196 MIGRATORY COAT ASSUMED. 



A salmon-fry at twelve months old is called a 

 *' smolt." That is the name by which it is gene- 

 rally knowm. I deem that its proper name at this 

 age. It is the " last-spring " of the rivers of 

 Herefordshire, and of those of the neio;hbourincr 

 counties — of the Severn and its tributaries. He 

 ■who calls smolts, or young salmon of twelve 

 months old, " salmon-fry" does not employ a mis- 

 nomer. If I mistake not, they are so denominated 

 in Ireland until they become salmon peal or grilse. 

 At the above age the young fish measures about 

 five inches, and weighs from three to four ounces, 

 more or less.* 



It now — at the age of twelve months — assumes 

 the migratory coat, that is, the silvery one. The 

 transverse bars have disappeared, and so have the 

 pink spots on the sides. The young fish, a part 

 the back, belly, and head, is covered with bright, 

 silvery scales. At the shoulder a few trout-like 



* The above descriptions of the growth of salmon-fry 

 are after admeasurements which I made last year of na- 

 tural specimens preserved in Mr. Young's salmon and sal- 

 monidas museum at Invershin. The reader, after perusing 

 a few pages, will come to other descriptions of young 

 salmon given in explanation of the plates in which they 

 are engraved, and coloured from the egg to the smolt state 

 inclusive. If in the separate descriptions any difference 

 may be found touching the age and size of fish, it will be so 

 small as not in any way to militate against the correctness 

 of our calculations on the growth of salmon-fry. 



