Co. London. 



