152 THE NEW AET OF BEEEDING FISH. 



one year. Mr. Shaw says, " that one or two of each 

 of his three broods assumed the migratory or smolt 

 dress at the age of twelve months." And that he 

 ascribes to the high temperature of water. Mr. 

 Shaw gives an engraving of a two-year old smolt, 

 bred in one of his ponds. It measures 6J inches in 

 length. I have never seen a naturally river bred 

 smolt longer than five inches, and never one, by any 

 means, so bulky as Mr. Shaw's two-year old smolt. 



The last chapter in my Book of the Salmon is on 

 "The Breeding of Salmon Artificially." It de- 

 scribes the method carried out by Mr. Young in the 

 bed of the river Shin, successfully, during three con- 

 secutive years : — " The first thing to be taken care 

 of in this way of breeding salmon is that the spawn- 

 ing beds, which are to be artificially formed, be sup- 

 plied, if possible, with water from which the ova are 

 taken. In making experiments on the growth of 

 salmon-fry this precaution is more absolutely neces- 

 sary than when one is breeding for the sole sake of 

 stocking a river. In all cases it will be advisable, 

 that the spawning and rearing ponds be not fed 

 with water of a temperature widely differing from 

 that from which the spawn has been procured. 

 With these few general remarks, I will transcribe 

 the notes I have received from Mr. A. Young on 

 this interesting and important subject. To give the 

 seed, he says, the same advantages as that naturally 

 spawned in rivers, the artificial breeding-ponds 

 should be erected in the immediate vicinity of, or in 



