APPENDIX. 309 



that the reciprocal punctuality and affection with which this 

 labour of parental providence is carried on by the silent pair, are 

 worthy of all imitation by more exalted husbands and wives. 



Soon after the bed for the ova is finished, which is a trench 

 five or six feet long, and about a foot and a half in breadth and 

 depth, both fish remain for a short time in close dalliance imme- 

 diately above it. The roe is then deposited by the female, and 

 the fecundating milt shed over the eggs by the male. They then 

 simultaneously commence pushing the gravel they had previously 

 raised over the precious deposit ; and generally continue thus 

 occupied during the remainder of the day, filling up interstices 

 and completing the work at their leisure. I believe they then 

 retire, appearing to have done all that parental duty requires ; 

 and although I have watched carefully several times at the same 

 spot, I have never seen either fish in the neighbourhood the day 

 after the spawning. 



European salmon generally spawn in October or November, 

 and the ova remain in their bed of gravel about 140 days. The 

 increasing heat of March and April then vivifies the brood, and 

 the young tadpole fish work their way by degrees out of the 

 nest, with the filmy envelope of the egg, like an umbilical cord, 

 still adhering to the belly. They grow with great rapidity, eat 

 with voracity, and will jump at a dragon-fly as big as one of them- 

 selves. In the latter end of April and the beginning of May, 

 they gradually drop down the rivers, keeping in the shallow water 

 near the edge, both to pick up their food and to avoid the attacks 

 of pikes or other ravenous fish. By the end of the first week 

 in June, they are all clear of the fresh water, under ordinary 

 circumstances. 



These little fishes are extremely delicate, and will not bear 

 rough handling. They are incessantly rising at an angler's 

 flies, and I have caught some thousands of them and thrown them 

 in again. If the hook has only a slight hold of the mouth, and is 



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