240 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



other name, local or otherwise evidently a determination 

 to take in every provincial name. Surely a more simple 

 mode of defining " What is a young salmon ? " might have 

 been arrived at. 



Mr. George Rooper (in the last edition of " The Thames 

 and Tweed ") says : " The fry in its early stage is barred, 

 and improperly called a parr. The true parr, Salmo salmulus, 

 of Linnaeus, Yarrell, and many other authors, differs materi- 

 ally from the salmon-parr, but they are sufficiently like for 

 confusion ; and much confusion and much bitter discussion 

 have ensued from the two fish being called by the same 

 name." Mr. Rooper believes in the existence of the Salmo 

 salmulus as a distinct species, and he points out the dis- 

 tinction of the two in Land and Water, in answer to Mr. 

 Walsh : " The transverse bars on Salmo salmulus are 

 more numerous, more strongly marked, longer and narrower 

 than the parr of the salmon. The colour of the eye is 

 totally different, though I cannot describe the difference. 

 The gill-covers of the Salmo salmulus are invariably spotted, 

 those of the smolt-parr are never. The pectoral fins are 

 longer, larger, and stronger ; as befits the fish that ' rides 

 the rack/ and habitually frequents the streams the infant 

 salmon could not for its life ascend." He also says "that 

 Salmo salmulus has the red spot on the tip of the adipose 

 fin, proving him to be a Fario, No migratory parr has this 

 mark." 



The young salmon remains in the parr state from about 

 two months old to about fifteen months, when it then com- 

 mences to put on its travelling dress those delicate silvery 

 scales preparatory to its journey to the sea, which is 

 usually completed about the end of April. It then becomes 

 the smolt ; and, as the old rhymes say 



"The last spring floods that happen in May 

 Carry the salmon fry down to the sea." 



"The floods in May 

 Take the smolts away." 



Dr. Day says that the silvery colour is not owing to 

 their acquiring an additional coating of scales, as .has been 



