of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



13 



Mr. Stone's remarks on this point must necessarily carry little weight, 

 us the result of any attempt to increase the productiveness of existing 

 fisheries must always be doubtful even when statistics are available over 

 long and consecutive periods of years ; but when, as in this case, the 

 alleged results are arrived at by comparison of the yield of the fisheries 

 in a few selected years no value can be attached to them (op. cit., p. 229). 



The report § of the investigations conducted at the Research Laboratory Salmon Fishery 

 of the Royal College of Physicians by Dr. Noel Raton and his colleagues Investigation, 

 into the life-history of salmon in fresh waters, referred to in my last 

 Annual Report, was issued as a separate paper, and presented to both 

 Houses of Parliament on 8th March last. This report forms a most 

 valuable addition to our knowledge, it throws important light on several 

 questions of great practical interest, and should assist greatly in fur- 

 nishing exact information on which to base regulations for the improve- 

 ment of the salmon fisheries. Since these investigations form part of a 

 plan of investigation begun in 1894 with the object of ascertaining the 

 value for breeding purposes of fish entering the rivers at difierent seasons 

 of the year, it would not seem out of place at this time to consider very 

 briefly how the facts which have been ascertained bear on this subject. 



Professor Meischer Ruesch, of Basle, seems to have been the first 

 authority to make a systematic study of the question. The salmon 

 examined by him were mostly caught in the neighbourhood of Basle, in 

 Switzerland, over 500 miles from the sea.* The observations begun by 

 him were, in part, continued by Dr. Hoek,t Scientific Adviser on 

 Fisheries to the Dutch Government, who examined the condition of 

 salmon taken at the mouth of the Rhine, and corrected several of the 

 conclusions Professor Meischer Ruesch had erroneously arrived at, owing 

 to his want of data as to the condition of salmon in, or just after 

 leaving, the sea. The investigations made by Mr. Grey in 1894 and 

 Mr. Tosh in 189o,J at Berwick-on-Tweed and Kelso, enabled it to be 

 seen how far those made on the Rhine are likely to apply to salmon in 

 this country, and paved the way for the important work§ which has 

 been carried out during 1896 by D. Noel Paton, James C. Dunlop, 

 A. Lockhart Gillespie, G. Lovell Gulland, E. D. W. Greig, S. C. 

 Mahalanobis, and M. T. Newbiggin. The salmon examined by Dr. 

 Noel Paton and his colleagues were procured simultaneously from the 

 mouths and upper waters of rivers, thus enabling the fish from the 

 former locality bo be compared with those from the latter. 



The object of these investigations has been (1) to trace the growth of 

 genital development in salmon, both in the sea and in fresh water, from 

 its earliest commencement to its fully ripe condition ; (2) to determine 

 the source from which the material used in the construction of the 

 genital organs, and from which the energy required by fish in ascending 

 rivers and during their sojourn there, is derived ; and (3) to ascertain 

 the difference in the length, weight, condition of muscle, genitalia, or 

 other organs in fish coming in from the sea, and in fish which have 

 reached the upper waters, respectively, with the view of seeing whether 



* Statistische und biologische Beitrage yur kenntniss von heben das Rhein- 

 lachses im Sussvater. Dr. F. Meischer Ruesch, Prof. d. Physiol, in Basel. 

 Publishers : Druck von Metrjger & Wittig, Leipsig. 



t Rapport over Statistische en biologische onderzoekingen ingesteld met behulp 

 van in Nederland gevangen Zalmen. Dr. P. P. C. Hoek, Wetenschappelijk 

 Adviseur in Visscherijyaken. 



X Appendices to Fourteenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 Part II., pp. 9 to 31. 



§ Report of Investigations into the Life-History of Salmon in Fresh Water. 

 Edited by D. Noel Paton, M.D., Superintendent of the Laboratory of the Royal 

 College of Physicians of Edinburgh. 



