NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SALMONID&. 145 



the keeper, who had been set to watch, said, ' like a great 

 porpoise.' 



' Will salmon live and thrive entirely in fresh water that is, 

 in lakes and ponds which have no communication with the sea ? ' 



Much controversy and many experiments have been devoted 

 to this question. The answer appears to be in the negative, as 

 far as all practical purposes are concerned. It has been proved 

 that the fish will so far increase under these conditions as to 

 attain a maximum weight of a few pounds ; but the flesh of 

 such fish is comparatively white and insipid, and as an article 

 of food altogether different from that of the sea-bred salmon. 



This, however, may be an unduly gloomy view of the sub 

 ject, and I shall be very pleased to find my anticipations in this 

 respect falsified. Experiments tried some years ago in Norway 

 certainly seemed to point to at least a qualified success having 

 been in some instances attained. The account which was 

 written for the ' Fisherman's Magazine and Review,' at the time 

 when I edited that magazine, may, perhaps, be sufficiently 

 interesting to quote. 



' It can,' says Mr. Barnard, ' readily be understood that in 

 a country so unfertile as Norway, where, in fact, little more than 

 the hundred-and-fifteenth part of its whole superficial area is 

 under cultivation, any attempt to propagate such fish as salmon 

 in the interior must in an economical point of view be extremely 

 valuable. And, perhaps, no country is better adapted for the 

 carrying out of such experiments than this portion of the Scan- 

 dinavian Peninsula, which abounds with lakes and mountain 

 tarns of all sizes, and at all elevations. 



' And first, as regards sea trout, their endeavours have been 

 attended with most satisfactory results. Not only have they 

 thriven well in the lakes in which they were turned out, but 

 have rapidly increased in numbers. And just as river trout 

 after having been any length of time in brackish water become 

 thoroughly acclimatised, and in fact resemble sea trout in all 

 respects, so has it reciprocally been the case with the sea trout 

 in question in fresh water. 



I. L 



