60 



SALMONID^. 



THE SALMON. 



THE COMMON SALMON.— THE TRUE SALMON. 



Pink, first yeax- ; Smalt, second yeai- ; Peel or Grilse, second autumn. Sulnio 

 Salar Auctorum, "British Fishes," vol. ii. p. 1. Dekay, vol. iv. 



Salmon Pinks up to six montbs old. 



Although this noble fish has never been made the subject, 

 so far as I know, of any of the strange and monstrous fables 

 which have obtained concerning many others of the inhabitants 

 of the waters — as for instance the Pike, of which old Izaak tells 

 us, " it is not to be doubted, but that they are bred, some by 

 generation, and some not ; as namely, of a weed called pickerel- 

 weed, unless learned Gessner be much mistaken ; for he says, 

 this weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the 

 sun's heat, in some particular months, and some ponds adapted 

 for it by nature, do become Pikes" — still, until within the last 

 few years, very little has been known with certainty concerning 

 him in his infancy, and during the earlier stages of his growth. 



" The Salmon,'' says Izaak Walton, " is accounted the king 

 of fresh-water fish, and is ever bred in rivers relating to the sea, 

 yet so high or far from it as to admit no tincture of salt or 



