48 
Mr Thomas Marshall, of Stanley, then read the 
following paper on 
The Natueal History of the Salhon. 
Our society was formed for the purpose of en¬ 
couraging the study of the xv’atural History of Perth¬ 
shire, and as the Tay forms a very important feature 
in the county, and the salmon (Sahno Scdar) for 
various reasons is entitled to take the first place 
among the inhabitants of our li^er, I hav^e there¬ 
fore no further excuse to make in asking your atten¬ 
tion to this subject for a little. 
The natural history of the salmon is very interest¬ 
ing, and I purpose in this paper to give you, so far 
as I can, a description of the fish from the egg to the 
time when it comes up our nver as a salmon of some 
20 lbs. 
I am glad to see that now-a-days we are becoming 
alive to the importance of rearing and preserving 
salmon ; and, in the annals of progress there are few 
things of greater interest than that of fish-hatching. 
In this, man takes in hand those operations which 
until lately were performed under the sole guardian¬ 
ship of nature; the results of which were left, 
surrounded by many dangers, to take their chance of 
arriving at maturity. 
Pisciculture, or the cultivation of fish, is now 
carried on very extensively in France, and, on a 
smaller scale at Stormontfield and a few other places 
in this country—so that fish-hatching is beginning to 
take its place amongst the recognised sciences, and it 
promises fair to become before many years a source of 
national wealth, and certainly a great boon to the 
public at large. 
It has now been placed beyond doubt that man 
can as successfully cultivate the waters as he cultivates 
the land. Water, as well as land, was designed by 
an all-seeing Providence to nrovide food for man, and 
there is no obstacle in nature to water, like land, 
being rendered a thousand-fold more productive by 
the appliances of art and skill. Water may in truth 
be said to be naturally more productive than land— 
many kinds of fishes, including the most valuable. 
