common sea-trout; and the salmo eriox is a very different species. Linnæus employed the term eriox as a trivial name to the S maculis cirereis, cauda extremo æquali of Artedi, and the gray of Willoughby and Ray. Mr. Johnstone says; Although in some friths and rivers, where there are a great many salmon, there are also great numbers of trout; yet in others, where are a great many salmon, there are very few trout;' p. 38. Mr. Halliday states, In the Annan I have known us get more sea-trouts in one day, than we shall get in the Tay in a whole year;' p. 64. Mr. Little declares,' that the sea-trout are not found in all salmon rivers. We do not see any thing like the Spey trout, or like the trout that is caught in the Solway Frith, or like the trout that is caught in the Tweed, in any of our fishings in Ireland. They do not breed, nor are they to be seen there;' p. 111. Sir H. Davy states, that the different habits of the salmon and sea-trout are well demonstrated in the Moy, near Ballena in Ireland,' on which there is a large pile near the town, and which, below the fall, is joined by a considerable stream. The salmon leap this fall; the sea-trout almost all spawn in the smaller stream, a few miles from the sea;' p. 144. There is some strange blunder here. Mr. Little, the tenant of the fishings on the Moy, says, there are trout, but not the trout called the sea-trout;' and with regard to the pile or fall which obstructs the progress of the trout, and over which the salmon leap, he adds, "They can go over it at tide-time, without leaping; after the tide rises they can go over it;' p. 134. He likewise observes, A trout goes very far up the river to spawn. The smaller the fish is, they go the higher up into the little streams to deposit the spawn; but the trout in the Moy are quite a different kind of trout from what we call in Scotland the salmon or sea-trout;' p. 134.

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4. Whitling.-Sir H. Davy considers this fish as a young salmon, and states, that they are without visible ova or spermatic secretion; are found in salmon rivers, a mile or two from the sea, and which return to the sea, without attempting a farther migration;' p. 145. Mr. Little, who knows this fish by different names in different rivers, as hirlings, whitings, or finnocks, declares, We never see such a fish in Ireland, in the rivers we are concerned with.' Mr. Halliday states, that in Carlisle they call them whitings: in Annan hirlings, and in the North finnocks. I never saw any in the Tay; but I have taken 100 dozen in the Aunan at one draught. It is about twelve inches long. The tail of the hirling is straighter than that of the salmon or grilse, and it is quite a short-headed fish; neither does the head of the hirling shoot like that of the salmon when he is going to spawn. The largest I ever saw was about threequarters of a pound. My reasons for believing that they are not the young salmon, are, that when they go up the rivers, they are as full of spawn for their size as the salmon is; and when they come down in the spring of the year kelts, we are getting the young salmon ;' 63. Mr. Johnstone agrees with the preceding witnesses, in asserting the ordinary presence of ova and spermatic secretion, and in considering this fish

p.

as a distinct species. They are called hirlings on the Scotch side of the Solway, whitings on the English side; hirlings, whitings or whitlings at Berwick; whitelings in the Tay; and finnocks in the north of Scotland;' p. 37.

5. Par.-Mr. Little is the only witness who is questioned in reference to this fish. I have seen them; but I consider them merely a freshwater fish, or a species of fish by themselves, unconnected with our salmon-fisheries altogether. p. 113.

It is probable that some species of migratory trouts have not been noticed at all. The river fishers are better acquainted with the trouts than the frith fishers.-But we return to the habits of the salmon, as furnishing materials for regulating the legislative enactments of this kingdom.

Before entering upon this branch of the subject it may be proper to state, that the present legal time for beginning the salmon-fishing varies in different rivers, from the 10th December (in the Tay) to the 12th March (in the Solway); and that the fishing-season legally ends, according to the rivers, from the 12th August (Ireland generally) to the 4th December (in the Teign). How far these terms are suitable or improper will presently appear.

In the more important actions of the salmon, viz. migration and spawning, there is a season during which these are executed by the greatest number of individuals, occupying, however, a range of some months. But there are individuals executing these operations irregularly, at other periods. Mr. Little says, 'There are some rivers in which you will get some good salmon all the year round.' In the spring months few fish enter rivers; they rapidly increase in numbers as the summer advances, and in autumn again they begin to decrease, leaving the winter months, as to the ascending migration, to constitute a dead season.

