On the food of certain gregarious fishes / by R. Knox.

  • Robert Knox
Date:
[1855]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the food of certain gregarious fishes / by R. 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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    these circiirastaiices, so singular in the natural history of fishes play- ing an important part in the economic history of Great Britain, Holland, and the Scandinavian nations, I learned accidentally that in South Scotland, in a lake-or lakes near Lochmaben, there was, in great abundance, a small gregarious fish, which could not be tempted by any bait, and whose food was entirely unknown. These lakes, of various extent and depth, are situated at no great distance from the river Annan, with which they all communicate directly or indirectly, but not all with each other; they contain many kind of fish, as the vendace, of whose food I am about to speak, which are not found in the river Annan ; neither am I aware that the salmon and sea trout, which, at certain seasons, abound in the river, make their way into these lakes. Thus many curious questions are- opened up for the consideration of the philosophic naturalist. The jack or pike abounds in the Castle Loch, and yet has not destroyed the vendace, a fish not found, so far as I know, in any other part of Britain. With the food of this fish, the vendace, I resolved to commence the inquiry. Con- fined to certain lakes, and never quitting these, abiding in waters which I could command with the net, the property of gentlemen whom I had the pleasure to call my friends, I felt that the inquiry ought to com- mence there. The facts, moreover, were reported as being, without exception, an important point in every physical inquiry. Far other- wise, I saw, would be the inquiry into the food of the herring and salmon ; questions surrounded by numerous diflSculties, and overlaid with prejudices, extending even to the naturalist. The mass of mankind love mystery now, as they once did anything which bore the semblance of a miracle. This foolish and silly passion can only be met and stemmed by philosophy, by science. The case between the lovers of mysterious untruths and truth-seeking science has been well stated lately by the illustrious Faraday. In the matter of the food of the vendace of Lochmaben, a gregarious fish, now arranged by naturalists with the Corregoni, I found, on reaching the village of Lochmaben and its pleasing lakes, many vague and mys- terious stories afloat as to the vendace, which even naturalists had taken the trouble to repeat. One forenoon's inquiry destroyed the whole illusion or delusion. Dozens of the vendace were opened immediately on being removed from the lake, by means of nets, for they are not to be caught in any other way: on their stomachs being examined they were found to be crammed with thousands of Entomo- strac£}, or microscopic shrimps as they may be called, the class of microscopic shell-fish so beautifully described by Miiller. The solu-
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