Part 18

Reply to the foregoing.

Many thanks to G. H. for his second letter on this subject. It appears to me that we think very much alike about Eels.

He says his pond is fifty miles from the sea; "therefore, how is it that these little Eels get no larger in their long and tedious journey? interrupted as it is by numerous and almost insurmountable obstacles, before they could reach the little ditch, three-quarters of a mile long, which would conduct them to our pond? and last of all, after this long and tedious journey, within a hundred yards of their destination, they would have to climb four waterfalls and a perpendicular sluice-board. It appears to me they should have grown much larger than a common tobacco-pipe during that time; but I will leave that point to T. G. to explain."

This is so fairly put, that I will tell what I have seen, hoping that this will be a sufficient explanation.

In June, 1850, I chanced to go down to the bank of the Ribble, and there I saw a column of small Eels steadily making their way up the stream. I should suppose there might be fifty in every lineal yard, for they kept pretty close to the bank, apparently because they met with less resistance from the stream, and without pretending to accuracy I supposed they travelled at the rate of a mile an hour. This was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and I went to look for them about nine in the evening--they were still going in one unbroken column. How long they had been going when I first saw them, and how long they continued to go after my second visit, I don't know, but many thousands--perhaps millions--must have passed that day. At this rate (of a mile an hour) they would have required little more than two days to reach G. H.'s pond, fifty miles from the sea; but he says they had to pass over three or four waterfalls and a perpendicular sluice-board. If these waterfalls and the sluice-board were covered with moss, they would climb them as readily as a cat does a ladder. I have seen them in swarms at a perpendicular weir here, winding their way through the damp moss with which the stones are covered; but this was not all: where there was no moss, the little things seemed to have the power of adhering to the perpendicular face of the stones, like so many snails. I must not omit to remark, that although they seemed to choose the margin of the stream for the sake of easier travelling, yet they took care to keep in the stream, as I had a nice opportunity of observing.

At the point where I first saw them, the tail goit of a water- wheel had its junction with the river, but being Sunday there was no current there--not a single Eel took its course up the goit, although the water was deeper there than where they went. The water being low and perfectly clear, I could trace their course both above and below the place where I stood without any difficulty.

If we allowed that they travelled a mile in the hour, and that the obstructions of the waterfalls and sluice-board took as long to get over as all the rest of the journey, they would be able to reach G. H.'s pond in four days from the sea; and from what I have seen of their ability to surmount such obstructions, I am quite convinced that they would travel that distance in the time. But say they were a week--they would not grow much in that time, particularly if they had been travelling without food the whole of the distance, and that they must have done so, is proved to my mind by their keeping in column; for if they had dispersed to seek for food, by what contrivance were they marshalled into line again, to enable them to proceed? Now the place I saw them is forty miles from the sea, although not that distance from salt- water. T. says it is no proof that Eels are bred in fresh water because they may be found in ponds having no connection with a river--the proof required is ab ovo. If we wait for this proof I fear we will have to wait for some time, for I fancy that no one but Mr. Boccius ever saw the ova of Eels, and he will not condescend to enlighten us on the subject. At the same time I admit that finding them there is no proof that they were bred there, inasmuch as I have myself stocked such ponds for my friends, and what I have done may be done by others.

T. says further there is also room for inquiry into another curious subject--do Eels return to fresh water after having gone to the sea for spawning? In reply to this, I can only say, that no trace of such a migration is ever seen here, and I think if it existed at all, I should have observed it, for the following reasons.

The Ribble here supplies a large mill, the water-wheels of which are 150 horse-power; therefore, when they are at work in the daytime, the whole force of the river is often passing through the mill-lead (goit) and the bed of the river between the weir, and the tail goit in such times is left dry, except in a few pools. If there was a shoal of Eels between these two points it would have been seen at one time or another, and this has never happened, so far as I know. It may be said that they migrate singly, but they don't do so in their first migration, and, so far as I am aware, it is not the habit of any animal to do so. Herrings, Pilchards, Smelts, Flounders, Sturgeon, Bisons, Antelopes, Woodcocks, Swallows, Fieldfares, Locusts, and even Butterflies congregate together previous to migration.

NOTE.--The last paragraph requires some modification, as I have since proved that Eels migrate singly when going to the sea, as I have had occasion to know in a hundred cases when watching my Eel- trap, where every Eel may be seen as it descends into the trap.

On the same subject.

I [Jeremiah Garnett, brother of the writer, and editor of the "Manchester Guardian,"] having noticed the communications on this subject which have recently appeared in your columns, am desirous of mentioning a fact which appears to me to throw some light upon the localities in which Eels are bred, though it leaves the question of the mode of generation precisely where it stood before.

Like your correspondent T. G., I have many times seen columns of small Eels ascending the Ribble and other rivers in the months of May and June, at considerable distances from the sea, but only on one occasion have I seen them under circumstances which evidently brought them near the place of their nativity.

I happened to be attending the Lancaster Spring Assizes in the month of March in the year 1826, and learning that there was a remarkably high tide in the estuary of the Lune, I walked down to the riverside about the time of high water, and found that the tide had covered the grass in many places; and as it began to ebb, I observed something moving in every small hollow which had been overflowed, and in which a little water had been left behind. On examination I found that the moving bodies were exceedingly diminutive Eels, rather less, to the best of my recollection, than three-quarters of an inch long, and almost transparent, but exhibiting in every respect the true form of the mature Eel. They had evidently followed the water to its extreme verge, where it could not have been more than an inch deep, and that they must have been very numerous was clear from the large numbers which were left behind and had perished--for that they did perish I found on the following day, when they were lying dead on the grass by hundreds. Some of your correspondents who reside in localities favourable for making observations on this subject may be induced to pay attention to it; the exact appearance may be ascertained, with probably other facts calculated to throw light on the obscure question of their generation.

