368 



Part III.— Seventh Annual Report 



hourhood during the whole of the neaps, but how they passed their time 

 or how they hid themselves I cannot tell. 



The scarcity of whales now in not so much owing to the number killed 

 in Greenland and Davis Straits, although no doubt there has been a vast 

 number captured from first to last. It is more owing to the way in which 

 the earlier whale fishers conducted their business in killing off the young 

 whales before they are able to reproduce. In this way a large proportion 

 of the mature whales died out, and no young ones were left to take their 

 place. In proof of this I give the following figures: — In 1814 the 

 'Resolution' killed forty-four whales, averaging only five tons ; in 1845 

 the 1 Joseph Green ' killed in Ponds Bay forty whales, averaging only four 

 tons. Many other vessels were also killing this same class of whales. I 

 have heard that the 'John' of Greenock killed twenty-two suckers before 

 the crew rested, and I know the 'Eclipse' in 1838 killed fifteen small 

 whales in the same way. 



D. G., Peterhead. 



X. ON THE SAPROLEGNIA OF SALMON DISEASE AND ALLIED 

 FORMS. By Alexander Edington, M.B., CM., Lecturer in 

 Bacteriology, Edinburgh, and Assistant to the Professor of Surgery, 

 University of Edinburgh. 



{From the Bacteriological Laboratory of the Surgical Department, 

 University of Edinburgh.) 



Preliminary Paper. 



In the Fourth and Fifth Annual Reports, Appendices F, xi. p. 177, and 

 F. xii. p. 331, there is detailed by Professor Greenfield reports upon 

 the quantitative and qualitative estimation of bacteria, present in the 

 water of several of our rivers. The work which it was then proposed 

 to do, and to which the reports referred are valuable and able contri- 

 butions, was as follows : — 



1. The enumeration of the number of organisms in river waters under 

 various conditions. 



2. The study and the identification of the various bacteria and other 

 nearly allied fungi. 



3. The study of higher microscopic fungi. 



4. Observations upon the mode of growth and cultivation of the 

 Saprolegnia, and the manner in which it invades and affects salmon. 



The present report, which must be considered of a purely preliminary 

 kind, is a direct continuation of the work then begun and so far 

 carried out. 



A consideration of the work previously done brings home to us very 

 clearly the fact, that little indeed is known of the nature of the bacteria 

 and higher fungi found in our river waters. We find that, under 

 certain little-understood conditions, the numbers and qualities of the 

 bacteria found therein are subject to considerable variation. A 

 knowledge then of these and allied forms must be of great importance, 

 as it is more than probable, that certain kinds may be directly prejudicial 

 to fish by setting up disease ; or indirectly, by rendering them more 

 susceptible to the attacks of other diseases, of which latter we know 

 very little. In the reports already noted, the work accomplished 

 consisted in the enumeration and description of certain forms found in 



