SALMONID^E. 



" Having thus traced the progress of the Parr from an 

 inch in length, through its several stages up to the period of 

 migration, I shall now detail my various experiments on the 

 ova of the Salmon, undertaken with a view to prove the 

 identity of these two fish. On the 10th of January, 1836, 

 I observed a female Salmon of considerable size (about six- 

 teen pounds), and two males, of at least twenty-five pounds, 

 engaged in depositing their spawn. The spot which they 

 had selected for that purpose was a little apart from some 

 other Salmon which were engaged in the same process, and 

 rather nearer the side, although still in pretty deep water. 

 The two males kept up an incessant conflict during the 

 whole of the day, for possession of the female, and, in the 

 course of their struggles, frequently drove each other almost 

 ashore, and were repeatedly on the surface displaying their 

 dorsal fins, and lashing the water with their tails. Being 

 satisfied that these were real Salmon, there being at least ten 

 brace of that fish engaged in the same process on the stream 

 at the time, I took the opportunity of securing as much of 

 the ova as I could possibly obtain. This I did three days 

 after it was deposited, the males and female still occasionally 

 frequenting the bed. The method by which I obtained the 

 eggs was by using a thin canvass bag, stitched on a slight 

 frame formed of small rod iron, in fashion of a large square 

 landing-net, one person holding this bag a few inches farther 

 down the stream than where the ova were deposited, and 

 another with a spade digging up the gravel, the current 

 carrying the eggs into the bag, while the greater portion of 

 the gravel was left behind. Having thus obtained a suffi- 

 cient quantity of the ova for my purpose, I placed them in 

 gravel under a stream of water where I could have a con- 

 venient opportunity of watching their progress. The stream 

 was pure spring water. On the 26th of February, that is, 

 forty-eight days after being deposited, I found on close in- 