The condition of rivers in the spring influences the movements of the salmon. J. Proudfoot states, that 'in the spring of the year the fish always occupy the north side of the Tay (i. e. the sunny side of the river). The north side fishing kills far more fish than the south side; p. 28. Mr. Little states, that in the river Shannon the salmon fishery is nearly over by the middle of May,' p. 114; and that he does not get many fish in the Foyle of any kind till the end of May;' p. 112. When the great differences existing between different rivers, in the quantity, temperature, and contents of their waters, are duly considered, we need not wonder at the influence these circumstances may exert on the motions of salmon ; but, if we make a difference in the close season between one river and another, we must, with equal propriety, establish a similar distinction between the south side and the north side of every river. In rivers, during the early spring months, the fisheries are seldom productive: even lord Gray's fishings on the sunny side of the Tay, according to J. Gillies, taking the average from the 10th December till the end of January, will not, one season with another, pay the expenses or little more. There are some very good fishings in the month of February; perhaps in the mont of February there will be ten days of those fl

ings, and scarcely take one fish. The same witness adds, in reference to the kind of fish taken at those periods in the Tay, 'You will get ten foul fish till the middle of February for one clean one;' p. 139. As the season advances, the salmon appear on the shores, in the estuaries, and enter the rivers in greater numbers. The stakenets, in such places, according to Mr. Halliday, are seldom productive but in May, June, and July;' p. 68. The fishings fall materially off about the middle of August, and to the end of it;' p. 69, and 84. In September they catch almost nothing;' p. 84. These conditions vary much with the season. The salmon are most abundant in dry seasons on the shore, and in estuaries. In rivers, they abound most in wet seasons. J. Proudfoot declares that in rainy seasons, in heavy speats, the upper fisheries (in the river) give more fish in proportion when the river is high than when it is little;' p. 26. The fish which enter rivers in the spring and summer months, have roe; but in May, for example, it is very small. As the season advances, the roe and milt are found in a riper state, until the time of spawning; but, in these respects, there are individual differences. Now, since salmon enter rivers months before they be ready for spawning, Do they remain in the river until that period, or do they occasionally return to the sea? On this subject the committee seem to have bestowed considerable attention. The opinions of the witnesses, however, are at variance. In reference to the fish on the shore and in estuaries, Mr. Wilson declares, 'I believe they all go up those rivers; they are upon the shore, and get up the river if they can ;' p. 14. Several of the other witnesses give it as their opinion, that salmon, before the spawning season, enter the rivers, and return again to the sea, influenced by very different instincts from those of spawning. The following proofs are offered :— 1. It is asserted that salmon, remaining a short time in fresh-water, become weak, and return to the sea to be recruited.—It is stated by some of the witnesses, that salmon are fattest at a particular seaMr. Little says, 'In the month of May I consider they are as good and as perfect as at any one season of the year. From the month of May, they are gradually growing worse till they begin to deposit their spawn in the month of November;' p. 114. Mr. Wilson reckons 'salmon is at its best at Midsummer, and falls greatly off after about the middle of July;' p. 12. Mr. Johnstone considers May and June as the period of their greatest perfection,' but he adds, there may be equal to three months difference between the quality of fish; p. 56. Mr. Bell, on the other hand, declares that the fish is full as good on the 10th December in the Tay as at any other time of the year;' and 'the Tweed fish are good in August; that is their best season;' p. 21. Mr. P. J. Proudfoot says, in reference to the Tay, 'there is a great deal of good fish killed by the time we commence the season' (on 10th December); p. 27. These opinions are of less value than those now to be stated respecting the relative qualities of sea and river fish. Mr. Wilson decidedly declares that there is no difference in the quality of salmon taken at different parts of the same river, or in the tideway, or in the sea

son.

adjoining, during the proper season; p. 13. On the other hand, Mr. Johnstone says, 'the salmon caught in the sea, and nearest to the sea, are generally the richest.' When they have been some days in the water, they lose their bright color,'their firm state; the fish gets longer in proportion to its thickness, and loses its weight.'-'If he is not many days in the water, if he is caught immediately out of the sea, I do not see he can be any worse;' p. 50. A few weeks would make him a great deal worse;' p. 53. Mr. Halliday states, that those that had been long in fresh water " were very much exhausted, quite changed in the color, as if they had hung in a smoky chimney for some time; others were very red in the skin, by having been in the fresh water for some time.' 'When they are in the fresh waters they turn as slippery as an eel;' p. 61. 'The salmon becomes unsound after it has been detained in fresh-water at any season;' p. 79. Mr. Little not only states, if he remains any length of time in a fresh river, he becomes worse,' but even limits the period to a week or ten days; p. 126. This supposed deterioration in fresh water, we consider to be visionary, and for this reason,-if it took place, how could the fish suffer under its influence for months, while exerting themselves in ascending to the spawningground,-while in the protracted act of spawning,-during their residence in the neighbourhood after parturition, and in their subsequent descent to the sea?

