SALMONID.E. 



but it is equally certain that some have been taken in other 

 rivers not far off. The difficulty of supposing that they 

 could find and return to the same spot after roving for miles 

 along the coast remains to be solved. That they do thus 

 rove for miles is proved by the thousands that are taken in 

 nets placed in the bays along the coast. Very many Tweed 

 Salmon have been caught opposite Hopetoun House on the 

 Forth ; and a very successful fishing there is generally fol- 

 lowed by a scarce one in the Tweed. It is therefore very 

 probable, from the remarks of Dr. Heysham and Sir William 

 Jardine, that if the fish happen to have roved far from the 

 estuary of their native river, they run at the proper season 

 up any stream, even the first they encounter, the temperature 

 and condition of which are congenial to them. 



The growth of the Salmon from the state of Smolt to that 

 of Grilse has been shown to be very rapid ; and the increase 

 in weight attained during each subsequent year is believed to 

 be equal, if not to exceed, the weight gained within the first. 

 The increase in size is principally obtained during that part 

 of the year in which the fish may be said to be almost a con- 

 stant resident in the sea. That the food sought for to pro- 

 duce and sustain so rapid an increase of size must be very 

 considerable in quantity, as well as most nutritious in quality, 

 cannot be doubted. That the Salmon is a voracious feeder, 

 may be safely inferred from the degree of perfection in the 

 arrangement of the teeth, and from its own habits, of which 

 proof will be adduced, as well as from the well-known habits 

 of the species most closely allied to it ; yet of the many 

 observers who have examined the stomach of the Salmon to 

 ascertain the exact nature of that food which must constitute 

 their principal support, few have been able to satisfy them- 

 selves. Dr. Knox states, " that the food of the Salmon, and 

 that on which all its estimable qualities, and, in his opinion, 

 its very existence, depend, and which the fish can obtain only 



