260 Mr D. Ellis on the Natural History of the Salmon. 



Mr G. Shepherd also states, that the grilses, or peels, as they are 

 there called, which retreat to the sea, weighing from eight to ten 

 pounds, make their reappearance in the river during the follow- 

 ing autumn, weighing from twenty-four to thirty, or even thirty- 

 four pounds *. 



Were we entitled from these facts and statements to estimate 

 the rate of growth of the salmon from birth to the maturest state 

 in which it comes to o^ tables^ we might perhaps say, that, in 

 the first five months of its eifsl^ce, that is^ from April to Au- 

 gust, both inclusive, it reaches, in favourable circumstances, to 

 about eight pounds in weight, or grows at the average rate 

 of about one pound nine and a-half ounces per month : that, 

 from September following to March, seven months, it acquires 

 seven pounds additional weight, or one pound per month : that, 

 from April following to December, or nine months, it gains ten 

 pounds additional weight, which is at the average rate of about 

 one pound one and three-fourth ounces per month : and, lastly, 

 that, through the next twelve months, it gains ten pounds more, 

 or weighs thirty-five pounds, which is somewhat more than thir- 

 teen one-fourth ounces per month. According to this calculation, 

 the rate of growth is greatest in the first period, diminishes as the 

 age increases, and is about one-half ere the salmon has attained to 

 the third year of his age ; and by dividing the total weights by 

 the total months, it will be found that the salmon acquires a 

 weight of about thirty-five pounds in thirty-three months, 

 which, on an average of the whole period, is nearly at the rate 

 of one pound one ounce per month. We give this only as an 

 approximation to the truth ; for the data assumed, both as to 

 the periods of time taken, and the actual weights of the salmon 

 at those periods, may not be the most correcti; and, regarded as an 

 inference generally applicable, much variation in the result may 

 exist in reference to salmon taken in different rivers, and even in 

 the same rivers, under circumstances that vary the period of their 

 birth, or their facilities in getting to the sea, where alone they 

 seem able to procure a due supply of food. Experiments, like 

 those described by Mr Hogarth in the preceding paragraph, if 

 sufficiently extended and varied, and madd with all the requisite 

 accuracy as to dates and weights, and with due care to identify 

 and distinguish the individual fishes ex^perimented upon, would 



• Report H. p. 148. 



