108 THE YOUNG FRY. 



very satisfactory to find that the results of his experiments 

 have been corroborated to the letter by Mr. Scrope, Mr. Shaw, 

 Mr. Young, and other naturalists. 



His theory also regarding the young fry, their slow 

 growth, the period when they go to the sea, &c., mainly 

 agrees with theirs. " They do not leave the eggs," he 

 says, " until April. They remain in the Save during that 

 summer and the following winter, at the expiration of which 

 they are from two to three inches long. The second summer 

 they also stop in the river, during which they double their 

 size that is, they attain to five or six inches in length. 

 Whether they go to sea in the autumn, or not until the 

 following spring, is not positively determined ; but it is 

 rather believed they depart before the setting in of the 

 winter, for the reason, that in February and March great 

 numbers of fish resembling salmon in miniature, and of 

 a pound or so in weight, are caught in the brackish water 

 at the confluence of the Gotha with the sea, which are 

 supposed to be the fry that left us about three months 

 before. The third autumn they revisit the rapids of the 

 Save, in the shape of grilse, of several pounds in weight." 



Mr. Keiller's conclusions as to the slow growth of the fry 

 are drawn from the following facts. In July that is, some 

 two months after the eggs are hatched there are always 

 two distinct families of the salmon fry in the Save: the 

 one about two inches in length, but too small to take either 

 the natural or artificial fly ; the other family averaging from 

 four to five inches in length, which take both baits with 

 avidity. There is no intermediate family. The two-inch 

 family can therefore be no other than those recently hatched ; 

 the five-inch family the breed of the preceding season. 



