166 ON THE YOUNG OF THE SALMON. 



by the salmon, or other large fish. Near Bangor Iscoed, on 

 the Dee, is a weir of such a height as to prevent all salmon 

 under three or four pounds from ascending ; at Llangollen, 

 below the bridge, is a weir of about six feet, and two miles 

 above, is another weir, of about three feet, with several natu- 

 ral falls and rapids on the same river : yet I have taken sam- 

 lets in September, some miles above the highest of these 

 weirs, and also in the Alwen, a tributary of the Dee, near 

 Corwen. That these little fish can surmount the difficulties 

 here enumerated, must be considered impossible, and their 

 existence can only be accounted for in those situations, by 

 admitting them to be the young of the salmon. 



It is acknowledged that the fish in dispute are peculiar 

 to our salmon-rivers, as I have before remarked, and not one 

 single river in theUnited Kingdom is pointed out as containing 

 the one, that does not also contain the other. It is, however, 

 said, that samlets are to be found in some streams in the 

 Western Isles, in which salmon are not. The Western Isles, 

 I must say, are rather remote from observation, and that mis- 

 takes may occur in assertions of this kind, fiom our not being 

 sufficiently informed, the following circumstance will show. 

 Being fishing in the month of September, in the Ceiriog, 

 four miles south of Llangollen, amongst the few trout I had 

 taken, was a fish which I immediately recognized as the 

 autumn- samlet, and which I considered as a proof that this 

 river was frequented by salmon ; although I had previously 

 been informed such was not the case, the salmon being 

 stopped by a weir somewhere about Chirk ; however, on 

 fishing a few days later, lower down the same river, I learnt 

 that a salmon had been taken there the day before, although 

 it was acknowledged to be a rare circumstance. Now, a 

 person relying on the first information, might have set down 

 that river as not containing salmon. I have taken the au- 

 tumn-samlet in twenty-eight different rivers, and have never 

 met with one salmon-river without them ; nor have I ever 

 found them in any river unfrequented by salmon ; and if the 

 branches of any considerable river be examined, there will 

 be found many small rivers adapted to fishes of this small 

 size, yet only in those branches containing salmon, will these 

 fish be found. I must observe, on the assertion that samlets, 

 having been spawned in the winter (as is said by Dr. Hey- 

 sham), do not come to their full growth till late in the au- 

 tumn, thus taking nine months to attain a size of barely two 

 ounces ; I believe there is no instance of fishes of so small 

 a size taking so long a time in coming to maturity, and such 

 a circumstance is contrary to the order of nature ; for the 



