184 SALMON. 



23rd. of November, of pressing some grains of roe from a 

 female, and milt from a male, which were placed with others 

 that had been deposited voluntarily, and to these more were 

 added at the beginning of December; but although thus shed 

 at different times all of them shewed very visible signs of life 

 at one date — the following 19th. of February. On the corres- 

 ponding day of March these young fish had increased much 

 in size, the degree in which they had advanced being visible 

 according to the temperature of the weather. On the 22nd. 

 of that month the eyes were plainly to be seen, and for a 

 considerable .time afterwards, as in the generality of fishes, 

 they were proportionally of large size. In some of these 

 young the outward covering had burst, leaving the bag which 

 contains the nourishing contents of the egg and abdominal 

 organs still attached to the throat, where it forms the larger 

 portion of the bulk; but as the yoke becomes absorbed these 

 organs also become gathered up closer into the proper cavity, 

 and in the present instance this was accomplished on the 18th. 

 of April, when the fish had grown to three fourths of an 

 inch. 



A lengthened account of the development of the embryo is 

 given, among others, by Ephemera; but to be more brief, 

 before the length is attained as we give it, the body is 

 slender, and when not entirely extricated from the egg the 

 tail is bent down into a curve; and afterwards, for a time, 

 what at last becomes the adipose fin, is long and united to 

 the tail, and the latter being joined also to the anal fin the 

 whole resembles much more what is the natural structure of 

 the eel, excluding the rays, than what afterwards is changed 

 into the proper character of the Salmon. At this time also the 

 head is round and blunt, with a depression before the eyes, 

 and the lower jaw is rather the shortest. But changes are in 

 rapid progress, and as the fish becomes able to move about, 

 the growth increases, and there is a display of marks of colour 

 on the sides; which assume the form of bars from the back 

 downward; a condition that is common to several species of 

 this family, and so long as it exists it is exceedingly difficult, 

 if not impossible, to distinguish between them. The existence 

 of these bands on the side has caused the young fish which 

 bear them to be termed Parrs, and it is received as a truth 



