CH. IV. EXPERIMENTS RESPECTING SALMON. 51 



information respecting the habits of salmon and 

 trout, having studied their natural history, and 

 having lived, as it were, amongst fish during his 

 whole life. Mr. Young has made such good use of 

 the opportunities which his position has afforded 

 him, that he has thrown considerable light on the 

 history of the inhabitants of an element in which 

 we cannot follow them. His patience in trying 

 experiments with the spawn and young of the 

 salmon has enabled him to explain many parts of 

 their history which had hitherto been obscure, or at 

 best but imperfectly understood. The encourage- 

 ment, too, which he has always met with from the 

 Duke, has still further enabled him to bring a 

 naturally acute and inquiring mind to bear on the 

 point in question. For some years he managed 

 (by forming artificial spawning-beds or ponds) to 

 have the ova under his immediate observation from 

 the hour of their being deposited to the time that 

 in the shape of " smolts " (I think that is the local 

 name) of four to six inches in length, the young 

 salmon go down to their mysterious feeding nur- 

 series in the depths of the ocean. Mr. Young 

 kindly showed me numerous specimens preserved 

 in spirits of wine of the gradual development and 

 growth of the fish from its egg state, when it looks 

 like a small pea, to its full maturity. 



