Lyman.] 128 [February 6, 



in England as "kelts." After ninety to one hundred and twenty 

 days, according to the temperature of the water, the embryo is 

 hatched, but still has a little bag, the yolk-sack, hanging to its belly. 

 At the end of thirty days the yolk-sack is absorbed, and we have a 

 perfect minnow, about an inch long, with a trout-like form, and hav- 

 ing its sides barred like Perca Jiavescens. In this state it is known as 

 a " Parr," and was long considered as a separate species. For a 

 whole year the parr swims in the brooks that gave it birth ; but, as its 

 second spring approaches, a great exterior change comes over it. 

 Bright, silvery scales invest its sides, and cover the bars that formerly 

 distinguished it. In this new dress the parr becomes a " Smolt," and 

 is a miniature salmon, about four inches long. But this change does 

 not simultaneously affect all the brood, a part of which continue in 

 the parr state another year and remain in the fresh water ; while the 

 more precocious ones make for the sea in spring or early summer. In 

 New Brunswick some smolts go down as late as August, while in Eng- 

 land their time is May. They return in September, but now wonder- 

 fully grown ; little fish, that left the river weighing from four ounces 

 to eight ounces, reappear, after some ninety days, increased to two 

 pounds or five pounds. The travelled smolt now becomes a " Grilse," 

 and in late autumn or early winter, according to the country, returns 

 once more to the sea, and again comes back to its river the following 

 spring. At three years old — that is, the third spring after its birth 

 — it is a " Salmon." The mature fish has the tail less forked than 

 when a grilse, and is of a more robust form. At this age the female 

 carries spawn for the first time ; but the male, while yet a parr, is 

 fecund at eighteen months, and frequently pairs with a full grown 

 fiemale salmon. These details of growth are necessarily introduced 

 to show at what seasons the fish pass up and down the river ; for, at 

 these times, a free passage must be provided for them over all ob- 

 structions. The weight of full grown salmon differs much in differ- 

 ent streams. The average of the old fish in the Merrimack was 

 about fifteen pounds; in the Connecticut they seem to have been 

 larger, getting sometimes to thirty-five, or even forty pounds, though 

 not so " large and rich " as those of the St. Lawrence. It sometimes 

 happens that, by a convulsion of nature, or a like accident, salmon 

 are cut off from their return to the sea. They are then called "land- 

 locked," and continue to breed, though they decrease in size. Those 

 taken in the St. Croix River weigh from one to four pounds ; but in 

 southern Sweden they occasionally attain to twenty pounds, and av- 

 erage six or seven pounds. That the salmon lives to a considerable 

 age is certain, from actual experiment. From actual experiment, too, 

 we know that the progeny of a rive? always return to the same from 

 the sea, and to no other. 



