306 On the Transportation of Fish from Salt to Fresh Water. The only capital required to be sunk, or advanced, would be in purchasing and enclosing a tract of water, and in the general establishment; possibly, in stocking the pond. It could not be very large; but no estimate is now pretended to be given, nor any place pointed out. That needs not, however, be very near to London, as a steam-boat would approximate any distances. After this, the fish would be purchased from the fishermen by contract; and the establishment, beginning to sell, would then pay its way. The details of evidence in support of the practicability of this scheme are the following: There are three or four sea-ponds in Scotland where fish are thus kept: one in Orkney, belonging to Mrs. Stewart; one on the Firth of Forth, belonging to Sir Robert Preston; and one in Galloway, belonging to Mr. Macdouall. On the Greek coast of the Adriatic at Missolonghi and elsewhere, the same has been practised from immemorial time. It is the current practice also of Bermuda, where the inhabitants subsist chiefly on fish. These are sea-ponds, as the water is salt. But in Sicily, from the most ancient times also, the natives transport lobsters and crabs to a fresh water and muddy lake, for the purpose of improving them, as they also do mullet. With respect to fresh waters, we have evidence of the power of keeping and improving sea fish in them, from the practice of the ancient Romans. From the testimony of Columella, and the other writers, " de Re Rustica," it was the practice of the Roman farmers, in the earliest days of the republic, to go down to the sea and bring up the spawn of sea fish to the fresh water lakes of Rome, where they multiplied and improved. It was a branch of farming. It became the amusement and luxury of the rich and great in the times of Imperial Rome; enormous establishments of this nature were formed, and the fish were often fed at an expense which, as well as the value of the ponds, proves the great extent of these repositories. Lastly, this plan has been recently put to the test under the direction of the writer of this note, in Guernsey, by Mr. Arnold. In a pond of about four aeres only, many sea fish, which will be found in the following list, are now thriving, and all those which have had sufficient time have propagated: all have improved in quality, and many very remarkably. This pond was at first worthless, containing only a few eels; at present it produces a large rent, and can supply the market when the weather prevents the boats from going out. It is remarkable also, that, since the introduction of the sea-fish, the eels have multiplied a thousand fold, so as themselves to produce a considerable revenue. This proves that fish may be fed, merely, by bringing different kinds together, as is the case in nature. It may be added, that the evidence from this pond is peculiarly satisfactory, as far as relates to the indifference which sea fish possess as to the quality of the water. Being embanked from the sea, and receiving an insufficient supply of fresh water in summer, it varies, so that while it is perfectly fresh in winter, it is nearly salt in very dry weather, and brackish in various degrees at intermediate periods. Here also, it is remarkable, that while the larger fishes have been placed there, many of the smaller ones, which formerly showed no such desire, have introduced themselves through crevices in the sea-wall, and that it is, in particular, crowded with crabs and prawns. It is now necessary to subjoin a list of the fishes which, belonging naturally to the sea, have been found to live in fresh waters. Some of these have been forcibly introduced, others seek it for themselves. If the list is still limited, it is because the rest have not been tried; for no fish on which the experiment has been properly tried, has failed. When they have failed, it is because they were previously injured, or nearly killed, in the taking or the transportation. The cross indicates those which have been forcibly naturalized in Mr. Arnold's or some other pond. Cod Red loach +Smelt Whiting pout Mackerel Herring Crabs +Oysters There appears no reason why turtle should not also be cultivated, whether they would breed or not. The peacock, pintado, pheasant, and common fowl, are the natives of hot climates, and have long been naturalized to cold ones; and there is far less difference between the temperatures of the water in different climates than between those of the air. An excellent turtle has been taken in the Tamar at Saltash, after an unknown length of residence. [Journal of Science. SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM. The Croonian Lecture. On the Existence of Nerves in the Placenta. By Sir E. Home, Bart., V.P.R.S. AFTER complimenting Mr. Bauer on his microscopic infallibility, Sir Everard proceeds to the enunciation of his discovery of placental nerves, a discovery "which he is proud to say was not the result of accident, but of a regularly-arranged plan for that purpose." That nerves are necessary for other purposes than mere sensation has long been admitted by physiologists, and it has been proved by many well-devised experiments, that the processes of secretion and growth of parts are under their immediate influence. Mr. Bauer first detected them in the placenta of a seal, and afterwards in the transparent portion of the chorion of the tapir, and thence their existence in the human placenta, and a consequent direct nervous communication between the mother and the child was inferred, and afterwards proved. We think, however, that these investigations are not yet sufficiently mature to warrant the inferences that are drawn from them. [Ibid. SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM. Observations on the Changes the Ovum of the Frog undergoes during the Formation of the Tadpole. By Sir E. Home, Bart., V.P.R.S. In the year 1822, the author laid before the Society a series of observations on the progress of the formation of the chick in the egg of the pullet, illustrated by drawings from the pencil of Mr. Bauer, showing that in the ova of hot-blooded animals the first parts formed are the brain and spinal marrow. He has now brought forward a similar series on the progress of organization in the ova of cold-blooded animals, illustrated in the same manner by microscopical drawings made by the same hand. The ova of the frog, which have been selected for this investigation, are found to have no yelk. If we examine these ova in the ovaria in which