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ON THE POSSIBILITY OF INTRODUCING SALMON INTO NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

October, 1859.

The colonists of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand appear to wish for the introduction of Salmon and Trout into the rivers of these colonies, and one of them, Tasmania, is said to have offered the reward of L500 for the first pair of live Salmon which reaches that colony. If this is true it is a liberal offer, and one that is likely to induce various persons, both in England and France, to make the attempt.

I should be sorry to say anything to check so laudable an endeavour, but I greatly fear that Van Diemen's Land (to say nothing of the Australian colonies) is too near the tropics to offer a reasonable chance of success. I think it is practicable to take these fish there (or at least fertilized ova), but I don't think they would live and thrive in the rivers of that colony. Never having been there, I can, of course, only reason from European experience, but the best inquiries I can make lead me to suppose that there are no Salmon in France (south of Brittany), Spain, or any of the countries washed by the Mediterranean Sea; and in America (although I confess I am not so well informed on that country) I have never heard of Salmon being seen to the south of the tributaries of the St. Lawrence. Supposing this to be so, I think that we may fairly infer that if Salmon are not found south of a certain latitude in Europe and America, it must be that the climate of these southern countries is not congenial to the habits of this fish. I believe, however, that the Trout lives and thrives much further south than the Salmon; for instance, it is found in the Pyrenees and in the lakes of Northern Italy (Lady M. W. Montagu). It is also found in Northern Turkey, and probably Albania also (Spencer); and therefore I think it is quite probable that it might live in Tasmania--that is, if the streams are never dried up and the rivers reduced to a number of water-holes, which appears to be the case in Australia. Should this be the case in Tasmania also, I doubt whether even Trout would thrive, for here in Lancashire I have known the Trout to die in great numbers from the heat, when, owing to the water-wheels of the mill diverting the river from its usual channel, there was no stream, but merely a series of detached pools or water-holes; and the Grayling seem to be more incommoded by heat than the Trout, and it was one of the diversions of my boyhood to wait until the wheels of my father's mill were stopped in the hot weather, and then go up the covered wheel-races in search of the Grayling that had gone there to get out of the sunshine. I used to catch them there in great numbers. However, this has nothing to do with the matter, except to suggest that although Grayling are very desirable fish to introduce into the colonies, I fear they would be too impatient of heat to thrive there. But my object in addressing you is to ask whether it is true that the legislature of Tasmania has offered the prize of L500 for the first pair of live Salmon taken there?

Secondly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of Salmon fry; and if so, what is the amount offered?

Thirdly, whether they offer a prize for the introduction of fertilized ova of Salmon or Trout, and what is the amount?

I ask these questions because I happen to know a good deal on such matters, and I have been applied to this day by James Birch, the head water-bailiff of our river (Ribble), to obtain some information for him on the subject, as he seems seriously bent on making the experiment, provided the reward be an adequate one; for, to be successful, it would involve the necessity of his making the voyage himself, and it would be a cruel thing to induce him to do so, and in the end to find that he was entitled to no reward.

I'll say this for him, that if he tries he will succeed, if success be possible; but his pecuniary resources are too limited for him to undertake such a risk.

I have reason to believe that he has been applied to by Ramsbottom to go to Tasmania, but this he declines to do under Ramsbottom's auspices. As he (R.) professes to be in communication with the authorities of Tasmania (or at all events with influential persons there) let him make the first attempt, and if he succeed, there will be no necessity to apply to me on the subject; but if he should fail--as I think he will--why, then the persons interested in the matter may, if they wish to try again, let me know their wishes and the amount of remuneration they mean to give.

I should certainly suggest that both Salmon and Salmon Trout (as well as the common Trout) should be included in their list of desiderata, and although for reasons previously given I have no great hopes of success with the two former, I think it quite probable that the common Trout would succeed better. Of course I know nothing of the fish already in the rivers of Tasmania; for aught I know there may be fish in all those rivers quite as voracious and destructive as the Pike are here. If this is the case, the chances of success would be materially lessened, as Trout and Salmon fry are rare in all rivers stocked with Pike. However, those who are making the attempt ought to know what they are about, and will, no doubt, have considered such obstacles, if there are any such in the way. Will you, therefore, be kind enough to answer the questions I have asked above, at your earliest convenience, and if your replies offer any inducement to Birch to make the attempt, I have no doubt that he will be quite ready to do so.

For various reasons he can only start from here in the autumn or winter, and he should, if he reaches Tasmania with either live fish or fertilized ova, have someone to render him prompt and cordial assistance to enable him to deposit the fish or ova, or fish and ova, in suitable places for spawning and hatching; and therefore if this letter be replied to, the answer ought to say to whom Birch should apply on his arrival in Tasmania.

It may be asked, who is the man who obtrudes his opinions on the colony unasked, and what can be his motives? As I am not aware that I know a single person in Tasmania, I cannot refer to anyone there; but I happen to know one or two gentlemen in Melbourne, and if you will take the trouble to refer there to Messrs. W. and B. Hick, or to W. Bailey, the corn merchant, they will be able to satisfy all inquiries.

If it be asked what I know of the habits of fish, and Salmon in particular, I beg to refer the inquirers to Loudon's "Magazine of Natural History" for 1834 (if there is a copy of that work in the colony), and they will there find two papers (signed "T.G.," Clitheroe) which will show that I then knew all that has since been proved by the elaborate experiments made at Perth by Ramsbottom, and moreover I taught Ramsbottom himself the art of propagating fish artificially.