70 SALMONIA. 



great lake trout, which weighs above 60 or 

 701bs., to the trouts of the little mountain 

 brook or small mountain lake, or tarn, which 

 is scarcely larger than the finger. And the 

 smallest trout spawns nearly at the same time 

 with the larger ones, and their ova are of 

 the same size ; but in the large trout there 

 are tens of thousands, and in the small one 

 rarely as many as forty, often from ten to 

 forty. So that in the physical constitution 

 of these animals, their production is dimi- 

 nished as their food is small in quantity; 

 and it is remarkable that the ova of the 

 large and beautiful species which exist in 

 certain lakes, and which seem always to 

 associate together, appear to produce off- 

 spring which, in colour, form, and power of 

 growth and reproduction, resemble the 

 parent fishes; and they generally choose 

 the same river for their spawning. Thus, 

 in the lake of Guarda, the Benacus of the 

 ancients, the magnificent trout, or Salmo 

 fario, which in colour and appearance is 

 like a fresh run salmon, spawns in the river 

 at Riva, beginning to run up for that pur- 



