176 THE SEA-TROUT 



the sea, after having descended as smolts, for several years, and I see 

 no reason to suppose that the spawning instinct in the sea-trout should 

 not equally lie dormant for one or more years. The scale repeated 

 here as Fig. 62 indicates at any rate a three years' residence in the sea 

 before the spawning instinct asserted itself, and the fact that, in spite 

 of spawning twice thereafter in successive years, the fish weighed 1 1 lb. 

 points to a protracted and unbroken early period of rich feeding in the 

 sea. On the other hand I have discovered no scale, out of a not 

 inconsiderable number examined, which indicates that a fish which has 

 once spawned has thereafter passed one or more winters in the sea 

 without spawning. All I would venture to suggest, on admittedly 

 imperfect evidence, is that when the sea-trout has once commenced to 

 spawn it will return each year for that purpose during an indefinite, 

 because unknown, period of sexual activity. 



