40 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



go by the name of Parrs, and are destroyed daily with 

 impunity, and in incredible quantities. Hitherto the 

 Parr and the Smolt have been considered as different 

 species ; but that they are precisely the same, I think 

 may be demonstrated. 



" The received opinion, and that which the present 

 law of Scotland acts upon, is, that the Salmon fry of 

 the winter and spring congregate and go down to the 

 sea in the May of the same season, and that they are 

 of a pure silver colour, as indeed more or less they are. 

 Now in all salmon rivers Parrs are to be found in abun- 

 dance throughout the summer, and early in the spring ; 

 and in the summer they are not of a silver colour, but 

 marked with red spots, and are shaded with vertical 

 bars on their sides at intervals. From the appearance 

 of these bars, they are very generally supposed to be 

 of a distinct species from the Smolt. Permit me to 

 give my reasons for entertaining a contrary opinion. 



" After May the large Parrs totally disappear, and 

 such few as may be found afterwards are very small ; 

 but as the summer advances they become larger, and 

 in the spring following, the bars and red spots above 

 mentioned gradually die away, and a stronger armour or 

 scale supervenes ; and as that is more or less advanced 

 in growth, the bars and spots are more or less visible. 



" When they are in this silvery state, that is, when 

 the new scales are perfected, they become what are 

 called Smolts or Salmon fry ; but by removing such 

 new scales, you will find the bars and spots of the Parr 

 underneath as clear and vivid as ever. I have there- 

 fore a positive conviction that the Salmon fry, instead 



