SALMON— BREEDING WITHOUT GOING TO THE SEA. 103 



inch in diameter. October 4tli, one 13 in. long, which had jumped out of the 

 pond, proved to be a fomak, and the eggs were 02 of an inch in diameter; in 

 fact, of mature size. 



From tliis time the fishes commenced constantly jumping out of the pond and 

 meeting with fatal injuries; they did so towards tlie upper end, wlierc tlie stream 

 of water entered, as if seeking for a place where they could ascend it. Wire 

 netting was now fixed around the upper part of the pond, but against this the 

 fish continued to spring. About the middle of October, fungus, Saprolegiiia ferax, 

 showed itself, most probably due to the injuries occasioned by their endeavours to 

 escape. It was also observed that they ceased from feeding, so a number of small 

 Lochleven trout were added to vary their diet, but which they did not appear to 

 consume many of. 



November 7th, 1884, a smolt, Ij lb. in weight, was found lying almost 

 dead by the side of pond 7, and from it about 100 apparently ripe eggs were 

 expressed. These were milted from a Lochleven trout. On January 23rd, 1885, 

 eighteen of these eggs hatched, and when I first saw them on February 10th the 

 young were looking remarkably well and vigorous ; none of them seemed to be in 

 the slightest degree deformed. So far as I am aware this is the first successful 

 attempt in Great Britain made at raising young from salmon eggs the parent 

 of which has never descended to the sea, but passed its entire existence in 

 fresh water. 



November 14th, 1884, the water was dravm off from pond No. 7, as the wood 

 with which it is lined required recharring, and the fish were placed in pond No. 5, 

 just done up and previously inhabited by brook trout, but which were now 

 turned into the burn as being too old to be worth further preserving. Sixty- 

 eight young salmon were transferred, the majority being males, while the fishes 

 showed all the gradations in colouring from the golden and banded par to the 

 silvery smolts. These latter, however, had not lost their par-bands, while 

 some of the larger ones were distended with ova. All the fish in the full par 

 dress were males, but so were some of the silvery smolts. About two dozen eggs 

 were obtained from one, but they did not germinate, possibly not being quite ripe. 

 Three smolts wei-e too injured to live. These were opened; their ovisacs were 

 found to be distended with eggs, almost but not quite ripe, being still slightly 

 adherent. 



As thesp young salmon became ready for continuing their species, the 

 following ova were obtained in December, and laid down in the hatching- 

 house. 



December 1st, 1884 (box 104a), 1500 eggs from two smolts, which were treated 

 with the milt of one of the males. These eggs averaged each 0'22 of an inch in 

 diameter. About 400 hatched February 21st, or in eighty-two days. 



December yth (box 108a), about 4000 eggs of these smolts were fertilized with 

 the milt of one of the males ; these eggs averaged each 0'20 of an inch in 

 diameter. About 2200 hatched February 27th, 1885. _ 



As the further development of these experiments is fully followed out by Sir 

 James Maitland, in his History of Iloicietoun, it only becomes necessary for me to 

 observe that I exhibited at a meeting of the Linnean Society in November, 188G, 

 a par 5| in, long, taken the week previously from a fine shoal of these fish at 

 Howietoun, and which had been hatched there in March, 1885, from eggs and 

 milt of parents that had never descended to the sea, the specimen being twenty 

 months old and in excellent condition. Whether these fishes after a few 

 generations will lose their migratory instincts and be satisfied to pass their lives 

 and reproduce their kind in fresh waters, only time can show ; but they afford 

 incontestible evidence that a sojourn in salt water is not necessai-y in order for a 

 grilse to develop eggs : and that migratory salmon are able to reproduce their 

 kind in fresh water without migrating to the sea, thus removing one great obstacle 

 which has stood in the way of ichthyologists admitting that a land-locked salmon 

 can beget a race of Salmo saJar. 



Having thus shown that salmon can be reared in fresh water and also breed 

 without descending to the sea when in suitable localities, the question arises 



