ICHTHYOLOGY. 



205 



Malacop- wliici) salmon travel is probably much more rapid. We 

 tervfjii know indeed little as yet regarding the identity of species 



Abdoini- (jytween our own and those of foreign regions , but if, as 

 i* , ■ some suppose, our salmon attains to the lofty Cordilleras 

 iiidiK. of South America, by means of the miglity Maragnon, 



>,»-^,-^./ then it must run a course of about 800 leagues. 15ear- 

 ing in mind, however, that the salmon is a truly northern 

 fisli (that they occin- in soine abundance in the arctic re- 

 gions, may be inferred from the fact, that Commander 

 Ross, during liis recent voyage, took three thousand three 

 hundred nnd seventij-eighl at one haul, in the month of July ; 

 and that his uncle Sir John obtained a ton weight of salmon 

 from an Esquimaux, in exchange for one or two knives !), 

 and also remembering those laws of distribution which re- 

 gulate, and, with a few exceptions, circumscribe, the loca- 

 lities of living creatures, we think it more than likely that 

 the South American salmon belong to another species. 

 We know, however, that our common kind (Snlmo sa/ar) 

 makes its way by the Elbe into Bohemia, and through the 

 Loire as far as the environs of Puy, in the ancient Velay. 

 We also know that it works its way up the Rhine, and 

 visits a portion of the rivers of Switzerland, although the 

 irresistible torrent of the Falls of SchafFhausen prevents 

 its ingress to any part of the basin of the great Lake of 

 Constance. But we feel less assured of its occurrence in 

 the Persian Gulf, or of the identity of the species found 

 in the Caspian Sea. Neither can we credit that it advances 

 unrepelled by the gloomy terrors of a subterranean journey, 

 and that salmon from the Gulf, adorned by the fanciful 

 Persians with rings of gold and silver, have been found in 

 the Caspian. The non-existence of the supposed commu- 

 nication is of itself a pretty sufficient barrier, even did no 

 other exist in tlie laws of nature, and were light and atmo- 

 spheric air dispensable. 



In our lower and clearer waters, however, they travel at 

 a much slower rate than tb;.t above alluded to, — resting 

 i()r some time in the pools by the way, and now and then 

 taking a regular lie in some chosen spot, which they will 

 return to daily as long as the river continues unfitted for 

 their progress. Upon the least accession, however, to the 

 ^vater, either directly or from some swollen tributary, they 

 are again upon the alert ; and it is often felt by them 

 several hours before the quickest or most experienced hu- 

 man eye can perceive a rise upon the river. Having as- 

 cended to a considerable height, they remain more station- 

 ary, and proceed more slowly with the subsequent floods, 

 till the spawn increases in size. This increase, if not in- 

 fluenced by, is at least so connected with, the commence- 

 ment of the colder weather, as then to proceed at a more 

 rapid rate. As the spawn advances, the symmetry of the 

 form is disfigured ; the female becomes disproportionate- 

 ly large, the colours lose the brightness of their silvery 

 tints, and become dull and gray. The male becomes thin 

 upon the back, the nose elongates, and the under jaw turns 

 nj5 in a large and strong hook, which enters a hollow in the 

 nose before the inter-maxillary bones. The colours and 

 markings become brown and red, those on the head and 

 gill-covers being particularly brilliant, and disposed in lines 

 almost like the marking of a Sparus.^ In this full breeding 

 dress the male and female seek some ford or shallow stream, 

 and commence to excavate a trench or furrow (chiefly by 

 the exertions of the female). In this the spawn is depo- 

 sited, and impregnated at the same time, and finally cov- 



ered with gravel by the exertions of the fish. The fur- 

 row is generally liom six to nine inches in depth ; and 

 when the spawn has a))peared to be covered beyond that 

 de))th, this has occurred from some other circumstances, — 

 such as the stream or floods having carried downward addi- 

 tional masses of gravel, i'c. After this great effort has been 

 accomplished, both sexes are reduced to a state of remark- 

 al)le emaciation. The elongated nose, and hooked jaw, 

 and brilliant coloiirs, are almost immediately lost ; the old 

 scales are cast, and the fish retire to some pool to regain 

 their strength and complete their new clothing. They 

 finally redescend to the sea by easy stages, where their 

 former condition and silvery lustre are regained, their 

 strength invigorated, and all their functions so repaired as 

 to enable them ere long to renew their visit to the flowing 

 streams, again to multiply their race. 



