SALMON. 171 



within the influence of fresh water, the Salmon, or its earlier 

 condition of Grilse, does not increase in growth; and yet hy 

 careful examination it has been proved that the individual fish 

 which have been weighed in September are of twice the bulk 

 of those which have been taken in July. This is shewn by 

 a table in the "Quarterly Review," (No. 226, p. 417, April, 

 1863,) and that the examples were not the same fish admits 

 of no doubt, since the larger fish of the last-named date were 

 bright in colour, as Salmon are when they leave the sea, 

 whereas when these or the Grilse have been long in the 

 river the colour becomes of a much darker hue, and the 

 surface is charged with a greater abundance of slime. It also 

 affords no small degree of support to the opinion that those 

 Salmon which ascend rivers in the early part of the year do 

 not remain in fresh water to its close, that in the rivers of 

 Cornwall, and, for the most part, in Devon, where, unless 

 prevented by a flow of water from copper mines, there is often 

 a run of fish in the early months of the year, none are met 

 with as the summer proceeds, nor do the young return in the 

 form of Grilse, as in the rivers of Scotland. In none of these 

 western rivers except the Tamar, and in this last but rarely, — to 

 be accounted for by the depth of water which floats a mighty 

 navy, — have I heard in a long series of years, (except in a 

 few instances in the Fowey,) of a Salmon being -caught from 

 the early months of spring until towards the end of August. 

 A very few only have returned late in August or in September, 

 and it is only from October to the beginning of December 

 that they have been in such numbers as to deserve the attention 

 of fishermen. 



It is chiefly in the last-named month that the milt and roe 

 are enlarged, and it is the opinion of many that it is at the 

 earlier stage of this natural process when the fish is in its 

 highest perfection, as well of form and colour as of delicacy 

 for the table. It is at this time also that it becomes the 

 earnest endeavour of these fish to pass upward in the stream 

 as quickly and as high as possible; in which last particular 

 they are not satisfied until they have reached some place near 

 the head, where the water is shallow, and runs with a steady 

 force over a bottom of sand or gravel, in which situation 

 there arc natural advantages as well for the parents as the 



