263 Mr D. Ellis m the Natural History/ of the Sdlmmi, 



niing, during the spring months, from February to May inclu- 

 sive; so that two or three months may intervene between the 

 deposition of the spawn and the descent of the parent fish, vary- 

 ing, probably, according to the degree of strength in the fish to 

 undertake such migration, and the condition of the river in re- 

 gard to the quantity of water. In their progress to the sea, 

 when they reach the estuary, they pursue a course precisely si- 

 milar to the fry, not roaming about the banks like clean fish, 

 but keeping in the mid-channel. They are at this time compara- 

 tively weak ; and, in thus betaking themselves to the deepest 

 parts of the channel, they are better enabled to resist the de- 

 ranging motion of the flood-tide, and to take advantage of the 

 ebb-tide in accelerating their migration to the sea ♦. 



It would seem, from a fact mentioned by Mr Little, that 

 some of the kelts, which may have gone down in the spring 

 months to the sea, return again in autumn, in breeding condi- 

 tion. He states, that the person, from whom he purchased the 

 fisheries at Dumfries, told him, that he one year marked a great 

 number of kelt-salmon going down to the sea, and they returned 

 to him again that season, in full condition, going up the river to 

 breed *. This rapid recovery of the kelt-salmon, after it reaches 

 the sea, and speedy redevelopement of its reproductive organs, is 

 not more remarkable than the early growth of these animals, 

 and the developement of those organs in them, during the first 

 months of their existence ; by which they are enabled, as is tes- 

 tified by many witnesses, either to pair together, or with older 

 fishes, and so to propagate their kind. 



These facts, concerning the propagation of the salmon, and 

 the movements and growth of the young fry, are not only in- 

 teresting in themselves, but derive additional importance from 

 the generality of their occurrence, and their applicability to all 

 the rivers in the United Kingdom, with such modifications only, 

 as local circumstances and conditions may occasionally introduce. 

 Nature has ordained that, in these, as in other animals living in 

 their pristine state, there shall be one season of the year in which 

 the organs of reproduction are fully developed : a second, in 

 which the sexual function shall be discharged : and a third, in 

 which the young progeny shall spring into life, and go through 

 • Report II. p. 6& f Report I. Appendix, p. 13. 



