454 MR. F. DAT ON THE BREEDING OF SALMON FROM PARENTS 



Howietoun establishment. But the assertion that the milt of parrs has all the impreg- 

 nating properties of the seminal fluid of a mueh older and larger fish must he received 

 with a qualification, at least if the foi'ogoinn' is intended to signify that it always has 

 such. 



It is frequently stated to he the rule that Salmon deteriorate on entering rivers ; but 

 this view must be modified by observing that such is also, partially at least, due to their 

 being mostly in a breeding condition, at which period they would naturally fall off in 

 condition, oven were they to remain in the sea. At other times some ascend without 

 deterioration, demonstrating such to lie possible, owing to the state of health or 

 condition which they were then in. 



Shaw mentions * that in January 1837, he took a female Salmon, weighing 14 lbs., from 

 the spawning-bed, Prom whence he also look a male parr weighing one and a half ounce, 

 with the milt of which he impregnated a quantity of her ova and placed it in a stream 

 connected with a pond, where, to his great astonishment, the process succeeded in every 

 respect as it had done with that which had been impregnated by the adult male Salmon, 

 and exhibited, from the first visible appearance of the embryo fish, up to their assuming 

 their migratory dress, the utmost health and vigour. In January 1S3S, he took 

 another female Salmon weighing 1 1- lbs. and two male parrs from the same spawning- 

 bed and impregnated two lots of parr-ova with the milt from the two parrs, and afterwards 

 placed them in two different streams enclosed in boxes, open at the top, temperature 

 1") . In December 1838 he took a female Salmon from the river weighing 11 lbs., and 

 lour male parrs from the same spawning-bed. After impregnating four different lots of 

 ova, one lot to each individual pan-, he placed the four parrs in a pond, where they 

 remained until the following May, at which period they assumed the migratory dress. 

 The ova were placed in streams to which no other fish had access, and where they became 

 mature in a similarly progressive manner to those already detailed, thus clearly demon- 

 strating that the young Salmon of 18 months old t, while yet in the parr or early state, 

 actually performs the duties of a male parent before (putting the river. While the 

 males of the three several broods which occupied ponds No. 1, 2, 3 continued in a breeding 

 state, which lasted throughout the whole of the winter of 1838-39, he impregnated the 

 ova of three adult female Salmon from the river with the milt of a male taken from each 

 of the three ponds, and the whole of these ova matured. This, he deemed at once, 

 removed any doubt which may have been entertained regarding the constitutional 

 strength of individuals reared under such circumstances. 



At Stormontfield, in the season of 1857 (November or December), milt from a parr was 

 used to fertilize the ova of a 164bs. Salmon, and in 1858 they had fry of Salmon, fry of 

 grilse and Salmon, fry of grilse, and the fry of the Salmon and parr. " On the closest 

 inspection, no difference was perceptible cither in the form, colour, size, or markings 

 of any of these fish. There were larger and smaller fry to be seen amongst all these 

 hatchings " (Brown, ' Stormontfield Experiments,' p. 74). 



* 'Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh,' siv. p. 561, 



t As young Salmon hatch at the latest in March, these young fish must have been at least 21 months of age, if in 

 their second season. 



