520 FISHES. 



that some of them made their appearance in the same place for 

 three successive seasons*. The experiment of fastening cold or 

 silver rings to salmon is said by Dr. Bloch to have been occasion- 

 ally practised by some of the Eastern princes ; and it is added, that 

 by this method a communication has been proved between the 

 Caspian and Northern seas and the Persian Gulf. 



The general history of the salmon fishery on the river Tweed is 

 amply detailed by Mr. Pennant, in the third volume of the British 

 Zoology, chiefly from the communications of Mr. Potts, an inha- 

 bitant of the town of Berwick. The principal particulars are as 

 follows. 



if At the latter end of the year, or in the month of November, 

 the salmon begin to press up the river as far as they can reach, 

 in order to spawn. When that time approaches, they seek for a 

 place fit for the purpose : the male and female unite in forming a 

 proper receptacle for it in the sand or gravel, about the depth of 

 eighteen inches : in this the female deposits the spawn, which they 

 afterwards cover carefully up by means of their tails, which are 

 observed to have no skin on them for some time after this period. 

 The spawn lies buried till spring, if not disturbed by violent 

 floods, but the salmon hasten to the sea as soon as they are able, 

 in order to recover their strength ; for after spawning they are 

 observed to become very lean, and are then called by the name of 

 kippers. When the salmon first enter the rivers, they are observed 

 to have a great many small animals adhering to them, especially 

 about the gills : these are the Lerncece Salmonece of Linnaeus, 

 and are signs that the fish is in high season : soon after the salmon 

 have left the sea, the Lernaeae die, and drop off. About the latter 

 end of March, the spawn begins to exclude the young, which gra- 

 dually increase to the length of four or five inches, and are then 

 called smelts or smouts. About the beginning of May the river is 

 full of them ; It seems to be all alive ; and there is no having an 

 idea of their numbers without seeing them ; but a seasonable flood 

 then hurries them all to the sea, scarce any or very few of them being 

 left in the river. About the middle of June, the earliest of the fry 

 begin to drop as it were into the river again from the sea ; at that 

 time about twelve, fourteen, or sixteen inches in length, and by a 



* So Monsr. de la Lande was assured by the fishermen. 



