[Responds to CD’s inquiry of 28 January in a letter intended to be forwarded by CD to the Royal Society for publication in the Philosophical Transactions (Davy 1856). Experiments on impregnated ova of salmon indicate that moisture is necessary to keep them alive during transit. Further experiments in which ova were exposed to the atmosphere for different periods of time, exposed to moist air, to air and water at freezing point, placed in water at a temperature of 70o, and in salt and brackish water, are described. He believes his results render it probable that ova could be transported in the manner suggested by CD and trusts that the results might also throw a little light on the localities of migratory fish such as salmon.]
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1651A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on