the Salmon, Herring, and Vendace. 481 



me in any state as fry in the stomachs of trout or kelts, i. e. of 

 spawned salmon. 



They are of very rapid growth, many attaining the length of 

 nine inches in twenty-seven days, supposing that I am correct in 

 the exact period of their appearing above the gravel ; but during 

 the first seven days, whilst living on the yolk, they grow very 

 little ; thus, in twenty days, they apparently grow from one inch 

 to nine inches in length. 



When dissected they are uniformly observed to be healthy : 

 a few small round parasitical worms infest the swimming-bladder, 

 and occasionally, but very rarely, I presume, the lernaea may be 

 seen on the gills ; but they are uniformly in excellent condition. 



They run rapidly into putrescence, and differ entirely from 

 the parr and common trout in this respect, so that it is scarcely 

 possible to mistake them for each other, if this be attended to. 

 The form of the spleen in the par differs so much from that of 

 the river-trout, and smolt and full grown salmon, as to shew, I 

 think, specific differences ; but it resembles very much that of the 

 herling. 



It ought to be remarked, that the weather had been, during 

 the whole of the spring season, dry, with sunshine, and scarcely 

 any rain had fallen. Of the smolts taken on the 20th, 21st, and 

 23d April, an attempt was made to preserve some in a large basin, 

 in which the water taken from the same river was frequently re- 

 newed, nevertheless they died in a few hours, and this took 

 place even though replaced in an isolated portion of the river. It 

 seemed, indeed, that when taken with the fly, however gently 

 treated, the smolt generally died, though scarcely removed from 

 the river. They will not in fact bear the slightest handling. On 

 the following day (23d) we used a net, avoiding as far as could be 

 the possibility of injuring them in any way ; yet the result was the 

 same, they constantly died in a short time after being touched. 

 We are filled with surprise when we read of smolts caught (it is 



