36 SALMON. 



have not their silver scales perfected ; but many have the 

 bars and spots faintly indicated, as represented in the 

 lithograph (No. 3.) introduced a few pages forward, — 

 another fish selected from the same lot ; and although the 

 majority of these little emigrants go to the sea in large 

 masses about the first swells of the river in May, yet 

 I have no doubt but that some are continually going 

 down to the salt water in every month of the year, — not 

 with their silver scales on, but in the parr state. I say 

 not with their silver scales, because no clear Smolt is 

 ever seen in the Tweed during the summer and au- 

 tumnal months. As the spawning season in the Tweed 

 extends over a period of six months, some of the fry 

 must be necessarily some months older than others, — 

 a circumstance which favours my supposition, that 

 they are constantly descending to the sea; and it is 

 only a supposition, as I have no proof of the fact, and 

 have never heard it suggested by any one. But if I 

 should be right, it Avill clear up some things that cannot 

 well be accounted for in any other mode. For instance, 

 in the month of March, 1841, Mr. Yarrell informs me 

 that he found a young Salmon in the London market, 

 and which he has preserved in spirits, measuring only 

 fifteen inches long, and weighing only fifteen ounces. 

 And again, another the following April, sixteen and a 

 half inches long, weighing twenty-four ounces. Now, 

 one of these appeared two months and the other a month 

 before the usual time when the fry congregate. Ac- 

 cording to the received doctrine, therefore, these ani- 

 mals were two of the migration of the preceding year ; 





