al of what is neither new nor
true, even in relation to subjects which lie within the sphere of
ordinary observation,--to birds and beasts, which almost dwell among us,
and give utterance, by articulate or intelligible sounds, to a vast
variety of instinctive, and as it were explanatory emotions:--what
marvel, then, that they should so often fail to inform us of what we
desire to know regarding the silent, because voiceless, inhabitants of
the world of waters?

But that which naturalists have been unable to accomplish, has, so far
as concerns the two invaluable species just alluded to, been achieved by
others with no pretension to the name; and we now propose to present our
readers with a brief sketch of what we conceive to be the completed
biography of salmon and sea-trout. In stating that our information has
been almost entirely derived from the researches of practical men, we
wish it to be understood, and shall afterwards endeavour to demonstrate,
that these researches have, nevertheless, been conducted upon those
inductive principles which are so often characteristic of natural
acuteness of perception, when combined with candour of mind and honesty
of purpose. We believe it to be the opinion of many, that statements by
comparatively uneducated persons are less to be relied upon than those
of men of science. It may, perhaps, be somewhat difficult to define in
all cases what really constitutes a man of science. Many sensible people
suppose, that if a person pursues an original truth, and obtains
it--that is, if he ascertains a previously unknown or obscure fact of
importance, and states his observations with intelligence--he is
entitled to that character, whatever his station may be. For ourselves,
we would even say that if his researches are truly valuable, he is
himself all the more a man of science in proportion to the difficulties
or disadvantages by which his position in life may be surrounded.

The development and early growth of salmon, from the ovum to the smolt,
were first successfully investigated by Mr John Shaw of Drumlanrig, one
of the Duke of Buccleuch's gamekeepers in the south of Scotland. Its
subsequent progress from the smolt to the adult condition, through the
transitionary state of grilse, has been more recently traced, with
corresponding care, by Mr Andrew Young of Invershin, the manager of the
Duke of Sutherland's fisheries in the north. Although the fact of the
parr being the young of the salmo