186 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [may 11, 
“Salmon on entering rivers, as a general rule, deteriorate in 
quality, similarly to what has been shown takes place in sea 
fishes prevented migrating to the ocean, unless under peculiarly 
favorable conditions; therefore it becomes a bet of what is 
the effect on salmon debarred from going to the sea. 
“During the summer months the salmon roams along our 
coasts in search of food, and may be found close in shore many 
miles from where any fresh water enters the sea, loitering in es- 
tuaries and also at the mouths of rivers up which it purposes 
ascending. 
“ The fish culturist is aware that their eggs will not hatch if 
deposited in salt water. 
‘* Salmon are anadromous, entering our rivers chiefly for the 
purpose of perpetuating their race. During their youth they 
live and feed in fresh water ; as they grow older they descend as 
smolts to the sea, from yas after a time they return as grilse 
and salmon to the rivers; thus the waters they select for their 
residence differ from each other in specific gravity, taste, tem- 
perature and products. 
‘Most of the male salmon pars kept at Howietoun had milt 
in November, 1883, when 2 years and 8 months old, At the age 
of 5 years and 8 months allof these fish seemed ready to breed, 
and young were bred from their spawn. Consequently, de- 
scending to the sea prior to depositing ova is not a physiologi- 
cal necessity for young salmon.” 
Upon the breeding habits of the Atlantic salmon Dr. Gunther 
makes the following statement in his Introduction to the study 
of Fishes: 
“The salmon offers a most remarkable instance of irregularity 
as regards the age at which the individuals arrive at maturity. 
Shaw has demonstrated in the most conclusive manner that 
those small salmonids, which are generally called parr, are the 
offspring of the salmon, and that many males, from 7 to 8 inches 
long, have their sexual organs fully developed, and that their 
milt has all the impregnating properties of the seminal fluid of 
a much older and larger fish. No parr has ever been found 
with mature ova.” 
Speaking of the same species, Mr, Frank Buckland stated be- 
fore a Parliamentary Committee in 1877 that a salmon does not 
breed every year, but once every three years. Mr. Chas. G. 
Atkins has published observations on the Atlantic salmon in 
Penobscot River, showing it to be a biennial spawner. 
The marine life of the Alaskan salmon is practically unknown, 
and even the age at which they become sexually mature and re- 
turn to the rivers to spawn is uncertain. Some ichthyologists 
