SALMON. 189 



ascend again into the river; and there appears reason for sup- 

 posing that they differ in this respect according to the state of 

 the weather, especially its tendency to wet; the particular habit 

 of the variety of each district, whether early or late; but more 

 ])articularly according to the bulk or stoutness they have acquired; 

 Avhich latter particular so operates on their condition and feelings, 

 as to urge them on to the fresh water as a relief; while those 

 which are not so well fed are disposed to remain longer where 

 they are. 



But that some of these young ones which left their native 

 stream when only four or five inches in length, with a weight 

 not exceeding an ounce and a half, have returned soon with 

 an almost incredible advance in size has been proved by manifold 

 observation. Mr. BroAvn, in his account of the experiments at 

 the ponds at Stormontfield, informs us that a young Salmon 

 carefully marked, which weighed a little less than two ounces, 

 went down to the sea on the 24th. of May, and was taken on 

 its return on the 7th. of July, when its weight was three pounds; 

 and another of the same brood that was caught July the 31st., 

 weighed nine pounds and a half. According to some experiments 

 by Daniel Ellis, Esq., reported in Jameson's "Philosophical 

 Journal" for 1828, some young fish were carefully marked in 

 April, as they were passing downward, and five months after- 

 ward, when they returned, the weight of each was eight pounds. 

 And although the growth is less rapid after this time, it was 

 shewn that in thirty-three months of their life the advance had 

 been nearly at the rate of one pound and an ounce for each 

 month. In the "Zoologist" we have an account of some which 

 were hatched from the egg in sixty days, and going down the 

 river in May, when some of them weighed an ounce, and others 

 only half that weight; after two months one of them that had 

 been carefully marked measured twenty-four inches in length, 

 with a weight of five pounds and a half; and others were of 

 the weight of eight pounds. 



Amidst a sufficiency of other evidence to the same purpose, 

 we add only that of Sir William Jardine, whose authority on 

 this subject is beyond dispute. He says it has always been a 

 subject of doubt whether the fry returned to the same river 

 as Grilse in the same season in which they descended. "I 

 have had no doubt of this for several years, but it was very 



