THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF AUSTRIA. 607 



tic; in spring, they leave, and, favored by the sea-winds, come into 

 the rivers flowing into these waters, and into their tributaries. In a 

 short time, they reach a length of 3 and even 5 feet, leap over weirs and 

 embankments if they are not too high, especially if contrivances, called 

 salmon-paths or salmon-ladders, for making the leap easier have been 

 placed there. 



In order to find the best spawning and hatching places, they go very 

 far up the rivers. They ascend the Elbe, and from thence into the 

 Moldau, also, into the Oder and its headwaters in Moravia and Silesia; 

 from the Vistula into the Dunajec, and into the Sau and its tributaries; 

 the hook-salmon go into a small tributary of the Bug, and also into 

 the Rhine as far as the falls at Schaffhausen. 



Numerous experiments by markiug fish have proved the fact that the 

 salmon return to the same rivers and spawning places where they were 

 born. In the establishment at Stormontfield. on the river Tay, more 

 than 24,000 salmon were caught up to 1867, all of which had formerly 

 been marked and placed in the sea as smolts. 



In England, the young salmon born in the rivers, which as yet have 

 no scales and cannot endure salt water, are called parrs ; the older fish, 

 •which have scales and eagerly seek the sea, smolts; those which, for the 

 first time, return from their voyage to the sea, grilse ; and the fully-ma- 

 tured salmon, salms. 



The spawning season usually commences in September, and lasts till 

 the end of December ; the smaller female fish frequently spawning from 

 two weeks to a month sooner than the larger ones. During their stay in 

 fresh water, and. during the gradual development of the ova and milt, 

 the salmon assume a darker color, and the male fish frequently show 

 red spots on the sides and on the covering of the gills; old male fish 

 show the most brilliant colors during the spawning-season, which disap- 

 pear immediately when this season is over, and the salmou begin to 

 return to the sea in a very emaciated condition. Like most of our food- 

 fish, the salmon are fattest just previous to the spawning-season, but do 

 not eat anything during this time, and are afterward scarcely fit for 

 food. The old salmon are the first to go to the sea, while, of the young 

 ones, only about one-half lea ve the rivers somewhat later the first year, 

 (as smolts;) the other half remaining another year, (as parrs.) In the 

 sea, they rapidly increase in weight and size. 



The well-known ichthyologist Dr. Erie has recently made some very 

 interesting observations on the life and habits of the Bohemian salmon. 

 He says that there are in Bohemia three different ascents of the salmon 

 during the year. 



The first ascent frequently commences at the end of February under 

 the ice, as a general rule in March, and lasts till May. These salmon 

 are mostly large and strong, weighing from 25 to 50 pounds avoirdu- 

 pois, and are famous in Bohemia under the name of "violet-salmon." 



The second ascent begins in the middle of June, and lasts till August, 



