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Show 248 DR. J. M U R I E O N T H E [Mar. 26, A number of writers affirm, and instances shall by and by be quoted where facts are adduced in proof, that Salmon-fry can be retained in fresh water alone in a healthy condition for a number of years consecutively. In these cases, so to speak, the growth has beeu arrested, and the fish have remained in the parr or smolt condition. Some have even gone so far as to believe that such fishes, were they permitted to migrate to large freshwater lakes, where abundance of nourishing food could be obtained, would return to their native streams as large and full-developed Salmon. Other scientific naturalists, on the contrary, entirely ignore the facts of such alleged cases, or at least doubt the accuracy of the observations. The specific identification of a single specimen in the flesh, and upon which a main argument iu the present paper would be satisfactorily established, is not, as some might suppose, an easy matter. When such a competent authority as Dr. Albert Gunther, in his Preface to the Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum (vol. vi. 1866), states of the Salmonidce that " sometimes forms are met with so peculiarly and so constantly characterized, that no ichthyologist who has seen them will deny them specific rank ; but in numerous other cases one is tempted to ask whether we have not to deal with a family which, being one of the most recent creation*, is composed of forms not yet specifically differentiated," there is surely some ground for giving a decisive judgment with caution. Such divergence of individual opinion and the consequent difficulty of defining specifically the varied forms of the family increase the value of faithfully recorded instances bearing upon the mooted questions. The case presently to be related is one, it may be, involving contradiction. History.-1 am indebted to the Keeper of our Fish-house, Tennent, for the subjoined information (taken from his Note-hook) regarding the receipt and subsequent hatching of Fish-ova. Our Superintendent, Mr. Bartlett, has substantiated his statement. I. "Ova of Rhine Salmon, presented to the Gardens by Frank Buckland, Esq., on the 8th of January, 1863. These ova began to be hatched on the 20th of the month following (February)." 2. "Ova of Great-Lake Trout, received February 18th, 1863; began to hatch on the 1st of March." 3. "Another batch of Great-Lake Trout came on the 28th of February, and began to hatch on the 12th of March, 1863." 4. " Mr. Gurney presented some ova of the Common Trout upon February 20th, and these began to hatch on the 6th of April, J863."_ 5. " In the same year there also was received (21st of Februarv) some ova of Galway Salmon, which commenced hatching on the 1st of March." 6. "Furthermore, upon the 28th of February, 1863, some ova * " N o fossil true Salmo is known at present; the nearest fossil approaching to it is a Mcdlotus1' (footnote, ibid.). |
