SALMON. 



91 



half inches from knot to knot, or nearly ten inches in circumference. This gigantic net is 

 worked by a steamer of twelve horse power and a windlass driven by two horses on shore ; 

 the fish are not at once killed, but are kept alive in a well-boat, which is towed to Kralingen, 

 three miles from Rotterdam, and there sold alive to the merchants. There are five private 

 fishing stations above Rotterdam : three are worked by steamers and horses. The nets are only 

 worked during the ebb tide." These Rhine fish are in splendid condition, often weighing 

 forty, fifty, and sometimes sixty pounds. The sandy tracts which compose the coast of Hol- 

 land abound with Smelts and Sand-eels; even, it is said, the fields are manured with them; 

 on these favourite fish the Salmon feed, and on these they fatten, and thus grow into the 

 "gigantic and plump" fish which in the month of November may be seen in the London 

 fish shops. 



The female Salmon is mature when about fifteen inches long ; the male, however, as we 

 have seen, may be mature when in the smolt stage, and about six or seven inches long. The 

 prseoperculum in the Salmon has a distinct lower limb, and the angle rounded ; the maxillary, 

 which in mature specimens is slender and rather feeble, is stout and broad in young ones ; it 

 extends to a little below the posterior margin of the orbit, but in the parr state only to the 

 middle of the eye ; the head of the vomer is toothless, the single series of small teeth on the 

 body of the vomer is at an early age lost from behind towards the front, so that half-grown 

 and old examples have only a few (trom one to four) left. The caudal fin is deeply cleft in 

 young specimens of twenty-eight inches in length, being truncate only in very large examples 

 during or after spawning. (See plate of male Salmon ) The hind part of the body is elongate 

 and covered with relatively large scales, there bci7ig coiistantlv eleven or sometimes hvelve in a 

 transverse series obliquely forwards to the lateral line. (See Gtinther, p. 13.) 



A good-sized female Salmon, caught in Bala Lake on September 28th., 1878, which I 

 had the opportunity of examining, had on its spawning-dress. Above the lateral line there 

 were numerous large black round spots, many of which were confluent, and a number of reddish 

 blotches or thick wavy lines ; below the lateral line the colour of the sides was yellowish pink ; 

 the gill-covers were yellow below, spotted and lined w'ith brown and red blotches ; the tail 

 square, with pale oblong pinkish brown spots ; the upper part of the head was bluish with 

 an olive tint. 



Out of a number of Salmon parr or smolts caught by me on the i6th. of April, 1878, 

 with a fly — of course I had the permission from the Severn Board of Conservators — the 

 largest specimen measured six inches and seven tenths from end of the snout to the point 

 of bifurcation of the tail ; the smallest caught was four inches and two fifths in length. The 

 dorsal fin of the larger example was dark clouded in the upper portion, the margin of the 

 first ray nearly black, on the lower portion there were four or five dark spots ; the pectorals 

 were streaked longitudinally with dark lines, very dusky; the ventrals and anal nearly white; 

 the marginal extremity of the caudal fin was dusky; the lateral line slightly descending at 

 first, then straight to the middle of the tail ; adipose fin membranous, dusky, quite free from 

 a red tinge. Above the lateral line the whole colour of the back steel blue with purplish 

 tinge, below lateral line silvery white ; above and below the lateral line were a number of 

 small round red spots ; but these spots are variable in different individuals. In the smaller 

 specimens the parr marks were broad and distinct ; in large ones they were less apparent. 

 The specimens of all I examined were full of insect and larval food. 



If the reader would form any idea of the beautiful colour of a male Salmon in the 

 breeding state, he should consult plate vii. in Sir William Jardine's Illustrations of Seotch 

 SalmotiidcE. 



A Salmon in its young state, from one to two years old, is commonly called a parr, pink, 

 smolt or smelt, and samlet ; it has, however, many more names, such as brandling or brondling, 



