354 Mr. R. Hill's Contributions to the 



large bodies. What may be called the multitudinous array, is 

 increased as they pass onward to their breeding ground, by num- 

 berless smaller masses, which, perpetually joining the main body, 

 add to the number of the muster. In the early months of the 

 year, the Pilchard and the Herring avoid the surface waters. 

 They are known to keep then near the bottom in soundings, by 

 being taken in the stomachs of rapacious fishes. Their union 

 into the bodies called schulls is not permanent, but partial, earlier 

 than July; but as they breed only once in the year, the great 

 multitudes that approach the coast do not perform this function 

 until the month of October, and then at no great distance from 

 the shore. The instinctive necessity that gathers the multitude 

 of these and several other species of fish near to coasts, and 

 within the reach of man, when they are in the best condition to 

 form his food, is a beautiful exhibition of providential oeconomy ; 

 but this is the secondary object ; the primary is the perpetuity 

 of the species. 



Let us illustrate the manner and circumstances under which 

 impregnation is effected, by the habits of some fish of similar in- 

 stincts, but more under our observation than the Pilchard or the 

 Herring, or those that inhabit the broad ocean. Let us devote 

 our attention for a little while to the Salmon, a fish plentiful in 

 the rivers of the northern temperate zone, where they spawn, and 

 where, in carrying out their procreative instincts, they exhibit un- 

 wearied perseverance and indomitable energy of purpose. During 

 the early part of the season, when the ova begin to develope in 

 the mature fish, the Salmon ascend the rivers in which they de- 

 sign to breed ; advancing with the flood, but generally retiring 

 with the ebb, till the upward stream enables them to get beyond 

 the place they had previously reached. The female fish appear 

 before the males, and those of the first year, called the grilse in 

 their first spawning, move to the breeding grounds, and ascend 

 the rivers earlier than the Salmon of mature age. By the time 

 the season has advanced, they have reached beyond the influence 

 of the tide, and are losing their condition more and more, as 

 they approach nearer and nearer the time of expelling the ova. 

 Eventually the male Salmon follows, surmounting the obstacles 

 of the stream, with the same perseverance. " They shoot up 

 rivers with the velocity of arrows, and make wonderful efforts to 

 surmount cascades and other impediments by leaping ; — fre- 

 quently clearing an elevation of 8 or 10 feet, — and, gaining the 

 water above, pursue their course. If they fail in their attempt, 

 and fall back into the stream, it is only to remain a short time 

 quiescent, and thus recruit their strength to enable them to make 

 new efforts *." 



* Yanell's British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 9. 



