THE SALMON. 45I 



experiments in the Penobscot indicate a yield of not more than 5,000 or 

 6,000 for a fish of eight pounds, and about 15,000 for one of forty pounds. 

 In the Scotch streams the eggs come to maturity in one hundred to one 

 hundred and forty days, but in our colder waters, at a temperature of n 

 through winter and spring, the period of incubation is supposed to extend 

 over six or seven months, the young fish not appearing until May. In the 

 hatching-house the period varies greatly, eggs having been hatched in 

 fifty-four days with a temperature of 55 , and in one hundred and four- 

 teen at 36 . 



The newly hatched Salmon measures about three-quarters of an inch, 

 and has the yolk-sac adherent from four to six weeks. When this is 

 absorbed it begins to feed, rising greedily to seize any minute floating 

 object. In two months the fry has grown to an inch and a half, and 

 begins to assume the vermilion spots and transverse bars or finger marks 

 which entitle it to be called a " Parr," and which it retains while remain- 

 ing in fresh water, sometimes until it is seven or eight inches long. It 

 continues a "Parr" until the second or third spring, when, in prepara- 

 tion for, or perhaps in consequence of, a descent toward the sea, a uni- 

 form bright silvery coat is assumed, and the Parr becomes a "Smolt." 

 After remaining from four to twenty-eight months in the salt water it 

 again seeks its native river, having become either a " Grikse "or a " Sal- 

 mon." The " Grilse " is the adolescent Salmon ; it weighs from two to 

 six pounds, and is more slender and graceful than the mature fish, with 

 smaller head, thinner scales, more forked tail, and spots rounder, more 

 numerous, and bluish rather than jetty black. The two may easily be 

 distinguished even though both should be of the same size, as not unfre- 

 quently happens. The male Grilse is sexually mature, but not the female, 

 in America ; in Europe the same is claimed for the male Parr and the 

 female Grilse. 



A PARR. 



" There is nothing in the water." says Norris, " that surpasses a Grilse 



