Salmon Hatching. 85 



and liis puny little person rolled up in a ball is decidedly comical. 

 It of course ofien happens that the poor little things die under 

 such accidents; but if any one is attending to their hatching they 

 can easily be helped out of their diflieulties. 



But as soon as the fish has passed through this critical period 

 of his young existence in safety, the great question that presents 

 itself to hiiu is not that which so soon creates excitement in the 

 human subject, viz., what to eat and drink, but rather what to avoid. 

 As he has no nurse, and would probably have some difficulty in 

 finding his mama, since by the time he is able to look for her she 

 has retired to her winter residence in the sea, nature has provided 

 him with sustenence for his support during his first appearance. 

 The little bag that I mentioned above contains food of an oily 

 nature, which is drawn u]) into his system by absorption. His big 

 eyes enable him to discern his enemies speedily, and to be cautious 

 about keeping out of their way. And as the eyes are the part of 

 the body for which he has at first most use, they are the part to 

 arrive first at perfection. The lower jaw, which in the human body 

 is fully developed first, is later developed in the young salmon ; for 

 when just hatched he has no necessity for food, being supplied by 

 the vesicle that I have just endeavoured to describe. At this period 

 of his life the little stranger does not weigh more than two grains. 

 His appearance however soon begins to change; and as it changes 

 his weight increases. The umbilical vesicle, when the nourishment 

 contained in it is exhausted, dries up; his fins become enlarged; 

 yellowish brown stripes, with something of a gold hue in them, 

 begin to appear upon his sides, together with a number of small 

 red spots; and at sixteen months (for his growth is still slow in 

 comparison with what it is afterwards) he attains the weight of 

 two ounces or four hundred and eighty times his first weight. 



During the next four months, that is between ]iis sixteenth and 

 the twentieth, he developes a taste which we find not infrequently 

 amongst young gentlemen of the same comparative age ; a taste, I 

 mean, for dress ; for instead of the sober brownish gold garments 

 that he wore before, he comes out in a bright silver suit, just as 

 though he fancied himself already a full grown salmon ; and with 

 a prurient curiosity to know something of the world, sets off on his 

 travels for the ocean. And the sea air, or rather water, seems to 

 agree with him wonderfully, for in the course of three or four 

 months he niulti])lies himself by sixty-eight, and comes up his 

 parent river a grilse of eight or nine pounds. After this but one 

 more change, besides that of continual growth, takes place. His 

 tail, which after his first visit to the sea, is forked, becomes after 

 his second trip quite straight; and then he is a bona Jide salmon. 

 At two and two-thirds years old he reaches twelve or fifteen 



