450 ME. P. DAY ON THE BREEDING OF SALMON FROM PARENTS 



remaining for 12 months in the fresh water, their ova developing until they are ready to 

 breed ; and although the fish are discoloured, due to their residence, are very good eating. 

 Brown caught one of these fish in a Sutherlandsliire river and gave the same report *. 



Many have held the opinions which Rasch so fully detailed in 1866 when he 

 commenced by the inquiry why it is that all the male iish, including those that have 

 gone to the sea and those that remain behind in fresh water, have their reproductive 

 organs fully developed, while the female is under the necessity of making the journey to 

 the sea before being able to spawn. He considered that the female in order to reach 

 maturity requires far more nourishment than the male, the formation of eggs necessitating 

 more materials than that of the milt ; that in the ovary of the female the eggs arc 

 formed nearly simultaneously, and their development is uniform, one being enveloped by 

 as large an amount of albumen as the other. But in order to produce this albumen a 

 far greater amount of nourishment is needed than the little female fish can possibly 

 procure in fresh water — enough for the formation of the embryo, but not sufficient to 

 provide the nourishment necessary to its proper development. He considered that il' 

 smolts were prevented going to the sea. they would readily accustom themselves to a 

 freshwater home, if the piece of water were sufficiently extensive; and should the 

 water be a very large lake, such as Ladoga, Weneru, or Peipus, and as rich in nourishing 

 food, the freshwater Salmon will then attain about the same size as the Salmon of the 

 sea. He also observed that Eetting hatched out numbers of Salmon ova, which he 

 subsequently turned loose in the Tyri-iiord : and during the two years alter, fish had been 

 caught in that lake resembling in every respect Salmon proper. 



"The question whether any of the migratory species [of the genus Salmo] can be 

 retained in fresh water, and finally accommodate themselves to a permanent sojourn 

 therein, must be negatived for the present. Several instances of successful experiments 

 made for this purpose have been brought forward; but all these accounts are open to 

 serious doubts t, inasmuch as they do not afford us sufficient proof that- the young iish 

 introduced into ponds were really young migratory Salmonoids, or that the full-grown 

 specimens were identical with those introduced, and not hybrids or non-migratory Trout 

 of a somewhat altered appearance in consequence of the change of their locality. We 

 have seen the experiment tried at two places in South Wales, by the Rev. Augustus 

 Morgan and W. Pell, Esq., of Taliaris, and in both cases the Salmon and the pure 

 Sewin J died when not allowed to return to the sea. However, the latter gentlemau 

 pointed out to me that the hybrid fishes from the Sewin and the Trout § survived the 

 experiment, and continue to grow in a pond perfectly shut up from communication with 

 the sea. In that locality neither these hybrids nor the trout spawn." (Giinther, Catal. of 

 Fishes, vi. I860, p. 9.) Without alteration, the above passage has been introduced by the 

 same author into his ' Introduction to the Study of Eishes ' (1880, p. 039). 



* ' Stormoutfleld Experiments,' 1S54, pp. 94, 95. 



t Lloyd (• Field-Sports North of Europe,' i. p. 301) remarks that near Katrineberg there is a valuable fishen 

 tor Salmon, 11,000 or 12,000 of these fish being taken annually. They are bred in the lake ; and, in consequence 

 of cataracts, cannot have access to the sea. They are small in size and inferior in flavour. The year 1S20 furnished 

 21,817. The question is open to discussion whether these fish are true Salmo solar. 



X Salmo trutta. § Salmo far, v. 



