SALMON. 4-5 



men, has now given way to the opinion ' that they are a dis- 

 tinct species, and have no connection whatever with the mi- 

 gratory Salmon. 1 * Were the Parr a distinct species, the 

 result of their attendance on the female Salmon would have 

 the effect of producing universal confusion among the migra- 

 tory inhabitants of rivers, from the circumstance of the male 

 Parrs in a breeding state occupying in great numbers the 

 very centre of the Salmon spawning bed, while the female 

 Salmon herself is at the same instant pouring thousands of 

 her ova into the very spot where they are thus genially con- 

 gregated. 



" Had these extraordinary results proceeded from a soli- 

 tary experiment, there might have been some ground for be- 

 lieving that I was probably deceiving myself, and, consequent- 

 ly, misleading others, a fear I myself at first entertained. 

 But after such a series of experiments, made with all possible 

 care, and uniformly ending in the same results, the fact can 

 no longer, I conceive, admit of doubt. Having altogether 

 within these last two years, made eight distinct experiments 

 by artificially impregnating the ova of the Salmon with the 

 milt of a corresponding number of male Parrs from the river, 

 besides three experiments with those of eighteen-month-old 

 Parrs from the pond each with perfect success I trust 

 that I have thrown some interesting light on the breeding of 

 Parrs, a subject which has hitherto defeated all inquiry 

 when sought after on the principle of their breeding among 

 themselves as a distinct species. 



* " Recent experiments having been made on the young of the Salmon by 

 very competent individuals, it is now admitted that they ' remain one year 

 in the river before they go to the sea as Smolts.' However, owing to these 

 fishes having escaped the observation of those individuals during the interme- 

 diate stage, that is, from the ovum up to the length of three inches, they were 

 actually twelve months old at the commencement of the experiments referred to 

 by Mr. Yarrell, in place of being the ' fry of that year.'" See Mr. Yarrell's 

 Supplement to British Fishes. 



