566 MR SHAW'S EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS ON SALMON-FRY. 



the ova after the parent had been a considerable time dead, and removed from the 

 river. In one particular instance, the female had been dead for nearly two hours 

 without the vital principle of the spawn being in the least degree affected, — as, 

 on being afterwards placed in water, and the milt of a living male poiu-ed upon 

 it, it exhibited within the usual period the same healthy and progressing vivifica- 

 tion, under a similar temperature, as that taken and impregnated the moment it 

 quitted the body of the living parent. I have merely stated this fact as being in 

 part corroborative, so far as relates to the salmon, of similar experiments made 

 by M. Jacobi on individuals of the same genus. 



The extraordinary nature of the experiments made with the parr and salmon, 

 I have no doubt will tend to stagger the belief of many who may be disposed to 

 admit the truth of the facts resulting from the experiments upon the adult fishes. 

 Nevertheless, they are strictly true ; and I would strongly recommend that all 

 those interested should immediately turn their attention to a subject so curious in 

 a zoological point of view, and so important in its bearings on the history of the 

 most highly prized of all the species which ever sojourn in our river waters. 



ILLUSTRATIVE PLATES. 



Plate XXI. exhibits a plan of the Experimental Ponds, as constructed by Mr Shaw, and described 

 at p 553. 



Plate XXII. contains representations of Parr or Salmon-Fry, in various stages from the ovum to 

 the age of two years, — by which period the characteristic aspect of the Smolt (commonly so called) has 

 been assumed. This Plate is lettered in such a manner as to explain itself, and therefore need not here 

 be more particularly described. 



