THE LATE SALMO SALAR, ESQ. 6 



waters, henceforth to comprise my habitation 

 and my home. 



" Queer little mis-shapen creature that I was! 

 With head and eyes frightfully disproportioned 

 to my size, a little tail, and almost invisible fins, 

 my appearance presented to the unpractised eye 

 rather that of the tadpole, the progeny of the 

 wide-mouthed waddling frog, than that of the 

 noble Salmon, the monarch of the waters. 



" Still, Nature, careful of her worthiest off- 

 spring, had not neglected the means of preser- 

 vation during its helpless infancy. I found 

 myself furnished, beneath my embryo fins, with 

 a little sack of nutriment, which I felt would 

 sustain me for many days, until my growing- 

 strength should enable me to seek the abundant 

 food which the surrounding waters contained, 

 and to escape the numerous enemies that sought 

 to make a prey of me. 



" I should say that, when I burst forth from 

 the bed of gravel in which I had so long been 

 buried, very many of my brethren accompanied 

 me, and, as we eyed each other's grotesque 

 forms with astonishment, not unmixed with 

 admiration, we, one and all, urged by the 

 promptings of Nature, scuttled away and hid 



b2 