2. Salmon remaining in fresh water have their gills covered and eaten by worms, which fall off upon their return to the sea.-Mr. Johnstone declares. They get infested with worms or maggots in the gills if they remain long in the fresh water, which I think would kill them in the end, if they did not go back to the sea to get clear of these worms or maggots;' p. 35. Mr. Halliday says of fish in a bad condition, 'Some of those we took had their gills almost eaten through with maggot worms, by being so long up the river;' p. 61. Mr. Little declares, 'I have seen their gills entirely eaten off them by the worms in fresh water; at least the thin and red parts entirely eat away' (i. e. all their organs of respiration). I do not believe they are ever found in that state except in fresh water, and it is necessary for them to leave the fresh water to get clear of the vermin which fasten upon them while there;' p. 108. The worm referred to is the lernæa salmonea of Linnæus, the entomoda salmonea of Lamarck. We still ask the question, If the fresh water be so very exhausting, and the attacks of the maggot so very troublesome and destructive, how can the spawning fish survive during their residence for months in a river? It is to be regretted that the season of the year, and the condition of the fish as to spawning, have not been determined, as, trusting to the declarations of experienced river fishers, we consider that these worms only appear on the kelt fish, or such as have spawned, and which are consequently on their return to the sea.

3. Salmon are caught in the rivers and estuaries on their way out to sea.-In proof of this, Mr. Halliday states, 'I fished the Annan for many years; and there is one pool in particular, namely

the Sand Pool; although we had fished this pool quite clean of fish before the rain came, yet, whenever the rain did come on, we then continued fishing constantly, until the water rose so high that we could not manage it, and we got the salmon and grilses coming down the river all the time into the pool. Some of those we took coming down the water of Annan were what we call moffatmen, a term used for exhausted fish which had been at the head of the water;' p. 61. But the fish may have come up the water to this pool; or, if they came down with the flood, they may have been kelts,-their gills were infested with maggots. This is the only proof in the report of the descent of salmon in rivers before spawning, and it refers to a length of course from the sea not exceeding a salmon day's journey. The point in question can only be determined at salmon leaps. Do fish ever recross these before they have become kelts? The proof in the estuary and sea is still more defective. Mr. Johnstone declares the fish seldom go against the tide; p. 44. They run backwards and forwards with the tide in all directions;' p. 45. Mr. Halliday admits that it is common for salmon to ebb and flow with the reflux of the tide;' p. 91. With these admissions, the last two witnesses consider the salmon taken in stake-nets, with an ebb court for taking fish with the ebb tide, were such as had been in the river or estuary, and were leaving it for the sea. But if the salmon were inactive, the motions of the ebb-tide would carry them into the nets, in the same manner as the flood-tide carried them past. The fish do not enter rivers until the water is in a state to receive them, and they are in a condition to enter. Hence, on the shore and in estuaries, when not inclined to migrate, the motions of the tide will control them, and the ebb-nets will, from their very nature, be most likely to secure them. Even in the driest seasons, when the fish were not entering the river, Mr. Halliday states that the ebb-nets were most successful; p. 72. Could they be other fish than such as passed by with the flood?

If fresh waters be so exhausting to salmon, and promote the growth of parasitical maggots so rapidly, how comes it to pass that they ever leave the sea, unless for the necessary purposes of spawning? The three witnesses, who consider that salmon run out of rivers to get rid of the worms which infest their gills, have a similar hypothesis for explaining their leaving the sea. Mr. Little says, It is instinct which induces them to return to the rivers, and, as I consider, for the purpose of getting rid of a vermin which gets upon them, called sea-lice.' The animal here referred to is the monoculus piscinus of Linnaeus, and the caligus curtus (mixed probably with C. productus) of Müller, but usually confounded with the lernaa salmonea of Linnæus, by a blunder of Mr. Pennant. This animal is common to the salmon, whiting, cod, and flounder. The last three do not enter rivers to escape from its attacks. The salmon, when most infected ny it, is in the fattest and healthiest condition; out still, in order to have it removed, this fish, in the opinion of these witnesses, enters rivers, where it is certain of being exhausted in a week

