176 GROWTH OF SALMON. 



average of fry vivified ; so that from a single pair 

 of salmon, spawning in December, in the follow- 

 ing August we should have, say 4000 pairs, male 

 and female, of from six to nine pounds, and 4000 

 non-breeders : then suppose each of these pairs 

 produced their 12,000 fry; in the following Au- 

 gust, the second year, we should have the original 

 12,000 large fish of ten to twenty pounds, and 

 their young, 48,000,000, from six to nine pounds, 

 making in all, 48,012,000 fish ! ! What a sad pity 

 it is there is an " if" in the case ! — " If they 

 escaped their manifold dangers" — Heavens, what 

 sport ! 



Herb. — Perhaps you will, at some other time, 

 tell me what those dangers are. Meanwhile, let 

 me ask, whether you have read Yarrell's recent 

 Observations on the Growth of Salmon* ? 



Theoph. — Rather say Mr. Shaw's ; for it is 

 more a criticism by Yarrell on what others have 

 written, and said, than any thing else. I have read 

 them, but am not yet prepared to give my assent to 

 a doctrine which is contrary to the opinion of every 

 salmon-fisher I know, and of every witness exam- 

 ined of late years before the committees of the 

 House of Commons, upon the salmon fisheries' 

 question. These latter were for the most part 

 practical men, who had been engaged in whole- 



* Published by Van Voorst, 1839. 



