OCR Text |
Show 752 PROF. W. H. FLOWER ON MLURUS FULGENS. [Nov. 15, 1868, which ova would, in October 1869, have furnished fishes in very condition of the specimen sent ? The circumstances of the capture of the two smolts strongly confirm this last view; for since the commencement of the experiment, the sea-beaches on which they were caught have been persistently fished with seine nets and rewards have been offered to the fishermen for any unknown fishes captured; yet out of about 4000 Salmon-smolts which went to sea during 1864 and 1865, and about 6000 which went during 1867 and 1868, not a single specimen was caught, while (if the fish sent was 3| years old) out of about 200 Salmon-trout smolts liberated in 1867 and 1868, two have been taken; for the second specimen, though larger than that sent, and caught in a separate locality, is identical iu species and condition, and therefore equally abortive. It is, moreover, difficult to believe that abortive fishes would voluntarily travel more than 30 miles in obedience to an instinct given them to perfect those very organs which in their case are absent. Unless the Salmon-trout have bred in Tasmanian waters, the doctrine of chance has been strangely overridden in this case. It may be urged that, as none of the fishes retained in the breeding-pond spawned in the winter of 1868, it is unlikely that any of those liberated did so; but may not the unnatural detention in fresh water have retarded the development of the fishes in the pond? A great majority of the Common Trout (Salmo fario) hatched in September 1866, spawned in June and July 1868 ; and some of those Salmon-trout which went to sea may well have attained sexual maturity in the same period. About six weeks after the capture of the two smolts before referred to, a much larger specimen was caught on one of the same sea-beaches. This fish is exactly what would be called in many English rivers a Sprod ; and, after carefully comparing it with the written descriptions of Yarrell and Dr. Gunther, I can only conclude it is a true Salmo salar. This last specimen I have also forwarded for presentation to the Society, in the hope that some competent authority may examine and report upon it *. 2. O n the Anatomy of JElurus fulgens, Fr. Cuv. By W I L L I A M H E N R Y F L O W E R , F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. The animal which forms the subject of the present communication was first brought under the notice of zoologists by General Hardwicke, in a paper read before the Linnean Society, Nov. 6, 1821, entitled " Description of a new Genus of the Class Mammalia, from the Himalaya chain of Hills between Nepaul and the Snowy Mountains." The publication of this paper was unfortunately delayed for * Dr. Gunther has examined this specimen, and has found that it presents the usual characters by which Salmo salar is distinguishable from its nearest allies.-ED. |