STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 87 



takes place in the sea we have no means of 

 ascertaining it, but we know that it is beyond 

 calculation, the enemies of the salmon are so 

 numerous." 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON AS LEARNED 

 FROM THE STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 



We shall now proceed to state what the Stor- 

 montfield experiment has taught us of the Natural 

 History of the Salmon. 



The parr, that little active fish that is to be 

 found in all salmon and trout rivers, was gene- 

 rally considered (not forty years ago) to be a fish 

 sui generis; and even at the present time, by 

 many persons who have not given themselves the 

 trouble to inquire into the matter, parrs are 

 believed to be full-grown, perfect fish. Learned 

 judges have been puzzled on this question; and 

 how could it be otherwise, from the conflicting 

 evidence given (witness the Dunblane case) before 

 them by fishermen who had been all their lives 

 engaged in salmon fishing, as to what a parr is? 

 Hogg, Shaw, and Young, were the first that 

 proved that, at any rate, the fry of the salmon, 

 salmo salar, was a parr before it became a salmon; 