The ova continue covered by the gravel d\iringthe win- 

 ter, and begin to vivify from abo\it the end of March to 

 the commencement of April. Tlie fry remove from under 

 the gravel when nearly an inch in length, with the ovum 

 still attached ; and at tliis period, if the spauning bed or 

 furrow be turned up, it will appear in motion. When dis- 

 engaged from the ova, the fish increase in si::e most rapid- 

 ly, and about the end of April and during May conniience 

 and perform their first migration or journey to the sea. 

 At this time they are from four to six inches in length, of 

 a greenish gray above, silvery below, the scales extremely 

 delicate and very deciduous. From the time they reach 

 the sea, for two months or ten weeks, we lose sight of 

 them, and can only infer their growth from the fact, that 

 after the lapse of that period we find them again ascending 

 the rivers with a weight of from two and a half to four 

 pounds. They are then known under the name of gi/se or 

 grilse ; and their size, as they ascend from the sea, increases 

 with the advance of the season. The gilse which thus ascend 

 spawn during the ensuing winter, and are then entitled to 

 the name of salmon. Descending in a weak state (as be- 

 fore mentioned), they return again in the summer of the 

 following year, as fish of from ten to fifteen pounds weight, 

 according to special circumstances. A third year would 

 still increase their weight, as would several ensuing sea- 

 sons, till the attainment ot an enormons size. Pennant, 

 for example, mentions a salmon which weighed seventy - 

 four pounds ; and although we now regard with something 

 of wonder a fish which weighs even the half of that amount, 

 yet there is no doubt that not many years ago salmon of 

 forty pounds were much more frequent than in these de- 

 generate days." The absence of salmon of the largest class 

 from many of the Scotch rivers, where they formerly 

 abounded, is in fact owing to the injudicious perfection of 

 our fisheries, which occasions the constant capture of the 

 species in the state of gilse, or other early condition ; and 

 the chances are by consequence greatly against any indi- 

 vidual escaping the various dangers by which it is environ- 

 ed, for such a succession of years as is likely to admit of 

 its attaining to its full dimensions. The destruction by 

 poachers in the higher parts of the rivers, of the large en- 

 feebled kelts, or fish which have completed their spawning 

 operations, is also extremely prejudicial ; for these indi- 

 viduals (almost utterly useless as food at the time alluded 

 to) would, if allowed to descend to the salubrious sea, ere 

 long revisit their native streams, greatly increased in size, 

 and full of health and vigour.' 



Jfalacnp- 

 tervgii 



Abdonii- 

 nales. 

 Salmci- 

 nidse. 



' In this state it has received from Cuvier the erroneous name of S. liamatus, as if it were a distinct species. See Regne Animal, 

 t. ii. p. 303. 



* We observe that a salmon above fifty pounds weight was recently taken at the mouth of the Leven in Dumbartonshire. The 

 general capture this season (1835) has beeii very great in Scotland. Nearly 800 were taken at one haul in a bay of the island of 

 Islay ; and our calculation, from accurate data, is, that for some time past about a hundred thousand salmon (including grilse) have 

 been shipped in Scotland weekly from our eastern ports alone. A friend of our own lately saw a salmon of sixty-one pounds weight 

 on a fishmonger's stall in London. 



" The reader will consult with advantage the Parliamentary Reports of evidence taken by a Committee of the House of Commons, 



