proprietors can have a greater interest in the preservation of
Salmon than they now have, they cannot be expected to give
themselves much trouble on the subject.

My readers would not be much edified by strong assertion and
counter-assertion of what Trout do, and what they cannot do; nor
is it probable that where we differ we should convince each other;
neither do I see any occasion for personality, when both parties
are actuated by the same motives--a desire to see the Salmon
fisheries restored to a state of great prosperity. I therefore
avoid noticing some of Salmo Salar's remarks, which seem to me a
little tinged with this spirit, and hope we shall be able to act
in concert for the attainment of that desirable result. Salmo
Salar will find that the number of Smolts is not always determined
by the quantity of ova deposited: if he will examine the bed of
the Hodder the next low water, he will find many of the ridds
disturbed by the ice floods of yesterday; and if he doubts this, I
shall be happy to examine them along with him, if he will give me
previous notice of his intention.

Since the above was written I have seen Ramsbottom, who tells me
that the stream in the Tay, where he caught the whole of the fish
from which he obtained 300,000 to 400,000 ova, was on one side of
it one continuous ridd, and that the fish could not avoid
ploughing up the gravel which previous fish had spawned in, and at
Oughterard, where 300 pairs of fish spawned in the same number of
yards, it was the same; and they found thousands of ova buried so
deep that they were rotting in great quantities.

With regard to what Salmo Salar says about the infrequency of a
veritable spawning bed being washed away by floods, I refer him to
what I have said previously; but Ramsbottom tells me the game-
keeper at Harden (Haworth) will be able to give him sufficient
proof that in the Langden Brook this has occurred, as he found the
ova on the dry land by thousands, which had been left there by the
flood.

When Ramsbottom was at Perth he found on one of the fords, a space
of twenty yards long and fourteen yards wide, filled with ridds,
which was entirely left dry. What would become of all the spawn
deposited there?

Salmo Salar seems to think nature is quite sufficient to take care
of her own interests without our interference, and that without
some counter-acting influence to keep the breed of fish in check,
the river would not hold all that would b