or ten days, and where it is in danger of having its organs of respiration entirely devoured by the entomoda, or maggot. Another reason assigned by the same witnesses for salmon entering rivers, is searching for food. Of this, however, no proof is offered. But in reference to estuaries, Mr. Halliday has taken a great many salmon, with worms passing through them; such worms as are to be seen on the banks;' p. 61. ‘I have had thousands of them dissected, when I have seen small sea-fish in their stomachs;' p. 90.

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At what season do salmon enter rivers for the purpose of spawning?-We have already seen that the milt and roe make their appearance in a very obvious manner, so early as the month of May; p. 35. Mr. Johnstone states, that some are getting full of spawn in July;' p. 56. In Au gust, the great proportion of them are getting full of roe and milt; they always get full as they get near spawning;' p. 40. Mr. Wilson states, that in August they get considerably advanced with spawn; and in the end of August and beginning of September they get very full of spawn;' p. 12. William Bell, in reference to the Tay, states, that eight or ten days before the fishingseason closes, they are very full of roe;' p. 32. J. Proudfoot says, I have seen the fish, particularly the female, beginning to get very large by the 25th August;' p. 27. In September and October they are so full of roe and milt as to be unmarketable. Mr. Halliday says, Last year some of the fish sent from Montrose before the 10th October were seeded, and condemned in the London market as being unfit for use; and I have seen them frequently take them by the 1st October that I considered were very unwholesome and improper fish to be taken;' p. 83. Even in February and March last year (1824), in the North Esk, I cg them upon the spawning-beds in the night-time; p. Mr. Little declares, in August, September, and October, in general, they get large in the belly, and full of roe and milt; and he adds, that, for the purpose of spawning, they begin to ascend in the months of August and September, and coutinue to the end of the year;' p. 107. In January, February, and even March, some of the fish are unspawned. Mr. Little states, that 'last season my tenant commenced fishing at my fishery in the Nith on the 11th March. He then killed, as I am informed, upwards of 200 salmon, some of them positively not spawned;' p. 116. Fish ready to spawn seem to enter the rivers directly, and in the friths to keep the depth of the stream: hence, neither shore 'stake-nets nor estuary stake-nets are successful in capturing red fish. Even Mr. Bell, a witness obviously hostile to stake-nets, declares, in reference to the capture of red fish in the estuary, that'none' are caught, and qualifies his assertion by saying,

there may be one, accidentally, in a year or two;' p. 23. In ascending the river, Mr. Halliday declares, the fish run most in the morning and evening;' p. 86. The general time of spawning, according to all the witnesses, is during the months of November, December, and January; pp. 61. 108: though stragglers may be found in March.

The interruptions which salmon at present experience in ascending rivers for the purpose of spawning, chiefly arise from mill-dams. The walls of these, in many cases, are built in so close a manner, that for months there will not be enough of water to permit any fish to ascend. It is only in very great floods that they can successfully overcome the barrier. Noxious matter from tan-pits, the steeping of flax, and gas-washing, expel salmon from a river; p. 133. 67. In reference to noxious matter, however, Mr. Drummond makes an exception in favor of peat-moss, floated into the Forth from BlairDrummond: I believe it to be troublesome to the nets in fishing; but certainly there is nothing noxious in the nature of moss to the fish ;' p. 141. Fish ready to spawn are sought after by poachers for the sake of the roe. Mr. Little says, It is potted. The gentlemen going to fish in the lakes of Cumberland buy it for the purpose of using it as bait in fishing upon these lakes;' p. 119.