they are formed, we find them to consist of small vesicles of a dark colour; when they enter the oviducts they enlarge in size, and acquire a gelatinous covering, which increases in quantity in their course along those tubes; but the ova can neither be said to have acquired their full size nor to have received their proportion of jelly, till they arrive at a cavity close to the termination of each oviduct, formed by a very considerable enlargement of those tubes, corresponding in many respects to the cloaca in which the pullet's egg is retained till the shell becomes hard. When the ova are deposited in these reservoirs, they become completely formed, and in a state to be impregnated by the male influence, which is applied to them in the act of their expulsion. As they are pressed upon each other, by being confined in a small space, the gelatinous covering takes an hexagonal figure, in the centre of which is the ovum. Immediately after impregnation there is no change in the appearance of the jelly, nor of the vesicle contained in it, in this respect corresponding exactly with what happens to the pullet's egg. The first change that is produced towards the formation of an embryo is, the contents of the vesicle expand, its form changes from that of a sphere to an oval, and when cut through its contents are no longer fluid. In the act of coagulation, the central portion becomes of a lighter colour than that which surrounds it, swells out in the middle, and there is a distinct line by which the two portions are separated from one another; the central part, in its future changes, is converted into brain and spinal marrow, and after these organs have acquired a defined outline, the heart and other viscera are seen forming in the darker substance. The membrane that forms the vesicle which is destined to contain the embryo when it has become a tadpole, has a power of enlargement as the embryo increases in size, and then performs the office both of the shell and of the membrane that lines it in the pullet's egg, at the same time serving as a defence to protect it, and allow of the blood being aërated. The black matter, says Sir Everard, lining the vesicle can only answer some secondary purpose, since it is not met with in the aquatic salamander, whose mode of breeding very closely resembles that of the frog. Upon reflecting that the frog's spawn is exposed to the scorching effect of the sun, and in places where there is no shelter, this nigrum pigmentum may be given to the eggs as a defence for the young during its growth, which cannot be required in those of the aquatic salamander, since they are separately enclosed within the twisted leaves of water plants, and screened from the full force of the sun's rays. The plant whose leaves the aquatic salamander most generally selects to lay its eggs upon is the polygonum persicaria. This paper is illustrated by three very curious and instructive plates. [Ibid. SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM. EASTERN STORIES. It was long since well remarked, that we can be hardly said to have a new story in the world. All the new tales, says Chaucer, were in his time come out of the old books. And the farther we trace back into the East, the more remote does the origin of our most trivial and popular legends appear to be. It is impossible for the readers of the Odyssey not to be struck by the similarity which many of the adventures of Ulysses bear to those of Sinbad the Sailor. There have been many hypotheses framed to account for this fact. I admit that it is possible that the teller of the Arabian story may have read Homer, or received his "speciosa miracula" at second hand, but it is not very probable. My theory is, that the Greek in Ionia, and the Arab in Bagdad, drew on a common source, the origin of which it would perhaps be difficult to trace. A slight acquaintance with the stores of Sanscrit knowledge makes me think that it is to that literature that we are to look for the germ of many of our fictions. *Fortunatus's Wishing-Cap is a common story. The site of the tale is placed on Famagosta, the famous city of Cyprus. This location was chosen by the story-tellers of the middle ages to whom that island, in consequence of the crusades, Richard's exploits in it, the house of Lusignan, &c. &c. became a sort of country of romance. Tracing farther back, we find the tale to recede eastward, and told in the Bahur Danish. If we pursue our inquiries we shall trace it to India. In the Vrikat Katha, which is a collection of Hindoo tales, derived from the Sanscrit, we are told the adventures of Putraha, one of which is "While wandering in the woods he beheld two men struggling with each other. He inquired who they were. They replied that they were the sons of Mayasar, and were contending for a magic cup, staff, and pair of slippers-the first of which yielded inexhaustible viands, the second generated any object which it delineated, and the third transported a person through the air. The stronger of the two was to possess these articles. Putraha then observed to them, that violence was a very improper mode of settling their pretensions; and that it would be better they should adjust the dispute by less objectionable means. He therefore proposed, that they should run a race for the contested articles, and the fleetest win them. They agreed, and set off. They were no sooner at a little distance, than Putraha, putting his feet into the slippers, and seizing the cup and staff, mounted into the air, and left the racers in vain to lament their being outwitted." Here the slippers play the part of Fortunatus's Cap, and the magic cup, which yields inexhaustible viands, is not very unlike his purse. The trick which Putraha plays resembles one in Grimm's German stories, where a prince obtains possession of a sword, the drawing of which cuts off heads in a similar manner. But in general our northern legends do not turn so much on the exploits of stratagem as of open force. The Eastern evidently prefer the clever and ingenious trickster. Reynard the fox, who comes to us from the East, (witness the common story of his looking after grapes, which our western foxes do not eat,) is a greater favourite than Irgoin the Wolf, or Bruin the Bear. Homer in this, too, shows his eastern origin, for Ulysses the wurgowos, is evidently the hero for whom he has most respect and affection. The Fabliaux are generally admitted to be directly oriental. I I am indebted to the Calcutta Quarterly Magazine for the two stories I am going to quote. |
