348 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



tion for each other indicate something more than mere animal instinct. 

 This tact was observed and celebrated by an Italian anthor in the 

 " Loves of the Fishes," two hundred years ago. 



We will not attempt to say whether the male or female salmon pre- 

 pares the nuptial couch and digs the trench in the crystal sands. Some 

 maintain that the female fish does all this, while others assert that the 

 male prepares the bed. If the male does not do it, why should his lower 

 jaw become like a hook at this period only ? The sturgeon uses his 

 elongated snout to plow up the mud, and why may not the male salmon 

 his hardened jaw in furrowing the sand-beds ? Not only does the lower 

 jaw of the salmon change during this time, but his forehead becomes 

 tough and strong. 



In ninety days or more, according to the temperature, the eggs hatch — 

 at least those which the hungry eel and trout have left — and the little 

 fish then appear, to run the gauntlet of life from their voracious enemies. 

 So great is the destruction of spawn and loss of infant fish that not more 

 than one in a thousand eggs deposited hatch, nor one in three thousand 

 come to maturity. But when protected by man, as in artificial breed- 

 ing, more than nine out of every ten eggs hatch and thrive. 



When the floods of the following spring have subsided, we observe 

 the young salmon has increased to several inches in length, and is now 

 one of the most beautiful of fishes, with its olive-hued markings on the 

 back and its silver sides stained with crimson spots and decorated with 

 a row of golden dots along the lateral line. Another spring these tran- 

 scendent hues fade away ; the red spots grow dim, the brighter aureoles 

 disappear, and all the lively colors sink into gray. This is the snigratory 

 dress, and the fish is ready to commence his long voyage to the ocean, 

 which may be hundreds of miles away. The path may lay across broad 

 lakes, down foaming currents, and over seething cascades, but the little 

 fish pursues his way boldly, and with the certainty of destiny. After a 

 few weeks' sojourn in the sea, another remarkable change takes place 

 both in size and color. The marine influence exercises such an extra- 

 ordinary effect that the descending smoult of spring of a few ounces 

 weight appears in autumn as the ascending grilse of several pounds 

 weight. This same grilse increases but little, if any, during its sojourn 

 in the fresh water, but on returning again to the sea it grows rapidly? 

 and appears the next spring as an adult salmon of nine to twelve pounds 

 weight. 



Thus we have the four stages of the salmon's life: First the parr; 

 then the smoult ; afterward the grilse ; and in the third year the salmon. 

 These distinctive periods are well marked, and the changes of color and 

 form have led many students of natural history into errors. 



The researches of practical men like Young and Shaw first cleared 

 away the obscurity which enveloped the early biography of the salmon. 

 Professed naturalists have made the most ridiculous statements con- 

 cerning this fish, but we know now that the mysterious parr is the 



