CLUAP TE Ru 
Fecundity of the Salmon—Its Life History—Egg—Parr—Smolt— 
Grilse—Salmon—Its Enemies—Kelts—Salmon dying after Spawn- 
ing—Alleged curious Fate of Salmon in Rivers of North-West 
America. 
LIKE every other kind of oviparous fish, the salmon is 
wonderfully prolific. A full-grown female fish will pro- 
duce at every time of spawning from 600 to 1000 eggs to 
every pound of her own weight. A single female salmon, 
therefore, of 20 lbs. weight, may yield as many as 20,000 
eggs, every one of which has an equal chance of developing 
into an adult fish of similarly reproductive powers. When 
it is remembered that salmon of 30 and 40 lbs. in weight 
are not uncommon, and that specimens weighing up to as 
much as 70 lbs. have been occasionally captured, the pro- 
lific nature of the fish will appear still more striking. And 
this. extraordinary power of reproduction may be exerted 
by each individual female fish, if not every year, probably 
at least, on an average, every second year, for a period of 
possibly ten or twenty years. The extreme limit of age in 
the salmon is unknown, and is probably impossible of exact 
determination ; but, taking the average duration of life 
at only six or eight years, a single female salmon, spawning 
only four times and depositing, at a moderate computation, 
an average of 20,000 eggs on each occasion, may become 
the mother of 80,000 young fry, 27 posse if not 77 esse. But 
such fecundity implies more than a rapid multiplication of 
the species. It implies an enormous “waste” of salmon 
