of the Salmon Fish, 207 



several months in the gravel, and that then, in a few days or 

 weeks after, they [the fishes hatched from them] were so 

 much grown as to go down to the sea ; but none of the data 

 which enabled him to arrive at this conclusion were given, and 

 since then I have heard nothing about the matter. As it is 

 so long since I read this article, I may have quoted it incor- 

 rectly, but I believe that its substance was what I have stated. 

 The only conclusive evidence T can find about the hatching 

 of salmon fry is that of Mr. Geo. Hogarth {Second Pari. Rep. 

 p. 92.)} and his account agrees with my own. He states that 

 he took the salmon spawn from the spawning beds, and, by 

 keeping it frequently supplied with fresh water, he succeeded 

 in hatching some of the eggs (he gives drawings of the ap- 

 pearance of the fry, in three or four different stages, from the 

 egg to the age of eight days, see Appendix to Second Pari, 

 Rep,) ; that the young fry, by keeping them well supplied with 

 fresh water, were very lively and vigorous for three weeks, 

 but that they, after this time, appeared to grow languid and 

 uneasy, and, as they would eat nothing, they died when 1 in. 

 long. Unfortunately, he does not state at what period of the 

 year they were hatched ; but if this were in March or April, 

 which I see no reason to doubt, it is sufficient to prove that 

 they would not reach the size which smelts are when they 

 leave the rivers for the sea ; for, supposing him to have hatched 

 them in the last week in March, and that they lived a month, 

 this would bring us to the time when they are about to mi- 

 grate, at which time they average more than 6 in. long, many 

 of them are 8 in. ; and at this period they are fond of feeding 

 upon worms, flies, maggots, and caddis-worms, as is known 

 to every schoolboy living on the bank of a river frequented 

 by salmon. 



It is also my opinion that neither salmon nor trout spa*wn 

 every year ; for salmon ascend the rivers as early as January, 

 in the highest condition, with I'oe in them no bigger than 

 mustard seed : these could not have spawned that season, as 

 the kelts (particularly the females) do not return to the sea 

 until March or April*, and at that time they are in very bad 

 condition, and do not appear to have a particle of spawn in 

 them ; and, in the evidence of Mr. Mackenzie [Second Pari, 

 Rep,^ p. 21.), we have an account of a grilse kelt, which was 

 caught, and marked, in March, 1823, and which was again 

 caught as a salmon, on its return to the river, in March, 1824. 

 In this case, the fish had evidently required a residence of 



* In the evidence of Mr. Geo. Hogarth it is stated, that he saw upwards 

 of 90 kelt fish in the mill lead of Grandholm, on the Don, on the 6th of 

 May. 



