08 
rOrULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
BRITISH FISHES.* 
A S the result of going through this work we earnestly express the hope 
of the author that it may soon reach a second and enlarged edition. 
For most assuredly it is the pleasantest (and withal good matter) and most 
readable little volume that we have ever met with on this subject. We 
truly hope that it may attain exceeding popularity, for it is, as Mr. F. 
Buckland wished it to he, an excellent popular account of British fish, with 
a certain amount of information on the subject of the various kinds of 
fisheries in the United Kingdom. On some fish, as for instance the Lancelet, 
the author’s information is of the slenderest dimensions, although to the 
comparative anatomist few indeed of fish possess so extraordinary an in- 
terest. But we must remember that it is not for the zoologist that Mr. Buck- 
land is writing, hut for the ordinary individual ; therefore, if we turn to an 
ordinary fish, we shall find our information fuller and more of a nature to 
interest such a reader. Take the many chapters on the salmon and trout 
for instance, or those on fish culture, and here we shall find our author 
perfectly at home. Not that it must he supposed for a moment that every 
British fish does not get a certain space allotted to it, and in most cases a cut 
illustrative of its structure ; even Ampliioxus has this latter, although we 
cannot say very much in its favour. But taking, as we said, the commoner 
fishes, we shall find our information popular, accurate, and in the most 
instances filled with an amount of facts which no one who was not per- 
fectly at home on the subject could have given us. Leaving entirely aside 
the mass of useful knowledge which the author has put together on the 
subject of the trout and other fishes, let us take the salmon as an example 
of the book. Here we shall merely place before the reader the headings 
of the several chapters ; if, w T hen he has read them, he feels that the author 
has not done his work conscientiously, we think he will be difficult to 
please. First, then, is an account of the salmon ; then follow “ Salmon re- 
turning to their own Fiver,” “ How to mark Fish,” “ Power of smell in 
Salmon,” “ Monster Salmon,” “The Shannon Fish,” “Ford of the Salmon,” 
“ Fhine Salmon Fisheries,” “ Anatomy of the Salmon,” “Cathedrals and 
Salmon,” “ Salmon at Westminster Bridge,” “Former abundance of Salmon 
in the Thames,” “ Causes of Extinction of Salmon in the Thames,” “ Salmon 
at Winchester,” “ How to kipper Salmon,” “ Unclean and Unseasonable 
Salmon,” “ Spring or early run Fish,” “Early and Late Fivers, ” “Protec- 
tion and Preservation of Salmon,” “Darkness protects Salmon,” “How 
to improve Spawning Beds,” “ Upper and Lower Proprietors in a Salmon 
Fiver,” “ Value of British Salmon Fisheries,” and last, though by no 
means least, the question of “Future Legislation.” It will be seen from 
these headings that there is no subject connected with the question of 
salmon fishery into which he does not enter. Moreover, the whole is 
discussed in a pleasant style, without being too colloquial, as we once 
charged the author, now many years ago, with being. His illustrations are 
* “ Familiar History of British Fishes.” By Frank Buckland, Inspector 
of Salmon Fisheries tor England and Wales, &c. &c. London : Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1873. 
