THE SALMON. Ill 



chase, their scales glistening in the sun ; anon 

 the pursued and their pursuers disappear in the 

 deep anon they return to the surface, all in 

 confusion, but still rushing along, leaping and 

 diving, till out of the spectator's sight. 



In form, the skipper much resembles the 

 garfish, but the posterior half of its elongated 

 body is stouter and deeper in proportion. Its 

 gill-covers are silvery white, as are the sides 

 and under parts, but the back and top of the 

 head are of a dark blue. 



We may now pass onward to another family, 

 that of the Salmonidce, or salmon tribe, of which 

 the salmon (Salmo solar) is a well-known 

 example. 



We have already described this queen of 

 fishes as a periodical visitor to our rivers, in 

 which it breeds, depositing its eggs in the 

 gravel in the winter, having pushed up from 

 the estuary during the autumn, to which they 

 again descend in the spring, and pass the latter 

 part of the summer in the sea. It would ap- 

 pear, however, that the breeding season of this 

 fish, and consequently the precise time of its 

 visit to the upper portions of the river, are in- 

 fluenced by various causes, which hasten or 

 retard the development of the roe. In Sweden, 

 according to Artedi, the salmon do not deposit 



