ATKINS THE SALMON AND ITS ARTIFICIAL CULTURE. 329 



Norris* has observed that in rivers whose salmon are of large size the 

 parr are also large; for instance, that they are mnch larger in the Grand 

 Cascapediac than in the Nepissiguit. In the Miramichi specimens 6 or 

 8 inches long can be taken at almost any time during the fishing season.t 

 In the rivers of the Gaspe district they are, in July, about six inches in 

 length, and the smolts, of which a smaller number is caught than of the 

 parr, are a little larger, and commonly retain some faint traces of the 

 parr aiarks.]: Some observers failed to find any specimens that had 

 reached the smolt stage.§ 



5. — THE SMOLT. 



Immediately on assuming the smolt coat, the young salmon is believed 

 to go down to sea. In the Penobscot, smolts 6 or 8 inches long are 

 taken in some of the weirs near Biicksport in May or early June, almost 

 every year ; but thej' are so rare that many a man has followed salmon- 

 fishing for a life-time without seeing one. In the Miramichi, Mr. Stone 

 says that he saw thousands of smolts going to sea in July. In Nova 

 Scotia, in the tide-way of Bedford Eiver, near Halifax, five young salmon 

 were taken on the 20th of May, 18G5. They were from 6 to 8 inches 

 long, and were perfect miniature salmon in all respects, save a blunt 

 nose and a vermilion spot or two, and some of them had spawn in them.|j 

 At Eastport, Capt. U. S. Treat takes a number of young salmon in his 

 herring- weir every fall, mainly in September. They are then 6 or 8 

 Inches long. Captain Treat supposes them to come from Denny's Eiver. 

 In the East Machias Eiver, at the head of the tide, young salmon are 

 often taken in dip-nets along with tomcods in December antl January. 

 A single specimen that I have seen was a smolt. 



From the common occurrence of parr at Dennysville, very near the 

 mouth of the river, and at Bedford bridge, in the tide-way of Bedford 

 Eiver, and from the facts stated about parr and smolts in Canadian 

 rivers, it may be inferred that they reach the sea, in some cases, before 

 the transformation into smolts. This would very naturally occur in 

 short rivers, where all the breeding-grounds lie within a few miles of 

 the sea; and, though it is known that parr have been killed by experi- 

 mental immersion in salt water,^ there is nothing to forbid the supposi- 

 tion that the internal change which prepares the fish for life in the sea 

 may precede the external change by which its new condition is recog- 

 nized. 



The facts stated above are quite insufficient to establish the period of 

 the young salmon's stay in fresh water, but it is perhaps admissible to 

 point out their tendency. It seems that those of different rivers do not 



* T. Norris, letter. 



t Statement of Jos. Carr, esq. 



t Statement of W. M. Brackett. 



§ Letter of T. Norris. 



II Dr. J. B. Gilpin, letter. 



H Bertram's Harvest of the Sea, p. 195. 



