Fishes. 



8463 



and, in consequence, thinking I was getting rid of an enemy, I took great pains to 

 destroy as many as possible. Amongst those I killed twenty fell to my gun just as 

 they emerged from spawning-beds, every one of which I at once opened from bill to 

 gizzard. On examination, both before and after washing, with the naked eye and 

 under the microscope, I could not in one single instance discover a trace of ova, neither 

 of case of ova, nor of the oleaginous matter which forms the contents of the case ; instead 

 of this I found the stomach full of the larvae of flies, whole and in fragments, and always 

 more or less of fine sand. About this date I heard of the destruction of ova in the 

 boxes at Stormontfield by the larvae of the stone-fly, and it immediately occurred to 

 me that I was destroying a most efficient assistant, and that the water ouzel was one 

 amongst the many exquisite links constantly presenting themselves to the student of 

 the natural history of this valuable fish. During the formation of the spawning-bed 

 the salmon turns over gravel, in the interstices of which lie the larvae of aquatic flies, 

 to which the water ouzel is debarred access until so turned over by the salmon ; and 

 the more frequent the visits of this useful bird to the newly-turned gravel the freer 

 will the spawning-bed be from these hurtful insects. This opinion subsequent expe- 

 rience has confirmed, and preservers of salmon will act wisely to protect, as a most able 

 assistant, the falsely-accused water ouzel. — J. H. Horsfall, in the 1 Field? 



[A great number of observations on this subject have been published recently, all 

 of them having the same object — to exonerate the water ouzel from the charge of 

 devouring the ova of salmon. I am, however, far from being convinced that the stone- 

 fly (Phrygauea) is in its larva state " hurtful " to the salmon ova : having paid consider- 

 able attention to this subject I am inclined to think that the phryganidous larvae are 

 vegetable-feeders like the larvae of Lepidoptera. — Edward Newman.] 



Destruction of Trout Spawn by the Parents. — On the 9th of December last, whilst 

 the keepers were netting the river Dunlop for salmon for my use, I examined a small 

 stream on the bog noted for the quantity of trout which breed in it. We took a number 

 of male fish— sea trout and river trout — before we caught a female. Observing a 

 number of ova in the trough in which I deposited them for a temporary purpose, I was 

 led to inspect their throats, and every male fish I examined except one had ova in its 

 maw. What are we to think when the male trout in attendance upon the females in 

 the stream feed upon the ova they help to fertilize ? I had a still stranger account 

 from a friend of mine who was getting a stock of breeding trout for the Ribble; and, 

 although I have not his permission to publish it, I think he will pardon the liberty. 

 He had taken seven pairs of trout, and had placed them, with Ramsbottom's sanction, 

 in a small pool for safely until the time for manipulating had arrived. When these 

 fish came to be examined it was found that all the females except one had entirely 

 relieved themselves from their ova, and the seventh partly so, and that every fish, male 

 and female, except the one which had only partially spawned, was absolutely gorged 

 with ova. I never remember to have seen either of these incidents recorded before ; 

 and they are both capable of being verified by ample testimony. What wonder that 

 trout should be scarce when both mother and father devour the eggs ! — Samuel Wood- 

 cock; Bury, Lancashire, January 26, 1863. From the ' Field. 



Note on the Argentine. — Passing along the beach near here the other morning, 

 I came upon one of the most resplendent little fishes which perhaps the British Seas 

 can boast of: so beautiful, in fact, did the little creature appear, that it was some time 

 before I could make myself believe that it really was a thing of life: its back was a 

 little buried in the sand, so that nothing but its glossy and metallic side and its 



