196 ON THE BREEDING OF SALMON. 



milt in a state of absolute maturity, ready, at the 

 slightest pressure, to become discharged ? 



This fact he admits, but the reason he refrains from 

 grappling with, and yet it is very simple and readily 

 propounded; in fact, what else does so seeming an in- 

 congruity consist of, but in the circumstance that nature 

 has made a certain equitable and harmonious provision 

 for the propagation of the salmon species, by thoroughly 

 maturing or rendering effective for purposes of impreg- 

 nation the milt of the he-parr, in order that, by an act 

 or acts of coition previous to entering the salt water, he 

 may prepare and vivify the ovaria of his cotemporaneous 

 mate, thus anticipating her return from the sea as a 

 grilse, to deposit, not a bed of inert slough, but active 

 and endowed spawn ? Can there be a solution of the 

 subject more natural or consistent? Does it not at 

 once account for the startling and extraordinary results 

 which apparently attended Mr. Shaw's experiments with 

 the milt of the he-parr ? 



But I shall be asked, what is the generative process 

 with regard to this fish in its adult state, as a grilse or 

 salmon ? I shall be asked, why it generally happens 

 that, when the spawner is engaged forming her redd or 

 depositing her ova, she is attended by the milter ; and 

 also what is the meaning of those natural partings and 

 collisions, described by Mr Halliday and others? I have 

 already stated that the number of spawners computed 

 to ascend Tweed, I may add, salmon streams in 

 general, greatly exceeds during the year that of the 

 he-fish, standing in the proportion of three to one ; and 

 although it is true that salmon frequently leave the salt 

 water in pairs, it does not necessarily follow that each 

 pair consists of a male and female fish. They are as 

 often both of them spawners, and in the early grilse 



