HATCHING SALMON-FRY. 69 



bottoms ; the highest pond eighteen feet by twenty-two, the 

 second eighteen by twenty-five, the third thirty by fifty. 



Observing two Salmon, male and female, in the river pre- 

 paring to deposit their spawn, Mr. Shaw prepared in the shingle, 

 by the stream^s edge, a small trench, through which he directed 

 a stream of water from the river, and at the lower extremity of 

 the trench, placed a large earthenware basin to receive the ova. 

 This done, by means of a hoop-net he secured the two fish which 

 he had observed ; and placing the female, while alive, in the 

 trench, forced her, by gentle pressure of her body, to deposit 

 her ova in the trench. The male fish was then placed in the 

 same position, and a quantity of the milt being pressed from his 

 body, passed down tlie stream, and thoroughly impregnated the 

 ova, which were then transferred to the basin, and thence to the 

 small stream which fed the upper pond, where they were covered 

 up in the gravel as usual. The temperature of the stream was 

 40°, that of the river 36°. The skins of the Salmon were pre- 

 served, in order to prevent the possibility of doubt or cavilling 

 concerning the species. The male fish, when taken, weighed 

 sixteen, the female eight pounds. 



The result was, that the young fish were hatched, as I have 

 stated in the scale above given. When first emerging from the 

 membrane in which it had been enclosed, with the yolk ad- 

 hering to the abdomen, the young fry is as it is shown in No. 1 

 of the cut referred to above. The yolk is absorbed in twenty- 

 seven days, after which the young fish requires nourishment. At 

 the end of two months, the young fish has attained the length 

 of an inch and a quarter, as represented at No. 2 ; and at the 

 age of six months, he has grown to the size of three inches 