With regard to the mode of spawning, it is gratifying to peruse the testimony of eye witnesses. Mr. Halliday thus describes the process: When they proceed to the shallow waters, which is generally in the morning, or at twilight in the evening, they play round the ground, two of them together. When they begin to make the furrow, they work up the gravel rather against the stream, as a salmon cannot work with his head down the stream, for the water going into his gills the wrong way drowns him; and, when they have made a furrow, they go a little distance, the one to one side and the other to the other side of the furrow, and throw themselves on their sides when they come together, and, rubbing against each other, they shed their spawn both into the furrow at once. I have seen three pair upon a spawning-bed at a time in the Annan; I have stood and looked at them, both while making the furrow and laying the spawn.'-They do not lay it all at once. It requires from about eight to twelve days for them to lay their spawn.' I have often taken a number of these kelts with the skin rubbed off below the jaws, just between the chowk fins (pectorals), almost the size of a half crown, with rubbing up the gravel, and making the holes for the spawn. The spawning-bed is easily known by the thrown-up gravel; when I took my foot off the hard gravel, and put it on the spawning-bed, it was quite soft; p. 65. Mr. Little speaks in an equally decided manner. 'I have frequently looked at the salmon spawning.'—'When they begin their bed first, it is like one furrow; they make a furrow in the shallow part or current of the water, where they begin their spawn, and they continue working against the stream, until they have formed a bed of perhaps twelve feet by eight or ten.' for one pair of salmon.'—'In the instance I was alluding to, when I saw these salmon first, the bed was very little, but it increased every day. I observed the salmon go very leisurely down the side of the bed, and go just round where they have thrown up the gravel, and come back to the same point next the stream; as soon as they came up to this place, they threw them

selves on their sides, and worked one against the other, at the same time rubbing their noses against the gravel, till they came to the other corner of the bed, and then they fell leisurely round until they came to the same place again, at the top of the bed next the stream, where they went through the same process; they continued in this way for many days, working, and. if it so happened that they were frightened, they would run away, and in a little time return to it again. It takes them some considerable time before they get all their spawn deposited; several days; and I have known them, when they have been frightened away, go and leave their spawning-beds, and begin at other places.' -The bed is covered as they go along.'Both assist in it, and while in the act of depositing their spawn.' He adds, that 'the male gets a very long hard bill on his under jaw, which decreases as the spawning season passes;' p. 108. Sir H. Davy asserts (but whether from having seen the operation is not stated), that the female fish, in spawning, deposits her eggs slowly on gravel; the male sheds a white seminal liquid upon them; and both fish cover the eggs with gravel. The male is most active in this operation, which hardens the extremity of the mouth, and bends it into the form of a hook;' p. 145.

The quantity of eggs deposited by a single female, has been variously stated by different authors. Mr. Johnstone says, 'I have counted them (eggs in the roe) repeatedly; they are from 18,000 to 20,000 on an average;' p. 36. Mr. Halliday says, They are not all exactly of the same number; I have found them of different numbers, from 17,000 to 20,000;' p. 62.

Let us now attend to the character and motions of the spawned fish, or kelts, as they are termed. In this state, says Mr. Wilson, when the spawn is just leaving the fish, it is merely just two pieces of skin, just like a cow in calf:' p. 13. Mr. Johnstone, By a kelt is meant a fish which has recently spawned; it is very thin; it gets very much discolored; it is very long in comparison with its thickness; the head is very large; the fish is quite out of season; the fish then cuts white in general;' p. 37. When the process of spawning is finished, according to Mr. Halliday, they go into a pool to recruit themselves; and, in about a fortnight or three weeks thereafter, the male fish begins to seek his way down the river. The female fish remains longer about the spawning ground; and I have very often found some of the mother fish going down a kelt as late as when the first of the fry began to come down the river.'—'In the end of April and beginning of May, I have taken five at one haul in the river Annan,' p. 62. He says, in February and March, immense numbers are caught;' and, in the upper parts of the Tay, there must be thousands taken annually,' p. 83. James Gillies has formerly stated the number of foul fish (kelts) in February. He adds, 'You could not commence before the month of March, without taking the foul fish, because the most part of the she fish come down in the month of March from the high lands. You will see them go down in shoals. The he fish always seeks his way down immediately

after he spawns; but you will scarcely get a she kelt early in the season. You will get the she fish coming down in the months of March and April, great numbers of them; and you will scarcely get one he fish so late as that month; all the he's are coming down chiefly in the month of February,' p. 139.

In the course of their descent to the sea, they experience interruptions from cruives and damdikes; but, when arrived at the place where the tide meets the river, they seem to pursue the deepest part of the channel or stream, and escape all the coble-nets and stake-nets of the estuaries and sea-shore. In reference to the stake-nets capturing kelts, Mr. Bell declares they do not, p. 29, Mr. Johnstone says, that 'very few were ever caught in them.'

