3758 Fishes. 



scientific gentlemen, having repeatedly examined her ; she has, besides, other charac- 

 teristics of the viper tribe, and this I consider to be a very strong argument in favour 

 of her being viviparous. I should mention that the young ones, the day they were 

 discovered, exhibited the peculiarity mentioned by Mr. Gosse, — that of rearing their 

 bodies until they appeared to rest on the tip of the tail ; they moreover will dart open- 

 mouthed at anything put near them, which act I have never observed in the young of 

 the Boa constrictor, of which we have reared many here. T hope these remarks will 

 elicit from some of your readers fuller accounts of this beautiful reptile, and that the 

 question of its being viviparous or the contrary may beset at rest. — Robert Coles, Hon. 

 Sec. Bristol and West of England Zoological Society ; December 13, 1852. 



On the Artificial Introduction of a Breed of Salmon into the River 

 Swale, and a tributary Stream in Yorkshire. Communicated 

 By John Hogg, Esq., F.L.S.* 



Mr. Hogg communicated a letter with the above title, which ap- 

 peared in the ' Durham Advertiser ' for April 16, in the present year 

 [1852], under the signature of Isaac Fisher, together with an unpub- 

 lished letter from the same gentleman, in answer to a request from Mr. 

 Hogg for further information ; and added some observations of his 

 own upon the same subject. From the letter published in the * Dur- 

 ham Advertiser,' it appeared that Mr. Richard Harrison of Richmond 

 had procured from the river Tees a brood of spawn, taken and milted 

 from the living fish, which he deposited on the 29th of December 

 last in a small tributary of the river Swale. On the 21st of March 

 two of the ova were brought to the house of Mr. Fisher, and placed 

 in a vessel of water, the foetal signs were clearly distinguished, and in 

 two days more they became living fish ; he is consequently satisfied 

 that the salmon is now restored to the river Swale, from which it has 

 of late years been banished. In answer to Mr. Hogg's inquiries, Mr. 

 Fisher states further that the ova and milt were obtained in the Tees, 

 according to the directions given by Boccius, Shaw, and " Epheme- 

 ra," in his ' Book of the Salmon.' They were taken from three female 

 and two male fishes on the night of the 27th of December, and not 

 deposited in the gravel of a small rivulet until the 29th of the same 

 month. Fart of the ova were also placed in a gravel-bed in the river 

 Swale ; but of the result of this part of the experiment Mr. Fisher has 

 no present information. In one part the ova were placed too deep in 

 the gravel, and on examination were found to be addled ; while there 



* FtOln the ' Proceedings of the Linnean Society/ May 4, 1852. 



