SALMON. 181 



have a tendency to procure the defeat of a practise which must 

 in a high degree he injurious. The class of persons who in 

 that country are depredators on rivers, are in the habit of 

 rendering the fish stupid, and the Salmon especially, by means 

 of a plant which they gather and bruise by stamping on it 

 near the bank; and thus simply prepared a small basketful is 

 placed in the flowing stream, where it is found sufficient to 

 infect the water and stupify the fish to the extent of several 

 miles. The poisoned fish rise to the surface, and may be taken 

 with the hand; but they are not at all the less fit for food. 

 I learn from Sir W. J. Hooker's "British Flora," vol. i, that 

 this plant is Euphorbia Hiberna, which grows to the height of 

 two feet, and produces flowers in June; but those who may 

 wish to prevent injury to rivers from this cause, may easily 

 obtain their object by preventing its growth. 



Everywhere the Salmon is a prolific fish, but the quantity 

 of roe is prone to vary according to the age and bulk; and 

 some observers have gone so far as to assign a certain weight 

 of one in proportion to the other; each pound of fish implying 

 a thousand in number of the grains of spawn, a number which 

 probably is much below the mark. Willoughby says that the 

 Salmon requires six years to attain its full growth, and at the 

 River Kibble, which he particularly mentions, the successive 

 yearly stages were so well marked, that at each season it 

 received the separate names of Smelt, (or Smolt,) Sprod, Mort, 

 Forktail, Half-fish, and Salmon; but some supposed that in 

 three years they reached their full extent of size. It is probable 

 they are capable of increase of bulk long after this, although 

 in some rivers more than in others; but in our own country 

 there are few so fortunate as to escape for several years the 

 various snares that are set for them, and from this cause the 

 roe must be proportionally less in quantity than formerly, even 

 from the same number of fish. 



In what is properly the natural history of the Salmon, as 

 of two or three others of this family, there are to be noticed 

 some curious variations of instinct and power, by which actions 

 of an opposite kind are brought alternately into exercise. Thus 

 at the earliest stage of its existence it would die if immersed 

 in salt-water, but soon afterwards it is impelled to go to the 

 sea, in which it grows rapidly; but however congenial this may 