The station in the sea to which the kelts resort, yet remains to be discovered. Sir H. Davy says, Salmon do not go far out to sea;' p. 145. How he has gained this information does not appear. Not surely from the proprietors of stake-nets on the sea-shore, for salmon seldom enter there, but from May to September;-not surely from cod and haddock fishers, for the bait which allures these fish tempts not the salmon. William Bell thinks that the fish that enter rivers from the sea come from the north,' p. 33.; the very place, we may add, whence the older naturalists brought the herrings.

To return to the spawning-bed, we are compelled to record the injuries which it must sustain by the present practice of fishing. Mr. Halliday, in reference to the coble-net (for the spawning-beds are remote from the stake-net grounds), as used in the winter and spring, says, We have very strong ropes made of old nets, and with round circles of heavy rope lashed to the ground-rope of the net to keep it down; sometimes we tie stones to it to keep it to the bottom, and sometimes we put two cast-metal sinkers. It is generally in the spring that we require the heaviest weights at the bottom of the coble-nets, on account of the river being heavier or more full of water at that season. If thousands of fish should breed in the river, it would be impossible for spawn to come to perfection, where we are constantly fishing over them all the twenty-four hours with coble-nets.'-'They usually fish the whole fords in the river from top to bottom at pleasure, with ground-ropes trailed along them;' p. 65. He has seen this process performed on the very places where they use winches and capstans in the Tay; by which means they can add more weight to the bottom if they like.' Though he never examined the river to determine whether the eggs were actually removed, yet he declares, 'I have seen the under rope of the net level down the spawning-bed;' and he adds, with force, 'You might just as soon have a bed of onions to come to perfection (as a spawning-bed), if a coble-net and rope was dragged over it, tearing up the mould twenty times a-day; I would take my chance of the one as soon as the other;' p. 66.

The period when the spawn evolves the fry, is stated by Mr. Little to be when the natural warmth comes into the water in the month of March; and they continue going down from

that time until the first of May sometimes I have observed them going down till the month of June; I have seen some of them in the month of June, but they principally are out of the river early in May. The spawn does not come into life I consider till March; p. 115. Even with regard to the time of the fish rising from the gravel, he says, I have observed, when we have early warm weather the fry come early, and when we have a late spring, it is later before the fry rise from the gravel; of course a great deal depends upon the season, but generally they begin to rise about the beginning of March, and they end about the middle of April in rising from the bed;' p. 109. Mr. Halliday says, 'I think they generally come into life the end of March, or from about the middle of March to the end of it; but I do not think they come all into life exactly at one time, but nearly so. Some of the fry appear to be much larger than others, and I do not see the young fish so plentiful at the sides of the water at the first as after some time;' p. 62. Sir H. Davy says, 'It is stated that the eggs produce young ones in about six weeks,' p. 145.;—an opinion rendered nugatory by viewing in connexion the general period of the spawning and the general period of the appearance of the fry. There is very little satisfactory information respecting the appearance of the fry at the time of their evolution. Mr. Little says, 'I never saw them in that state, but I have often conversed with other water-keepers on the subject, who are placed upon the upper branch of the rivers, and they describe them very much in the same way that Mr. William Scott did when he was examined in the Tay case, that they rise from these gravel-beds like a crop of oats or thick beard of grain, rising up all round the stones in very great numbers. The tail comes up first, and they will come from these beds with a part of the pea about their heads;' p. 109. At such a period, the destruction occasioned by the heavy ground rope of the coble-nets must be truly great.

The progress of the fry from their birth-place to the sea is given in detail by several witnesses, all of whom agree in the particulars. The fry, freed from the spawn, and now termed smouts or smolts, betake themselves to pools, and afterwards proceed, according to circumstances, in myriads along the easy water at the margin of the river, with their heads against the stream, until they reach the frith where the tide ebbs and flows, where like the kelts, which frequently go down at the same time, they retire to the deepest part of the channel, and disappear in the sea. These facts were established upon oath by two competent witnesses in the Tay case, and their evidence is recorded in the Report, p. 92. The flooded state of the river is most favorable for their descent, by supplying depths of water on the shallows or fords. Mr. Little says, The Coleraine or Bann is a late fishery; and in the year 1820, in the spring of that year, I considered we lost nearly all the fry; the dry spring did not allow them to come down the small rivers; they were collected into little pools, and the people in the country destroyed them; and, in the end of that season of 1820, the fishing fell off to forty-two tons;' p. 127.