Observations upon a report by the Select Committee on Salmon Fisheries, Scotland, together with the minutes of evidence, appendix, and index, 30th June 1836 / by Robert Knox.

  • Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations upon a report by the Select Committee on Salmon Fisheries, Scotland, together with the minutes of evidence, appendix, and index, 30th June 1836 / by Robert Knox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tion, that heretofore the food of these valuable£fishes was altogether unknown. from the preceding quotation, it is evident that these distinguished men knew nothing of the food of the salmon or herring. The names of twenty compilers, and copyists of their writings, may be given to prove that they also were naturally enough unacquainted with the subject. Havin'1, thus shewn that the best naturalists, anatomists, tD and practical fishermen, were, and still are, totally ignorant of the nature of the food of these two remarkable species of fish, and that many have had the candour to state so, whilst others were at least ingenious enough to maintain a pro- found silence on the point, I trust it cannot be necessary to reply any further to those persons who merely repeat the hackneyed facts, that herring (out of condition) occasionally eat the young of their own species, and that salmon, whilst in fresh water, will take a bait, such as worms, flies, &c. These circumstances have been lenown from all times, but what I think we have a right to ask of the persons who seem to at- tach importance to these insulated facts, is, to take the next step, and say at once that, in their opinion, small fishes, in- sects, &c., constitute the natural food of the two species. But they have not yet said so, and knowing what reply practical fishermen, who open thousands of these fishes an- nually, would make to such nonsense, I do not think, how- ever much inclined, that they will venture to err so greatly against common sense. I shall next state the steps taken by me in the prosecu- tion of these researches. For reasons already stated, the vendace of Lochmaben was selected as the first in the series, in preference to the herring or char, both of which species were known occasionally to take common bait. We were sure, in respect to the vendace, of two points, First, No one had ever thrown out even a conjecture as to its food, and it did not take any bait of the angler ; Secondly, The locality was better suited for inquiry •, inhabitant of a small fresh water lake, we were certain of getting more readily at its habits ; the habitat of the herring, on the other hand, is the ocean, a field boundless, if I may so say, in extent, and beyond our