PARR AND SMOLT SCALES. 209 



the four was seven inches in length, and was 

 very salmon-like in form ; the smallest was only 

 four inches. Well fed and fat, their scales 

 were loose and easily detached, and very silvery 

 from much lustrous matter deposited on their 

 inner surface. The transverse markings had 

 nearly disappeared ; but when the scales were 

 removed, they were to be seen, though less 

 distinct than in the parr, indicating some 

 absorption of the colouring matter. 



PISCATOE. These your observations accord 

 with mine, tending to prove that the silvery 

 scales you speak of are new ones ; and that they 

 hide the markings in the true skin, partly from 

 being less transparent than the old, owing to a 

 thicker deposit of pearly or nacreous matter on 

 their inner surface, and partly to the markings 

 themselves having faded a little, and it may be, 

 as you say, from absorption. The nacreous 

 matter, I may observe, is easily detached by 

 rubbing the scales with water in a mortar. If 

 you compare the quantity obtained from parr 

 scales and smolt scales, you will be satisfied how 

 great is the preponderance of this matter in the 

 latter. 



p 



