] 34 THE HABITS OF THE SALMON. 



scales in the spent fish when compared with those 

 of the clean one, whilst the prismatic hues — so 

 beautifully developed on the back of the latter — 

 are entirely absent on the former fish. The question 

 may well be asked, How do we account forspent fish 

 remaining behind in fresh water, when nine-tenths 

 and more of the migratory body to which they belong 

 have orone to sea ? The best answer to that would 



o 



be to put another question, i.e. As a proportion of 

 both smolts in fresh water, and clean fish in the sea, 

 remain behind after the migration of their co-sevals, 

 is it very surprising that some of the spent fish con- 

 tinue longer in fresh water than others, and so 

 exhibit the like habit ? 



How long they remain behind it is impossible to 

 tell. Salmon anglers often catch ugly-looking 

 fish towards the close of the season, which perhaps 

 are nothing but well-mended kelts. Those fish, 

 in common with the majority of others at that 

 season of the year, lose the condition they were in 

 a few months previously ; and whether they develop 



