PISCICULTURE . 
186 
in all these circumstances we find such evidence of nicely 
balanced adaptation of means to ends, of wise foresight, 
and benevolent intention, and infinite power, that he must 
be blind indeed who refuses to recognise in them proofs 
of the most exalted attributes of the Creator.” 
Pisciculture was a subject to which Buckland devoted 
much attention. It was from his father that Frank 
Buckland must have inherited his taste for fish-hatching - . 
In 1844 Buckland gave an account of his visit to the experi¬ 
mental ponds at Dumlanrig, in company with Professor 
Agassiz, who was himself conducting a series of analogous 
experiments on the trout of the lake of Neuchatel. The 
Doctor alluded to the great probable advantages of hatching 
the ova in artificial ponds with a view to the preservation 
of the young fry. In the experiments of Agassiz and Sir 
F. Mackenzie it was found necessary to feed the fry with 
the paunches of sheep. The growth of the salmon after 
it descends to the sea was stated by an old fisherman at 
Axmouth to average a pound a month, and the fish of the 
different rivers appear to return to spawn at different 
periods. The food of the salmon in the sea is probably the 
jelly-fish, for the stomach has many blend sacs and seems 
adapted for rapid digestion. Dr. Buckland referred to Mr. 
D. Forbes' observations on the shelly mollusca;, the young 
of which when hatched are locomotive, float about with 
little wings, and perhaps furnish food for the salmon. 
He alluded also to the advantage of assisting the salmon 
by staircases, where the falls of rivers are too high to be 
cleared by a single leap of the fish. 
His remarks upon the locomotion of fishes are interest¬ 
ing, as the subject is now happily illustrated at the Brighton 
