IGi ON THE YOUNG OF THE SALMON. 



400 individuals, made at different times, by Dr. Heysbam, 

 tbat gentleman does not say tbat tbe ova were perfectly 

 formed in any one out of that number; that he was able to 

 distinguish the male from the female spawn may be possible. 

 There are, however, two, mentioned by Mr. Yarrell as having 

 contained ova, but these, it is to be remarked, in March, at a 

 time the salmon-fry are known to be in the rivers ; so that al- 

 though they are set down as spawning in December and Janu- 

 ary, yet the only two ever said to contain full-sized roe, were ta- 

 ken nearly three months afterwards, and had not then spawned. 

 The size of these fish, I observe, is not stated, but mention 

 is made of one seven inches in length, with the roe said to 

 be in a forward state. Now this is nearly double the usual 

 size of the samlet, and although I have taken this fish in 

 twenty-eight different rivers, I have never met with one of 

 that size which had not been to the salt water, and shown 

 itself as a complete young salmon ; and of that size they 

 will only be found in or near the estuaries. The question 

 therefore arises, what fish these were ? I would ask, were the 

 number of vertebrae examined ? Might they not possibly 

 have been young trout, to which the samlet bears an external 

 resemblance ? I am not aware at how small a size a salmon 

 might contain mature ova, but I will just observe, that I have 

 seen a trout of not more than three ounces, containing full- 

 sized spawn, although that fish is known to attain a size oc- 

 casionally of fifteen or twenty pounds. It is admitted that 

 samlets have never been seen spawning in the rivulets and 

 shallow streams, like trout, and I can confidently say, there 

 is no evidence of their spawning at all, whilst their dimen- 

 sions are such as are given to this assumed species. I have 

 myself examined some hundreds of samlets, at various times 

 of the year, and particularly about the end of September, at 

 which time I have generally found the greatest accumulation 

 of roe, or rather milt, for it has that appearance, and it ap- 

 peared to me, that if they spawned at all, they spawned 

 about that time, but I have never been able to discover 

 any appearance of ova ; and in October and November, so 

 near the period at which they are said to spawn, when 

 a more forward appearance would be expected, I have 

 especially remarked that they have not been so full. As 

 the samlets are said to spawn in December and January, 

 this is a time of year unfavourable to angling, and few ex- 

 aminations can then be made, either to prove or disprove 

 the fact. I have, however, taken two on the 12th of Januar}^, 

 and if the samlet contained spawn at that time, the proba- 

 bility is, that one of these, at least, would have been a 



