THE LATE SALMO SALAK, ESQ. 9 



the first stage, that of the egg; save these, 

 protect these, hatch these, and leave Nature to 

 do the rest. The nursing ponds, the migra- 

 tory restrictions, the chopped bullock's liver, 

 and the two years' attendance are useless, and 

 worse than useless, expenses. 



" I increased gradually in size ; my form de- 

 veloped ; the little sack I have alluded to was 

 absorbed, and, with a new-born appetite, I 

 felt was given the power of supplying it. I 

 began to make excursions from my place of 

 refuge, seizing with avidity the minute insects 

 which swarmed in the waters around me, and 

 even rising at times to the surface and seizing 

 some unconscious midge-fly or pre-occupied 

 gnat, that had alighted to drop her eggs on 

 the water. If danger arose, we (for in these 

 excursions I was joined by numberless fry of 

 my own standing) at once rushed for shelter 

 beneath the stones, or sought it in the shallows 

 where our enemies, the great trouts, could not 

 follow us. I remember on one occasion, though 

 it was somewhat later than the period of which 

 I am now treating, how I saved myself, by a 

 desperate manoeuvre, from the jaws of a hungry 

 trout. The savage brute singled me out from 



