205 



the same day, and that in the month of Octo- 

 ber; and it is allowed by all, that grayling 

 spawn in April, or at latest in May ; if all 

 these fish are the produce of the same year, 

 how can you account for the great difference 

 in size ? And yet Sir Humphrey affirms, that 

 the fish spawned in April, in the October of 

 the same year attain the weight of half a 

 pound, or even ten ounces ! Leaving this for 

 more competent judges to determine, I will 

 now state the common opinion, to which I 

 confess I am much more inclined than the 

 other. It is, that the pink-grayling are the 

 fry of the present year ; the shett, of the year 

 preceding; and, therefore, instead of being 

 a fish of rapid growth, that a grayling of more 

 than half a pound is a fish of nearly two 

 years of age, and up to which time they do 



not spawn.* 



" During the whole of August, and up to the 

 middle of September in this summer [1833], 

 the weather was so sultry, and the water so 

 low and fine, that all our country anglers fan- 

 cied it was useless to attempt to kill fish. The 

 consequence was, I had the river [Teme] very 



* Very probable. "VVe have caught several grayling this 

 spring. Those of half a pound and under had no spawn in 

 them the larger ones were full of it, and the eggs in a 

 state of large developement. 



