40 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



myself have caught full roeners, as they are called, in 

 the month of May in the Tweed. Now we know from 

 the proofs of experiments that have been made by 

 various persons, that the spawn of the Salmon continues 

 imbedded in the gravel from ninety to one hundred and 

 fifteen days, according to the temperature of the water, 

 before it vivifies; and indeed remains there some weeks 

 after its exclusion from the egg. Mr. Shaw has stated 

 the exact time of this latter period to be fifteen days ; 

 at the end of which time, says he, the egg which was 

 attached to its abdomen, from which it derived its 

 nourishment, " contracted and disappeared ; the fin or 

 tadpole-like fringe also divided itself into the dorsal, 

 adipose, and anal fins, all of which then became per- 

 fectly developed ; the little transverse bars, which for a 

 period of two years characterise it as a Parr, also made 

 their appearance ; so that a period of at least 140 days 

 is required to perfect this little fish, which even then 

 measured little more than one inch in length." 



The above not being matter of conjecture, but having 

 been demonstrated by experiment, how by any possi- 

 bility can the old doctrine be true, that the fry which 

 go to sea about the first or second week in May, six or 

 seven inches long, can be the spawn of the winter im- 

 mediately preceding it ? And what and where are the 

 young of the Salmon all the summer, if they are not 

 indeed Parr ; for no silver-coloured fry are at that time 

 to be seen in the river ? I must add also, that it is in- 

 cumbent upon those naturalists who assert that the 

 Parr is a distinct species, to prove that it is so from 

 comparative anatomy. But they have not been able to 



