228 OUR SPECIMENS OF SALMON-FRY. 



ten inches, while others have ventured even as 

 high as fourteen inches long. "We could mention 

 numbers of half-and-between experiments, from 

 which we have various calculations, and although 

 we are convinced that these experiments w^ere 

 made with the best intentions, yet they fell very 

 far short of the truth ; as the fry were often 

 placed in ponds and places of confinement, and 

 their ages, both when they were put in and taken 

 out, unknown. From these imperfect experiments 

 have arisen all the conflicting opinions regarding 

 their size in the smolt state. In all the many 

 congregations of smolts I have examined, their in- 

 dividual length varied from four to six inches, but 

 in the great majority of instances the length was 

 about five inches." 



The reader is urged to bear in mind that our 

 larger drawings are after specimens " born and 

 l)red " in the river Shin, and not from ova or fry taken 

 from that river and transferred to spawning-beds or 

 ponds fed by water proceeding from another source. 

 On the contrary, the experiments of Mr. Shaw 

 A\ ere made on ova and fry taken from the waters 

 of the river Nith, and removed to experimental 

 basins supplied by " a stream of pure spring 

 vvater," or by that of "a rivulet." Hence, we 

 presume, tlie tardy growth of his fry ; his " con- 



I 



