That salmon and sea-trout return to the rivers, and stake-nets should not be allowed on the coast. No cruives or weirs, to prevent the running up of fish, should be allowed; that is to say, no close NOTES. idea but that they really were the eggs of this reptile, which it is well known deposits them in dunghills; but presently after, the head of the salmon and the back bone made their appearance. These eggs were full as large as the top of a man's finger; they must, then, have grown there to that size, from the bigness of swan shot; from what causes it must be conjectured. It is to be lamented that here the fact ends, and that an examination of some of the eggs had not taken place; but such was not the case. Still it must appear very wonderful to every one, that the pea of the fish, under such circumstances, should have retained life for such a length of time, and have grown so very considerably As to ultimate consequences, there can be little doubt, but that if these eggs had been suffered to remain in the dung for the space of time that they usually remain in the sand-beds in the water, they must have been all addle. The only inferences which I draw from this fact are, first, that the eggs continue to grow after they are laid, and until they are vivified by the heat of the sun; and secondly, that they attain a size equal to the production of a fish three inches in length. I need not add, that they are very little larger than this when we become first acquainted with them, in the character and under the name of fry, and see them making the best of their way down the rivers towards the sea. We may truly say, "Ex fumo dare lucem;" who could have thought that such a trivial incident would have thrown light upon the works of nature, and have explained a phe ends; so that there should always be a free passage for fish, that early fish may go up as well as late fish; no burning should be allowed in a river, by which all spawning fish may be killed; NOTES. nomenon that the naturalist, and the most acute observer of these things, never guessed at? It always puzzled me to understand how the young fry should first appear from an egg not larger than a pea, since they could not then exceed half an inch in length, and would be exposed, unable to protect themselves, to the ravenous jaws of trout, eels, and other fish; independently of their own parents, who, as some say, are always on the watch to seize and devour them. It seemed an impossibility; but the fact is now explained: the eggs, differently from the eggs of birds, must grow, after exclusion from the body of the parent; this they do, until they attain a size capable of producing a fish of three inches in length, for they are never seen less, and the angler frequently takes them of that size. Then it is that they burst into life; and, as Mr. Little says, "the tails come up This last remark first, part of the pea sticking about them." is a strong corroboration of the above discovery: for if they were so small, as they must be if they proceeded from an egg not larger than a pea, it would be very unlikely that they should in the water be able to be seen at a distance, with their tail first appearing, and the pea sticking on them. Those who have means, opportunity, and curiosity to investigate the wonderful works of the Almighty, may, by an experiment, ascertain whether or not there is any truth in this deduction. It is, at least, far more probable than that the pea should remain in the sand-beds, in the state nets should be limited to a certain size, so as to render it impossible to sweep a river; no angling NOTES. in which they came from the old fish, for three, four, or five months, and then produce a little diminutive animal, incapable of self-protection, and surrounded by enemies of every description, intent upon devouring him. I rather wonder that, under so particular an examination as Mr. Little's, it was not ascertained, either from him or the other witnesses, what was the actual size of the fry when it first appeared from the sand-bed. I should not have ventured to publish the extraordinary anecdote which I have related, if my informant had not offered to attest it upon his oath; and he will do so at any time. POSTSCRIPT. Sept. 24th.-HAVING mentioned the above extraordinary circumstance of the growth of the salmon pea in the dunghill to a gentleman who has devoted a long life to the study of natural history, he appeared to be greatly astonished. The next morning he said to me, that he had been thinking of what I told him almost the whole night, and he was convinced that it was impossible to be true; that the eggs must have been those of a snake. Upon this, I made a point of seeing the labourer who removed the dung, and to my questions he gave the following answers:-That he perfectly well recollected the circumstance before stated; at first he thought the eggs mentioned to have been snakes' eggs, should be allowed in salmon rivers till May, and not after October; the period of close time should be extended. NOTES. because he had often seen snakes' eggs in dunghills, "and squeezed out the young snakes;" (a sort of black snake which is oviparous, and lays its eggs in a dunghill: it is not poisonous, and will not bite; no provocation will make him do so;) that these were about the same size, and he could not expect to see any other eggs in a dunghill; but he soon found that they were not so, but were the roe of a salmon, of which he presently after turned up the head and jowl; that they were about the "size of a magpie's eggs;" of a reddish colour; not oval, but perfectly round; in number a great many hundreds, whereas a snake only lays about 15 or 16; that he did not examine their contents particularly, though he observed they contained a liquid matter; and that such as were not destroyed he carried away in the dung. 158 A VIEW OF THE STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO THE SALMON AND CHANNEL-FISHERIES. THERE can be no stronger proof that the complaint of the scarcity of fish, particularly of the salmon kind, is well founded, than the present deplorable state of the fisheries. That salmon should formerly, even within the memory of man, be sold at from a penny to twopence per pound, and now at from two to three shillings, is demonstration that there is an error somewhere. There does not appear to be any physical cause for it in this part of the kingdom; and therefore such scarcity must entirely proceed from the defects of the laws, the indifference with which they are regarded, the laxity with which they are put in force, and the various mal-practices of those who evade them. I shall not, in this place, add more upon the subject, but will at once proceed to examine those laws chronologically, and subjoin such observations as their nature, suggests; at the same time pointing out the destructive practices by which they are evaded. I have already exhibited the substance of an act embodying the whole subject, and rendering all other acts unnecessary; which, if put into |