336 071 the Natural History of the Sahnoii, 
In order to enable our readers to perceive the evils which ex- 
ist in our salmon-fishing .practices, and the principles by which 
the Legislature should be guided in framing new regulations to 
remove them, we shall consider the facts brought to light, or 
established in this Report, relating to the habits of the fish ; then 
inquire into the nature of the alleged grievances by which the 
fisheries are injured, and proceed to the consideration of the re- 
medies proposed. Without quoting in every instance the words 
of the witnesses, we shall refer to the number of the page of the 
Report. It would have been more convenient had the ques- 
tions, with the answers, been numbered, as the references could 
have been made with greater distinctness. 
HABITS OF THE FISH. 
In the course of the examinations which are here recorded, the Committee 
seem to have been anxious to determine the different species of fish usually 
found in the salmon rivers, or captured in the nets. This is an object of con- 
siderable importance, with the view of regulating the size of the meshes of the 
nets. 
I. Salmon All the witnesses are of the same opinion with regard to this 
species ; but they differ greatly as to this question, “ Whether the salmon of 
one river can be distinguished from those of another by any definite charac- 
ters.” Mr Halliday has “ compared them in Ireland, England, and Scotland, 
many times,” and says, ‘‘ I cannot make out the distinction of one river’s fish 
from that of another ;” p. 87. Mr James Bell states, “ I have a little guess ; 
not altogether p. 22. J. Proudfoot considers the Tweed fish as smaller 
than those of the Tay, and those of the Biver Isla as smaller than those of 
the River Tay ; but, when asked if upon meeting with an Isla fish and a Tay 
fish in the frith, he would know the one from the other, he replies “ No ; I 
would not p. 25. On the other side of the question, Mr James Wilson, in 
reference to the North and South Esks at Montrose, declares, that “ the spe- 
cies of salmon is quite different in these two rivers and adds, “ One is a large 
coarse scaly fish, and the other is a smaller and a finer fish ;” p. 14. Mr James 
BeU states, that the “ Aberdeen fish is quite different from the Tay, different 
in the scale ;” p. 28. Geo. Little, Esq. states, that the salmon in the Shannon 
“ grow to a large size and adds, “ We have three fishings that fall all into one 
bay in Ireland, the Bush, the Bann, and the Foyle, and we can easily distinguish 
the fish of all the different rivers when we take them. The salmon in the 
Bush is a long-bodied round salmon, nearly as thick at the head as he is at the 
middle. The salmon that we kill at the Bann, is what I call a very neat 
made fish, very broad at the shoulders, and the back fin tapering away to- 
wards the tail, and quite a different shaped fish from the Bush fish. The 
Foyle is a river that we seldom get any large salmon in.” p. 112. 
