OUR INLAND FISHERIES. 21 



believe it has been tried upon a small scale in this 

 country, but with no encouraging result. There is 

 said to be a salmon in some of the great American 

 lakes very similar to ours, and these lakes being above 

 the Niagara Falls, of course the fish cannot migrate to 

 and from the sea. But it is also said that in these 

 vast lakes, or inland seas, there are considerable 

 tracts of water where salt springs prevail, and where 

 the water is strongly impregnated ; and it is further 

 stated that the salmon, in obedience to its instinct, 

 migrates to these tracts. If this be so, the fact is 

 both singular and valuable ; but I should much like 

 to get some reliable confirmation of it, as I state 

 it but on hearsay. 



But we must return to the eggs deposited by the 

 salmon. These, "after remaining in the gravel for 

 a period varying from 60 to 120 days, according to 

 the temperature of the water, are at length hatched ; 

 but they do not come from the egg perfectly formed 

 fish, nor do they entirely disengage themselves from 

 the egg ; for having cast off the shell, the egg still 

 remains attached to the fish in the form of an enor- 

 mous umbilical bladder. So cumbrous is this ap- 

 pendage, that the young fish moves but little more 

 than is required to burrow under some stone of 

 gravel at first, increasing in activity as the bladder 



