Fishes. 1971 



of impregnation could be communicated by, and be made to depend upon, the contact 

 of two bodies disagreeing so much in their nature and specific gravity, as do the milt 

 and roe of fish. While both he and Mr. Shaw admit that the milt of the male 

 parr seven or eight months old, is fully matured, but that the roe of the female of the 

 same age is just developed and barely distinguishable to the naked eye, Mr. Stoddart's 

 solution is that the milt of the male parr is thus thoroughly matured in order that by 

 an actor acts of coition, previous to entering the salt water, the ovaria of his contem- 

 poraneous mate may be vivified — thus anticipating her return from the sea as a grilse, 

 to deposit not a bed of inert slough, but active and endowed spawn. Mr. Stoddart 

 supposes that polygamy obtains among the salmon tribes, and states that in the 

 Blackwater, near Contin, Rosshire, he saw a collection of above fifty fishes among 

 which were only three males, and these, notwithstanding the immense disproportion in 

 point of numbers, so jealously inclined towards each other, as to prefer fighting fu- 

 riously among themselves, to engaging in acts of duty and affection towards the other 

 sex; while many of the females seemed in the act of spawning unattended by any of 

 the milters. He allows that the female, when on the redd, or in the act of spawning, 

 is frequently attended by a male fish, which hovers faithfully in her rear, and, without 

 making any attempt to disturb her, drives off every other male fish or common trout 

 that may approach ; but affirms that it is not until after the female has shed 

 her spawn that there is any act of coition, and that the effect of this act is the im- 

 pregnation of her deposit of next year and not of that which has been already left on 

 the redd. Towards the end of this chapter Mr. Stoddart remarks, that were the com- 

 monly received opinion the correct one, as regards the impregnation of the ova of fish, 

 our streams would be swarming with hybrids, and that the pure and legitimate breeds 

 would be lost or soon thrown into the back ground. The 'Angler in Ireland,' and the 

 late Sir Anthony Carlisle, and also Mr. Younger, of St. BoswelPs, are referred to as 

 expressing opinions favorable to those adopted by Mr. Stoddart. To this gentleman 

 himself and to those who have read his interesting and instructive volume, I may ap- 

 pear to have barely done justice to the subject laid down in his pages. This appear- 

 ance may arise from the narrow limits to which I have here confined myself. I trust, 

 however, I have not misrepresented his statements. I shall be satisfied, if, by this 

 short notice, I succeed in turning the attention of others to a point in Natural History, 

 whose continued obscurity and debatableness are good grounds of reflection upon the 

 host of observers that are now abroad, in summer at least, by the sides of almost every 

 stream in Scotland. — G. Gordon ; Birnie, by Elgin, Dec. 2nd, 1847. 



Fishes and the Law of Kindness. — In a quarter of the town of Hingham, known as 

 Rockynook, there is a pond, where a little girl, not six years old, who resides near the 

 bank, has tamed the fishes to a remarkable degree. She began by throwing crumbs 

 in the water. Gradually the fishes learned to distinguish her footsteps, and darted to 

 the edge whenever she approached ; and now they will actually feed out of her hand 

 and allow her to touch their scaly sides. A venerable turtle is among her regular pen- 

 sioners. The control of Van Amburgh over his wild beasts is not more surprising than 

 that which this little girl has attained over her finny playmates. The fishes will have 

 nothing to do with any but their tried friend. They will trust no one else, let 

 him come with provender ever so tempting. Even fishes are not so cold-blooded but 

 they will recognise the law of kindness, and yield to its all-embracing power. — Boston 

 Transcript, United States. 



