100 SALMONID^ OF BRITAIN. 



At one time* the searcli for roe in salmon which had not descended to the 

 sea was energetically carried on, but latterly appears to have ceased ; so it was 



of tlie best salmon colour outside, the flesh well-flavoured and well-coloured, though a little paler 

 than that of new-run fish. 



Mr. Upton, in the autumn of 1835 and the following spring, according to Yarrell, transferred 

 some " pinks," none of which exceeded 3^ in. in length, from the Lune, to a lake termed 

 Lillymere, and which has neither outlet from other waters by which fish can obtain access, or any 

 obtain exit, and no communication with the sea. In August, 1837, two salmon i^eal, measuring 

 14 in. in length and weighing 14 ounces, were taken with a fly, in excellent condition in every 

 way, and in July, 1838, another small salmon was caught equal to the first in condition and 

 colour, about 2 in. longer and 3 ounces heavier. A " pink" was transferred to a well at White- 

 well in November, 1837, and removed thence as a smolt 6^ in. long in July, 1838. These and other 

 similar instances would ajDpear to point out that, as in the trout so in the salmon, the larger the 

 extent of the water in which the fish resides, so much the more probable is it that it will more 

 rapidly attain a large size. He remarked of the subject under consideration that "a knowledge 

 of the growth of young salmon in a fresh-water lake may be useful to those gentlemen who 

 possess lakes near salmon rivers, from which they can supply them with pinks. Whether salmon 

 thus prevented going to salt water will still retain sufficient constitutional power to mature their 

 roe, and, by depositing it in the usual manner, as far as circumstances permit, produce their 

 species, would be a subject worthy of further investigation." (L. c. (Ed. 2), ii, p. 16.) 



Knox observed in the Proceedings Linnean Society, ii, p. 358, December 19th, 1854, that "from 

 the time the salmon enters the fresh water it ceases to feed, properly speaking, although it 

 may occasionally rise to a fly, or be tempted to attack a worm or a minnow, in accordance 

 seemingly with its original habits as a smolt. But after first descending to the ocean and tasting 

 its marine food, it never again resorts to its infantile food as a constant mode of nourishment. 

 The absence of this marine kind of sustenance forms an insurmountable obstacle to the preserva- 

 tion of salmon and some kinds of sea trout in fresh-water lakes." 



Bertram — observing upon having been present at Stormontfield at the yearly exodus of sniolts 

 in 1861, when they were found to be large and in fine condition — continued, " One fish, which has 

 been detained for three years for the purpose of discovering whether the species will grow in fresh 

 water without being permitted to visit the sea, was found to be fully twice the size of the largest 

 smolt" {Harvest of the Sea, 1865, p. 110). It must not be overlooked in experiments of this 

 nature that the extent of the fresh water in which these fish are confined must exercise a 

 considerable influence upon the result, and also on the amount and suitability of the food which 

 is available for their consumption. 



Buist (1866) published a letter from Mr. G. Anderson of Glasgow, which appeared in The 

 Field, June 20th. With it he sent a salmon par which had not put on the smolt livery and 

 gone to the sea from Stormontfields at the 2-year-old migration. It was long enough to be 3 lb. 

 in weight, and only weighed 1 lb. Without the possibility of doubt it had been confined to 

 fresh water for six years, and where a sufficiency of food existed. 



Dr. Murie in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 249, gave an account of some Rhine salmon hatched in 

 the Zoological Society's Gardens in 1863, and which lived there in fresh water until 1868. At 

 the usual migration period of May in 1865 those which were smolts tried to escape by leaping 

 out of the tank, while it was remarked that such as had assumed the silvery smolt livery at the 

 beginning of the year, but were unable to go to the sea, lost it in the autumn, when they again 

 became par-marked. Only two lived to the fifth year. These fish had been kept in a compara- 

 tively small tank with a stream of running water, a subject which it is very necessary to bear in 

 mind, because, although here they were subject to an arrest of development, such may have been 

 due to the small space in which they were confined or the limited amount of water which they 

 obtained, irrespective of which the changes of temperature may have been considerable. 



Yarrell (Groicth of SaMon in Fresh Water) remarked "that the rate of gro^^•th in young 

 salmon has some reference to the size of the place to which they are restricted, receives further 

 confirmation in these river, lake, and well specimens. The smolt taken from the well in July, 

 1838, where it had been confined for eight months, was rather smaller in size at that time than 

 the smolts in the preceding April, though both were pinks of the same year, namely 1837. The 

 smolt taken from the lake in August, 1838, which then measured 7^ in., had also grown more 

 rapidly than that in the well, but had not acquired the size it would have gained had it been 

 allowed to go to sea. Further it may be observed, that the salmon peal from the lake in August, 

 1837, then 18 months old, though perfect in colour, is small for its age ; while that of July, 1838, 

 or 29 months old, is comparatively still more deficient in growth, supposing both fish to have 

 resulted from pinks of the year 1836, and put into the lake at the same time; of ^which there was 

 no doubt, since the lake, the formation of which, though commenced in the autumn of 1835, was 

 not finished till February, 1836, soon after which the first pinks were put in." 



The Duke of Buccleuch's gamekeeper at Bowhill was for some years in the practice of putting 

 a few smolts into a fresh-water pond, and feeding them regularly with bullock's liver. He 

 reported that the smolts which grow into salmon throve for about three years and then died, but 

 that bull-trout smolts kept in good condition for a longer period. 



" Into a deserted stone-quarry near Coldstream, filled with rain-water, two smolts, about 3 in. 

 long, were put by boys out of mere amusement. One of these grew into a salmon, which when 

 5 years old, weighing 1| lb., was caught and sent to Mr. Stoddart of Kelso, who had it boiled for 



