The Salmon. 463 



of the true salmon, and Mr. Young, in a recent essay, 

 has, we think, fairly established the fact; but Mr. 

 Yarrell and other naturalists assert it to be a distinct 

 species. 



THE SALMON, (Salmo solar,) 



Is the boast of large rivers, and one of the noblest inha- 

 bitants of the sea, if we esteem it by its bulk, colour, 

 and the sweetness of its flesh. Salmon are found of a 

 great weight, and sometimes measure five feet in length. 

 The colour is beautiful, a dark blue dotted with black 

 spots on the back, merging to silvery white on the sides, 

 and white with a little shade of pink below. The fins 

 are comparatively small. These fish, though they live 

 principally in the sea. come up the rivers at the spawn- 

 ing season, to a considerable distance inland, where the 

 female deposits her eggs. Soon after, both she and the 

 male take an excursion to the vast regions of the sea, 

 and do not visit any of the land streams again till the 

 next year, when they return for the same purpose. They 

 are so powerfully impelled by this natural impulse, that, 

 if they are stopped when swimming up a river by a fall 



