252 PROPAGATION OF FISH. 



trout, estimated at over 10,000 in a medium sized fish. 

 The young, called usually pinks, remain in the fresh 

 water one year after hatching, when they are termed 

 smolts, and descend to the sea, returning in a few months, 

 generally about the middle of June, weighing from one 

 to ten pounds, and are then called grilse. After they 

 have spawtied as grilse and again returned to the sea, 

 they are termed salmon. They grow with astonishing 

 rapidity in salt water, a large fish doubling his weight 

 in a little over a month, until a certain size is attained, 

 when their growth almost ceases. Smolts rise readily at 

 the fly, and may be mistaken for trout, which they some- 

 what resemble. I have taken great numbers of them 

 when fishing for trout in Canada, and was at first some- 

 what at a loss to tell what they were. Of course I 

 relieved them carefully of the hook, and returned them 

 to their native element. 



Salmon spawn in pools, on rough, gravelly beds, com- 

 posed of small stones about the size of a walnut, and ac- 

 cording to some accounts, req^iiire several days to deposit 

 all the roe and milt. They should be taken by the net 

 when engaged in this operation, and treated in the same 

 manner as trout, or placed in a tub where they can be held 

 by head and tail, and the spawn expressed without 

 injury. This course may be pursued with all fish whose 

 weight would render them unmanageable out of water, 

 but will not generally be found necessary. They spawn 

 in November or December, hatch in March or April, and 

 next March or April descend to the ocean. In other 

 particulars they do not difier materially from trout, and 

 the rules for the propagation of the latter will apply 



